‘I have two visitors coming over from the Hong Kong head office tomorrow,’ Tom, my new boss said.
‘Would you like us to dress more smartly?’ Natasha asked.
‘There’s no need to do that.’
‘Do we need to be on our best behaviour?’ I asked.
‘I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be around much,’ Tom smiled.

Natasha and I are still in our training period and had spent most of the day playing around with the latest version of PowerPoint on our Macs. When we presented our work to Tom, he nodded encouragingly. We felt like we were back in school; it probably didn’t help that Tom is a former teacher.

‘Isn’t it strange how we now pay for lectures that we would have avoided as kids,’ a friend mused at a recent 5X15 speaking event. He’s right of course: learning may have once seemed tedious but has since become a source of fun and fulfillment. ‘There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning,’ philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said.

‘We’ve organised a team building afternoon at the gym,’ Natasha and I teased our two bosses after retuning from checking out our new commercial centre at lunchtime. ‘It’s hot yoga’. Tom looked at us in horror and stuttered. When we were left alone in the office, we took a photo of Tom’s large office with its adjoining conference area and grand views, and posted it on Facebook. ‘My very own office with loads of space to stretch out while planning European domination,’ Natasha posted.
‘Get out of my office NOW,’ I added.

Naturally, silly pranks and childish behaviour also continue long after school has finished…