Day 1

Wes t`u__ ha__l

In which Audrey starts her new job with a web development company, and is greeted in a most unexpected manner.

There's nothing quite like the first day in a new job. There's a mixture of excitement and nervousness. It was particularly acute for me on this day, because it wasn't just a change of workplace. It was my first job as a web developer.

A graphic designer named Sophie who I remembered from the interview panel, met me with a broad smile in the foyer of a gleaming four-storey building, ushered me into a lift to the second floor, then led me through a bright open-plan office to my desk. Mine was one of four desks in one of a dozen pods that lined two sides of the floor.

"Would you like a cup of tea, before I give you the tour and introduce you to a few people?"

A voice from the adjacent desk cut off my response: "A few, Sophe?"

Sophie crinkled her nose. "Tash gave me a list."

"Oh gawd. Death by a thousand greetings."

I turned to face a redhead with a gentle smirk, training her gaze on me while she continued: "Who's this new stray you've dragged in, Sophe?"

"Jo, meet Audrey, our new front-end developer. Audrey, meet Jo, our UX designer."

"Pleased to meet you," I said, shaking her hand.

"Likewise. Welcome to Summit Media. By the way, I'd grab a double shot espresso if I were you. Or a whisky. And fasten your seatbelt. You're in for a bumpy ride."

Jo wasn't exaggerating. Within minutes, I was being ushered from desk to desk, meeting everyone from the Chief Technical Officer to a temporary Customer Service Assistant. With each new acquaintance, my guide Sophie cobbled together a job description which was regularly corrected by the new acquaintance. I nodded earnestly to indicate that I'd made the connection between our respective roles, which of course belied my utter cluelessness. About fifteen minutes in, still at the mid-point, the ordeal was taking its toll. Sophie noticed. "I'm so sorry. This is excruciating. I'm so bad at it, but -"

I reassured her: "No, you're doing fine. Let's press on." And so we did. At the end of it all, when I was back at my desk, Jo asked me how it went.

"Sophie performed valiantly. She was a trooper."

"Right. In other words - you needed that whisky. So how'd you play it? Pursed smile that morphed gradually into permanent glaze?"

I laughed. "Something like that. At one stage it slipped into a wince. I tried to recover by doing the full head tilt and humming my approval." My reeanactment managed to amuse both Jo and Sophie.

"And now as you stare at your empty inbox, you realise that your understanding of the company and its organisation hasn't advanced one iota."

I mouthed a "yes", still chuckling.

"Remember any names?"

I said I hadn't but there was one that stuck with me. Right at the end, after the many assurances that "I'll be calling on you for help very soon, no doubt", came something baffling. And that was because it was in a foreign language. We were out on the huge expanse of balcony which jutted out from the second floor, admiring the view toward the CBD, when Sophie caught sight of a guy lounging in one of the kitchen chairs that had been dragged over to the edge. Evidently this was an early mid-morning break for him. He had a coffee and a toasted sandwich, which he rested on the balustrade while he shook my hand. Sophie told me his name - Ed, and his job, which had 'Ops' and a couple of other words in it. Then he smiled and said something that sounded like "wess thoo harl". As Sophie and I walked back inside, through the kitchen, I asked her: "What did he just say?" But she was none the wiser.

I was still mulling over those three words at my desk when all of a sudden there was 'ding' and an ICQ window popped up on my screen. "Wes thu hal", it said. The sender was Ed. A few seconds later a fresh message from him popped up: "It's a greeting, like 'Hi' or 'Hello.' Literally it means 'Be you well'. I bet your head is still spinning from the introductions :)"

I was smiling. It was my first day and already I was making friends. This latest acquaintance deserved a reply. So I fired off: "Wes thu hal, too :)"