 |
| Here we have WWE Superstar R-Truth with NXT Rookie Johnny Curtis. Okay, so none of you get this reference. Moving on... |
I'm not entirely sure if I gave my organization, TomasinoWeb, the idea for the buddy system where senior members and officers would be hang out with new members and trainees. I'm really sure I didn't and I don't take credit for anything at all but I actually like the new system since the new members who want to stay in the org have to interact with the senior members.
In my time, I didn't have that (and yeah, being in an org for one year makes you senior since one year is a quarter of your stay in college. One-fifth if you're taking up something like Engineering or Architecture). When it was my first year in the organization, I didn't know anyone. I only knew one person (the one who recruited me and made me aware of the organization in the first place) and I wasn't even as close with her. I had a classmate who joined the organization as well but she had friends of her own.
Hell, in the first GA, I was already panicking inside while maintaining my composure. I was saying "I don't know anyone here, I don't know anyone here. I'm gonna die here" in a complete loop for 20 minutes. I know I overreacted inside but I wasn't much of the social guy back then so I didn't have the initiative to say "Hi, I'm Ralph. I'm a new member here." I only got lucky because of the team building but that was after the first semester had ended so that was like 3 months worth of socialization down the drain.
Before the team building happened, I wanted to test how well the organization tolerated bullying (well, playful bullying, not the actual kind) so I decided to bully the president at the time by making fun of how she smiled like someone who's plotting something. It got a good reaction from the officers and they finally knew about me so that was good.
One of my few regrets in the organization is not being able to actually talk to every one of the officers at the time. Scheduling conflicts were probably the main cause of that. When I was in the org room, they were probably in class or doing something else. It's not anyone's fault but I just wish I got to know more of those officers back then.
Now, the new members are privileged because they're stuck with the current officers of the org, including me. Okay, that sounded bad but that's the point. They're forced to interact with us for better or for worse if they want to stay in the organization.
I don't really see myself as a likable person (Try asking certain tourism girls along with other people) but somehow, these new members are still naive, hence they see me as funny or "respectable" (No! I am not respectable in any way!) And the best part here is that they're willing to hang out with me. I think they're doing that because they're required to and I'm flattered by the comments about how I'm funny and "respectable" (that's never a good word to describe me).
So, technically, I'm required to hang out with these members who are also required to hang out with me. It's like a legal contract. It's not actually a bad thing. I really appreciate this whole WWE NXT-like system that I mentioned earlier. I'm the pro and these new members are my rookies. I'd love to somehow teach whatever I can to these people but for now, I'm still that asshole executive who does nothing but still has the gall to hang out with these regular members as if I'm saying "Yeah, you do the hard work while I do nothing and look good." I'm an asshole like that.
 |
| ...but I look good being an asshole. |
So far, my "buddies", as we executives call them, have been surprisingly friendly. So far, none of them have given me a reason to be pissed off or disheartened and I like that. I wish it'd stay that way.
My plan is that I want none of my buddies to quit the organization. The reason why I'm still in the organization is because the president, the editor-in-chief, and the blog department head, among others, welcomed me in the organization. Slowly but surely, I gained their trust and they treated me nicely. I don't really want them to gain my trust or anything like that but they should at least feel like they're part of the org.
I've seen a lot of people quit the organization because they didn't feel welcome or weren't really noticed because they didn't speak up. I consider myself to be lucky to have met them because they actually embraced me as a temporary member of their group of friends.
 |
| "Why did they bring their dad and did he just get off of work?" asked students who didn't know who we were. |
Anyway, I want my buddies to feel welcome in the org and that they have nothing to worry about because I don't ever want them to feel like they're on their own in the org. Several past members have felt that and they didn't renew their membership. I nearly quit because I felt that for a time but again, I was lucky enough to have met those officers who made me feel welcome.
I'm actually trying my best to make my buddies feel like they're not on their own in the org and that I'm actually rooting for them to succeed. I actually want them to take my position as an executive in the organization because I'm leaving in a few months. I actually want them to feel the way that I did back then.
If one of my buddies actually becomes an officer or stays in the organization because of me or at least partly because of me, I did my job. That's all I want.
