Initiation rituals and hazing the new guys at work is a pretty common experience. Sometimes it’s simply a practical joke to see how gullible they are. For larger organisations with a new wave of interns, trainees and hopefuls, it’s a challenge with your noobie peers. And these traditions happen the world over.
Broadcasting & media production company, VS Services, based in Bangkok, Thailand put their newest interns to task in this video. What they describe as being the “first test”, they are to assemble C-Stands with a flag. You can tell that some are a little more used to this than others in this clip posted to Facebook.
A couple of them seem to deal with it fairly efficiently, particularly one of the ladies, while others seem to struggle a little. But practise makes perfect, and it’s all part of the learning if you want to become a grip with a career.
Whenever I have a new assistant work with me, I put them through the Lastolite Challenge. You’ve never seen anything funnier than watching somebody struggle to put away an 8’x7′ Hilite for the first time. Hopefully similar such challenges are also on VS Services’ list for their interns. If we’re lucky, they might post those to Facebook, too.
They’re not always just a way to make fun of the new guys, though. Such tests can be a good way to judge aptitude and previous experience. It gives you an idea of their current abilities, common sense, and how well they take to learning new tasks. But, yeah, they can often be pretty funny, too.
What initiation rituals have you been subjected to when starting at a new company?
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