Devil in a Suit

“What? Are you too good for that?” Sara asked me as she leaned back in her seat, eyeing me. Whether she was asking questions or joking around, it always seemed like she was judging me.

It was hard to know what to say around Sara. Anything I said could be twisted or used to her advantage somehow. Having a conversation with her felt like I was caught in a catch-22. I wanted out before I was dragged deeper into it.

“I just want to pass this internship,” I said. That was all there was to it. I didn’t come here to ogle over hot bosses and get distracted. This was my senior year. It was the real deal now.

“Well, I’m going to have a little fun while I’m here. Suit yourself,” Sara replied, not looking all that impressed with me. She turned back forward in her seat once Brittany strode back into the office with a stack of papers in her hand.

Admittedly, I wasn’t the craziest, most fun person on the planet. I didn’t do many spontaneous things, and I stayed out of trouble as much as possible. My parents were hard workers themselves, so I grew up doing whatever I could to make their lives easier. That meant doing what I was supposed to do and not doing things to stress them out. I hadn’t grown out of that mindset.

“Today will be an easy day. I just want to get you guys used to the building and where everything is. We have plenty of time to work,” Brittany said as she handed us our copies of paperwork.

I flipped through the papers, seeing payroll documents and time log information. At least I was getting paid a little for this internship. I had to give up my part-time job as a barista on campus to do this instead.

“Do we get our own offices?” Sara asked. “My last internship let me have my own office.”

“Of course. If you two will follow me, I’ll give you a little tour,” Brittany replied as she waved at us, motioning for us to follow her to the door. “You’ll love our building. Personally, I think we have some of the best amenities for our employees.”

I couldn’t help but smile a little as I followed Brittany down the hallway. It made me feel better knowing that Brittany felt pride in this company. If she liked it, maybe I could find a real devotion to this place as well. Not that I would be invited to work here as my first actual job, but I wanted to like the work that I was doing.

“These two offices are reserved for our interns or temps. We’re still clearing out some boxes in this one, but they’re both equipped with mini-fridges and microwaves,” Brittany said as she gestured to two offices that were next to each other.

Sara barged past me to open the door to the office that was already cleaned out.

“I’ll take this one,” she said as she switched on the light, fluorescent lighting flooding the bare room. It could use some décor, but the furniture inside was clean and sleek. There was also a nice view of the city from the window behind the desk.

I bit my tongue and walked into my own office, which was exactly the same as Sara’s besides a few boxes of supplies stashed in the corner. I placed my hands on my hips, breathing in the smell of wood and stationery. Dealing with Sara wouldn’t be fun, but this was my chance to secure future success for myself. I couldn’t mess up when I was so close to graduating and building the life that I wanted to have.

Right now, I didn’t know what that life looked like outside of having a successful career, but I figured that everything would fall into place. The rest, like family life and self-improvement, were things that I didn’t know how to approach right now.

Brittany took us around the rest of the fifteenth floor, which was the main floor for the higher-up executives and departments. She wasn’t wrong when she told us that Ashland Consulting had some of the best amenities. Not only was there a breakroom for employees to sit and relax in, but there was a yoga room, a small market and café on the ground floor, and a rooftop deck with tables to eat at.

As cool as the amenities were and how spoiled we would be while we were here, I latched on more to the actual benefits of having this internship. Being able to say that I interned under Tyler Ashland would catch future employers’ attention, and I would learn the inner workings of a successful marketing department. My experience here would be invaluable, and I started to have a really good feeling about this internship.

As the tour started to come to an end, I was ready to finish this day up and meet with my closest friends and fellow business marketing majors, Hannah, and Nick, to tell them all about this gold standard internship I managed to land. They already completed their own internships, so I was bringing up the rear in our little pack. I already knew how excited they would be for me.