Assume or Ask?

Filled with excitement and nervousness at the same time, I sat in the cab waving goodbye to my mom and my brother. As my dad gave the cab driver the OTP to start our ride, I felt butterflies in my stomach!

It was my first day at my first job!!

The first day was about knowing the company and people better. Hence, a full day induction/orientation program was scheduled for all the new joinees. We were heading to the same office where I was interviewed a month back.
As I hate being late, I reached there 15 minutes before time and the receptionist asked me to wait in the visitors’ area as she was not sure and assumed that people would soon be coming in. The induction was to start at 9:00AM but not many people could be seen around. I too assumed the other joinees might be running late and sat there without inquiring further.

After 20 minutes, when there was still no sign of the other joinees or the trainers, I decided to ask the receptionist again. That’s when she made a few calls and we realized that the induction was scheduled in another branch, 23 Kilometers away, and had started well on time! When you are late, 23 Kilometers in a metro city like Mumbai can become a reason for distress.

I later got to know the HR had missed on informing me the venue for the induction. Also, I was at fault for assuming the orientation would be at the same branch office I had been for my interview and avoided to bother the HR by making an additional call to confirm the venue.
If I hadn’t assumed, I wouldn’t have had missed the one and a half hour session, or paid double for the taxi, or lost my calm that day.

We have been taught right from the beginning to not question much. It’s rude to question your elders, it’s disrespectful to question the rituals and it’s impolite to ask ‘why?’. So, in order to be polite, we compromise on clarity and live with half knowledge. Everyone knows what half knowledge can prove to be. Yes. Dangerous!
We assume what other’s think of us, we assume our deadlines, we even assume our relationship statuses. How easy would it become, if we would just get up and ASK to get clarity on everything.

As long as our intention is to get clarity, there’s no harm in asking questions. As Mark Twain once said:‘
‘He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever’

#LearnToAsk #DontAssume #PenningFromTheHeart #AtoZchallenge