Doctor Ridiculous Girl?

When I was young, my parents taught me the value of working hard.

Tata (my dad),  said the following things to me on a daily basis:

1)  "Life is hard"

2)  "It's hard to watch the show from the cheap seats (which he pronounced cheap SEEDS)"

and

3)  "If you're not going to be a doctor, lawyer or dentist, don't bother becoming anything else because you will not get anywhere in life".


Tata constantly reiterated that one must work incredibly hard in life, even if that meant hating what you did.  Because as long as you had a great paycheque coming in every week, then you were successful.


I did not agree.


I didn't know at the time that I didn't agree, but as the years passed and I got older, I knew that my theories did not match those of my beloved father's.

It all started when I promised Tata that I would write the MCAT to try and get into med school.  I had no desire whatsoever to write the feared exam.   And yet I tried to study every single day for 3 months straight over my summer break in order to prepare.  All for my dad.

When the big day came, and I got to the location of the exam, I realized very quickly that I was NOT in the right place.

I looked around at my studious colleagues who were all wearing golf shirts, had an assortment of 2H pencils and hi-tech calculators.  

I, on the other hand, wore my Use Your Illusion Guns N Roses t-shirt, held an assortment of fuzzy pink pens and brought with me about 4 red lip glosses.

But I wrote the stupid exam.  I hated every minute of it, and I rolled my eyes at least 72,000 times during the 4 hours that I was there.  But I wrote it.

You're probably wondering how I scored?

Well, let's just say that my brother ended up being the big-shot surgeon in our family :/



But things were not lost on me yet!  

And Tata still had hope in his "non-physician in training" daughter. 

I had secured myself an entry-level position in the health & safety department at a large and prominent pharmaceutical company.  Tata was very impressed!  

What was even better was that I enjoyed the company and my co-workers so much that I moved up in the ranks quite quickly.  

Before I knew it, I found myself in the role of lab scheduler - which is an impressive title for  "girl who runs around and talks to everyone and make sure that all of the drugs were made on time".  I was very good at this job. 


I had soon found myself a mentor, Anthony Qu.   The Manager of the Pharmaceutical Development Services department, who prior to joining the company had been a pharmacist.  

I admired Anthony very much.  He was very smart and ran a department of over 70 people without ever looking stressed.  But I mostly liked him because he was outgoing like me and made everyone laugh.  He also dressed really cool.  I bet you a stupid exam didn't teach him how to dress!!

As I pondered my future career, I found myself wondering if I should follow in Anthony's foot-steps and go back to school to become a pharmacist? 

As he and I sat talking shop one day (that's pharmaceutical lingo meaning we were talking about "work"), I asked him that very question.

He tilted his head to the side, looked at me through winced eyes and after a few seconds he said, 

"No.  That's not the right job for you."


GASP!! 


I was shocked.  I had finally decided on what I thought was the perfect occupation and he shot it down......in mere seconds!??  He didn't even give it a chance??


Anthony saw my perplexed look and continued to explain himself...


"Leo, you have so much life in you.  You would be so bored working as a pharmacist.....the same pharmacy, the same people....everyday......that's not enough for you.  You're meant for something else.....something bigger, something greater".


And with that, he announced that he was putting in a recommendation for me to get the highly-sought after position in sales that was just posted.


I was very confused.

But isn't everybody in their 20's??  

How the hell do you know what you're supposed to be for the rest of your life, if some days you can't even figure out what mood you'll be in? Or what you really like? Or who you really are?  Or what other people think of you? 

Was Anthony trying to get rid of me?  Did he not think I was doing a good job in the lab?

I stood up,  thanked Anthony for his recommendation and I left his office.   

Feeling worse than I started.

And as I walked down the hall, of our gigantic pharmaceutical institution, I realized that I had no clue who the hell I was, and what the hell I wanted from life.

And the worst part was that I was pretty sure that I'd never figure it out.





......to be continued.