Disclaimer: I do not encourage or condone many of the behaviors depicted in this story. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.
I was just out of college and it was one of those first interviews I attended looking for my very first job. I didn't have any experience during my college days taking up jobs and hence, it was a completely new journey altogether. It was for a position of a trainee lecturer in a well reputed medium scale private higher education institute and I was called by the dean herself for an interview with her after having been shortlisted following a lecturer audition done in front of my potential future colleagues. I reached there on time and she was a lady in mid to late thirties, dressed in a western suit. She had tucked her crisp white shirt inside her black trousers, portraying her lean and reasonably tall figure. I was quite nervous being with her inside her quite large cabin as she instructed me to sit across her work desk. She went through the formalities and briefed me a bit more about my work and the institute. She seemed quite polite and rather warm but I was taken aback suddenly as she reminded me that I will be punished duly by her for any misbehavior as I was inducted only as a trainee, and my future in the institution depends upon how I behave myself in both my work and how as an individual overall. I didn't have much of an idea of what she meant by being punished. I wasn't sure whether I was to be punished physically or by what means and I didn't have the courage to ask her either. She was particular about the dress code and I was asked to wear a sari on the days I was to conduct lectures and on the other days I can choose to wear any type of formal attire. I obliged and accepted her demands, signing my offer letter in front of her.
I felt both disturbed and delighted at what I had just heard from my new boss in my very first job itself and either way, I was certain that it was going to be an interesting journey altogether. It was obvious that she meant what she said and I had to cope with whatever that may come up as I get along, I assumed.
I was called up again by her in a week's time on a Monday evening and I met her at the same place after my evening lectures. She was as usual in her business attire and instructed me to sit across as she went through a set of documents in a file, potentially related to me. I started getting a little nervous, thinking of the potential circumstances, however, managed to remain calm as she went through each one of those carefully.
She turned up to me with a gentle smile in a face which to some extent calmed my nerves. She seemed happy about my initial week at the institute, as she summarized what she had received from reviews received from all relevant stakeholders and sent me off wishing good luck for the week ahead but with a gentle reminder of all such possibilities if I don't keep up with the standards.
Another couple of weeks had just passed and I was there again after my Friday evening lectures in front of my dean in her office. This time she was leaning herself in front of her desk, a foot away from me as she went through the papers with a stern look. She didn't seem quite enthusiastic as last time and rightly so, as she informed me that my reviews have dropped to a reasonable extent over the last couple of weeks.