Rookiehood 101, Tuesday, Period 4

[raspberryturk]

"Attitude," Reno said, walking into the classroom today with his usual swagger, "is going to be what makes or breaks you all in the end, yo. People can tell a lot about a person by the way they carry themselves, by the words they use and the expressions they let show on their faces. I could probably take a good, hard look at each and every one of you and pick out which of you don't wanna be here, which of you actually wanna learn, which of you are tryin' hard not to roll their eyes at me and which ones ain't gonna bother makin' the attempt. It don't matter what the job you're doin' is, yo. You walk into it tellin' yourself that it's gonna suck, and it will."

He twitched a crooked smile at the assorted gaggle of rookies, and then crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the desk.

"Trick to bein' successful at the job is bein' able to put across the right kinda attitude, no matter what it is you're actually feelin'. You can be havin' a shitty day, but if you show up to work with a smile on your face, who's gonna know that you ain't at your peak performance? On the other hand, is the job you're doin' the kind were you wanna come off as competent? Would it suit you better to have people take one look at you and brush you off? Maybe havin' people underestimate you means that you'll be able to target their weak points down the road without them ever seein' it coming, yoto. Know what attitude is gonna serve you best when you're doin' what you're doin', and then master it. Be that attitude, yo. No matter what's gnawin' at you underneath, whatever it is that people see is what's gonna get the job done, no matter what."

It had taken a lot of self-control to keep from adding, 'because we're Turks' to the end of that statement. Old force of habit.

"Our exercises for today are gonna come in three parts, yo. First, I'm gonna get you guys who paired off last week to share with the class about your experiences as rookie an' mentor. Did the rookie give a hard time to the one in charge? Was the teacher doin' an okay job keepin' the rookie outta trouble? Do you both need to take an aspirin after bein' stuck dealin' with one another, this week?"

He smirked. He could wager a guess as to how many students that last one was going to be relevant to.

"Then I want you to all pair off again, preferably with someone you ain't gotten to know too well. Get to talkin', and try to figure out how much you can tell about your partner by how they hold themselves, how they talk. Try an' figure out their attitude, yo. And then compare notes with one another and see how right you were."

He liked that part, okay.

"Then, once you got an idea where people think your strengths and weaknesses are, try to figure out what you can do to fix that. Who do you wanna be? What steps are you gonna have to take to make it that far? Is it really just a matter of wakin' up every day and tellin' yourself that you're gonna be the best at what you do? Remember, optimism and productivity ain't necessarily the same thing. You can believe shit's gonna change, but that ain't hardly the same thing as gettin' out there and makin' the difference."

[Open!]

Comments

Sign In

[raspberryturk]

With attitude, punk.

Re: Sign In

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe Saunders

Re: Sign In

[intraspective]

Yamanaka Ino

Re: Sign In

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri Veila

Re: Sign In

[glacial_queen]

Karla

Lecture

[raspberryturk]

In which Reno talks, and you listen. In theory, anyhow.

Re: Lecture

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall stared intently at the floor.

He worked at his attitude. Sometimes it could be a challenge to be this misanthropic. If Reno thought he was going to change that, he was sadly mistaken.

Exercise 1: Rookie Assignment Roundup

[raspberryturk]

If you did manage to pair off and play with your rookie sometime during the week, feel free to share your experiences here as vaguely or in as much detail as you like. Handwave or link, it's all good!

Re: Exercise 1: Rookie Assignment Roundup

[momslilassassin]

"Ino managed to not crash into anything," Ben said, looking pleased.

Re: Exercise 1: Rookie Assignment Roundup

[intraspective]

"That," she said, with a toss of her head. "Is because I am awesome."

Straight lines were also fairly awesome, please note.

Re: Exercise 1: Rookie Assignment Roundup

[momslilassassin]

"I wouldn't go that far," Ben replied, flashing her a grin.

Exercise 2: Pair off!

[raspberryturk]

Grab a partner and see if, after a short conversation, you can figure out what sort of mindset they have about them. Compare notes and see if you were way off-base or not!

Re: Exercise 2: Pair off!

[intraspective]

...

... Ino wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know this. In her opinion she was awesome. Wasn't that enough?

... No?

Giving Reno a dirty look, she then glanced around for a partner.

Re: Exercise 2: Pair off!

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall didn't care what anyone else thought of him, and didn't care if they knew what he thought of them. Oh, well. He still had to do the assignment.

"You start believing in math yet?" he asked Ino.

Re: Exercise 2: Pair off!

[intraspective]

Her glance shifted from 'grumpy' straight into dubious.

"I don't recall much talk 'bout math when dealin' with getting jobs done, yo."

Re: Exercise 2: Pair off!

[heromaniac]

Momoko was used to people thinking she was weird. Now she had to ask someone to notice and say it aloud? Totally not fair, but if Reno said it would help...

Exercise 3: Attitude Readjustment

[raspberryturk]

So, now that you know what people think you're like, it's time to figure out what you want people to think you're like. Try to come up with a few ways you can work day-by-day to change the attitude that you present to the people around you. Who knows? It might make a difference on the job, someday.

The TAs

[raspberryturk]

When they ping in!

Re: The TAs

[gorka-wolf.livejournal.com]

Makita was indeed there, if anyone needed her.

Re: The TAs

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena was here. Distracted, but here.

Reno

[raspberryturk]

Who might be a little curious as to how he comes across to this particular group of Rookies, honestly.

Re: Reno

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

It was a very tired, exhausted Rookie who approached Reno after class. Her eyes were raw, and the dark circles underneath hinted that there hadn't been much sleep.

"I need to talk to you," she said. "Not here. It's ... not a conversation for here."

Never mind that she'd probably blurt it out in four seconds, anyway. She was trying to be competent.

Re: Reno

[raspberryturk]

Oh, shit. Rookie looked rough.

"You wanna walk and talk, Elena?"

Reno could walk and talk. That was presumably why he had been blessed with both legs and a mouth, after all.

Re: Reno

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Could we?" Elena asked, running a hand through her hair. "I need to ... you need a heads-up. On what happened. Or else you'll get sandbagged and I don't want you to get sandbagged."

There was a thread of coherency, there. This was an accomplishment.

"Walk and talk. Anywhere. Just ... not here."

OOC

[raspberryturk]

This entire class was written with a kitty trying to stick her butt in my face. Trufax.