After my post last Sunday of wondering what new series to pick up, I started on a good one that tempted me to sacrifice my sleep on the very same night. Haha.. I really enjoy it that I finished the series and its sequel (a total of 28 episodes) by Friday. The first season takes place in the university and revolves around hazing activities while the sequel jumps 2 years later when the character has entered the working world and internship. The story is realistic enough that it really brings back my memories as I can relate with my personal life.
Hazing
Hazing, ragging, orientation, initiation. There are many names to call this activity although some have more negative connotation than others. I experienced both the harsh/uncivilised version (in senior high school) and the more civilised version (in JC and university). The one in the drama is the harsh one because obviously the civilised version will be too boring. It is interesting that despite being in different countries, the hazing stuff is about the same: the seniors are shouting etc at the beginning, then later on show that they will also do the punishments meted out to the juniors previously, before eventually revealing that everything is just an 'act' at the end.
Looking back, it does not matter each style, the activities themselves are kind of useless. The facade is always about building bonds, unity, knowing more people etc but after the orientation period wraps up, people are just back being strangers.
I disagree with the physical punishment. However, looking at long term usefulness, surprisingly the harsh type of hazing is more beneficial in the long run. All the shouting and mental distress are good preparation in what lies in 'real' world or working world. The civilised one is just for 'feeling good' or even optional is sort of rubbish because that is not how the real world works.
We will meet strangers and we have to know how to approach them if needed which is the relevance of 'gathering of seniors' signature activities. At times we are forced to do things that we think are useless and we just have suck it up for work with is the relevance of doing whatever stupid stuff the seniors ask. At work, what we think as useless may be just because we do not see the value of that actual work. So if we teach the values of making things optional or doing things as you like, these people will not survive the real work next time.
The most important thing that comes from the shoutings is yes we will meet psychos at work, whether they are bosses, colleagues, clients, etc. We cannot control them or the situation that they put us into all the time but what we can do is how to have the resilience to overcome such situations.
Work
I used to look for dramas outside school life because I am no longer schooling. It is very difficult to find such stories because working life is just boring, no matter how we want to dramatise it. Just using this as an example, the plot and the new characters introduced in the season 2 at the work place are so boring. They mainly revolve around office politics. Bleah...
Watching both seasons back to back made me appreciate the values of the hazing from the first season. As I mentioned above, psychos are everywhere. At work, you can just have people bullying others simply because they are more 'seniors'. Seriously these type of people should just be gone from this earth.
At the same time, it makes me realised that my working life has been quite blessed as I have never been outright bullied and shouted at just because I was new. Of course I am not spared with the other subtler toxic environment such as sarcasm and condescension when I was a newbie or simply because I look young/new/inexperienced as well as the regular favouritism and office politics subsequently. Thanks to my hazing experience, at least I know the art of 'going in one ear and going out another ear' and the resilience that as long as I do not engage in their 'game', they will not overpower me. Eventually, the sweetest revenge will come when they know my true value: just like at the end of the orientation in my senior high school, when the senior knew I was the top student in junior high school, he felt a bit paiseh. After all, in school life, academic strength is more valued than seniority. Hehe.. Similarly now at work, I also have certain skill sets that others do not have so do not simply underestimate me just because my strengths are different from yours.
Thank you for the trip down the memory lane with this drama. Now I just want to be a good colleague and senior at work. Stay away from all the toxicities hehe..
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