Entitlement

It's incredible how time flies. With 2 weeks in my new job under my belt those times of blissful weekday dolce vita seem far away already. It feels like I have worked there for much longer and yet many impressions are really striking and new, for me with my background at the Firm probably more so than for somebody who worked at a "normal Austrian company". At the Firm, discussions about entitled employees were rife when I left, essentially those people who behave like spoilt brats and demand more and more without appreciating what they have. Well, one of the first things I did when familiarising myself with the intranet at HN was checking the "benefits" site. My verdict: Mehp. Not that exciting when you are used to so much more being served to you on a silver plate. I have since heard several colleagues, both tenured and new remark on how lucky we are to have so many benefits. It's all relative, I guess. I was even more humbled when, as part of my onboarding experience, I spent one day each at a store that sells HN's products and services, and with colleagues from the customer support service line. Those employees, all considerably younger than myself and earning less than half my salary were so incredibly motivated and proud to go the proverbial extra mile for their customers that I was really impressed. I don't remember ever encountering such enthusiasm at the Firm, even though people had so many more privileges right from day one. It's a bit like when you (well, I, for sure) wondered as a child what it would be like to work in an ice-cream parlour or sweet shop where you would be allowed to indulge in free samples every day. Would you still crave ice-cream or chocolate after months, or years even of working there and feel like the luckiest person in the world? I feel like I worked in the chocolate factory those past 10 years and few colleagues (myself included) actually appreciated all the delicious goodies they were served every day beyond their first weeks.