Well, my class has taken an interesting turn. After we started carpentry math tonight, my teacher volun-told those with the highest math scores to be group leaders. Guess who is included in that mix?
If you're still wondering, it's me. Great, that means I did well on the tests! Here's the bad news: we are supposed to implement the union hierarchy into our groups, so the group leader is supposed to delegate and supervise the crew. Questions for the teacher or other group leaders can only be directed through your group leader; just like in the real world, a first-year apprentice can't saunter up to the foreman when they have a question.
When you're in charge of a group of women who are each at least two or three times bigger than you, and you have no practical experience or history of doing hard labor, then it's not necessarily something you want to be assigned to. And judging from a contentious phone conversation I overheard before class, I have a sneaking suspicious that one of the girls is out on parole. Let's just hope it wasn't a felony.
On leadership: some are born leaders and have the skills to organize and motivate others. Some are better at simply following orders and getting the job done. I consider myself to fall somewhere in between- I like working independently but have learned how to be a strong team player. Until I can identify a tool other than a phillips or flathead screwdriver, my plan was to stay under the radar to foster my handy skills, or lack thereof. I guess plans change.
I'm going to have to step up to the task of being a leader, because tonight didn't show anything besides my skill to fetch all the group's materials and my sweetest how-can-I-help-you attitude. I will have to come up with a new strategy or I'll be eaten alive before I even enter the workshop.
Being sweet coincides with pastry, but it doesn't operate heavy machinery. It's time to woman up.
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