The longest day

I will never forget the first day at my new workplace. I was working during university, but this was somehow different. End of university, the so-called real life begins.

Before my very first day, I was so anxious I couldn’t even sleep. As a fresh graduate, I thought it was normal to work ten hours a day. After a while, I took on more and more overtime and slowly I’ve got into the habit of spending every Sunday in the office by myself, just me and loads of work to do.

The end of my probation period was approaching and it seemed self-evident to me that my contract was going to be extended. One day, my boss called me into her office, and before I went in, I thought I’d go and get my little notebook, but she said I would surely not need that. We began to talk about my work so far and suddenly this sentence was uttered: “You do understand that we have to bid farewell to each other, don’t you?” At first I didn’t even get what was happening to me, I was sure I would get this job, I gave it my all, and when I asked why, the answer was: “Just because and sign it here.”

My entire world fell apart, but what could I do? I didn’t have time to break down, the others counted on me, I had to deliver my tasks by the deadline. So I sat back to my computer, continued my work and tried to hold back on my tears.

This was the longest day of my life so far.

Written by Vivien Balogh