Three interns and a boss

They were all driving back from a day trip to Iowa City on business. Being very different and solely united under the same summer internship, you can imagine that after spending over 12 hours in each others presence, they were slowly getting tiered of one another. If you payed attention, you could even feel the vegetated, drawn out and almost exacerbated atmosphere that filled the car. As they began their two hour drive back, each sat in their seat reflecting on the days series of events.

The girl sitting in the passengers seat, had not gotten much sleep in the past few weeks and was cranky as a result. She had been recently preoccupied with personal affairs and was frankly looking forward to some peace and quite. Being a passionate feminist, she and the second intern who happened to be the only guy, butted heads frequently. He happened to be sitting behind her, floating in and out of listening to music and partaking in conversation. At that particular moment, he was reflecting on one very odd statements that the other intern had previously made. She had asked if the Wizard of Oz was based on a true story and couldn’t for the life of him figure out how she had come to that conclusion. She happened to be the only one who wasn’t from Iowa, and who wasn’t even from the country. Despite her enthusiasm, she stuck out like a soar thumb and was starting to feel its social effects. The driver and leader of the group seemed content with the trip. Unbeknownst to her interns, she was secretly happy that she had the opportunity to become friendlier with some of the contacts that she had introduced to them.

Being of a very friendly nature and being the leader of the group she was the main conversation facilitator. Eventually, the chit chat took on a work/gossip turn engaging everyone in a common discussion. Before they knew it, the conversation took on a personal twist and the atmosphere began to relax. Finally, taking a chance, the guy sitting next to the foreigner turned with “I am sorry, I HAVE to ask. What on earth made you think that the Wizard of Oz was based on a true story???” The answer to which was a fit of laughter initiated by everyone in the car. The mood quickly relaxed and everyone began talking more freely and openly.

The subtle lesson from this story is that, no matter how different people are, it is still possible to find common ground and laugh at each others ‘ism’ and quirkiness. Even though they would probably just remain co-workers throughout the summer, what mattered was that for that car ride they were briefly united under a sense of camaraderie and humor.