First Impression Gone Awry

My first day working in our Bangkok office did not quite go as planned. I got all dressed up in my monkey suit, threw some gel on my new yuppie haircut, and although I made it to Bangkok fine, I managed to pull a certifiably dumbass move while walking to the office from the train station. I was hurrying and trying to figure out where I was in the city by consulting my iPhone's GPS map, when suddenly I tripped over an unseen step and biffed it big time in full view of a half-dozen young Thai hawkers who watched me keel over really hard in my snazzy suit. It hurt on a lot of levels, and their stifled laughter was the least of it. Picked myself up, rubbed my shins, grabbed my toppled over suitcase full of pork rinds & chili paste, and kept going after dusting off my soiled dress slacks. Everyone falls down once in awhile. Just pick yourself up and keep on going, right? Ah, but if it were only that easy. Sadly, when I eventually made it to the office, I realized I'd ripped the crotch of my slacks when I fell. Knowing you're about to meet your new employer with a gaping hole in your pants doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Maybe I can buy some new pants, I thought. Right. I'm already late and pants that fit don't just fall from the sky. Maybe I could make a joke of it to them and it wouldn't seem so bad. Right. After all, doesn't every boss want to carefully examine the crotch of their new hires the first time they meet them? Sigh. These were not good options. Ultimately I made a desperate detour to a 7-11, found some safety pins, and after much discreet finagling in a men's room, emerged in my suit looking as if nothing had happened. I suppose this is all too much information, but hey, it's kind of a funny story, and I'm a firm believer in the dictum that everyone ought to spend more time laughing at themselves. And anyway, after what seemed like a pretty horrendous start to my morning, I ended up having an amazing day meeting my new coworkers, eating lunch with my old friend Tawanrat and her colleagues, and chatting with my new bosses. So what if I spent the whole day nervously eying my flimsy patchwork pants held together with safety pins? Whole chapters of my life have been held together with less. Besides, no one noticed. It's not like my interview unfolded like the one below. I may pull some dumb moves occasionally, but I'm not quite a caricature like the guy below...yet... ;-) Here's to safety pins & hasty patch jobs.