My Orientation Experience in Hawaii

For all you travelers out there who go through numerous orientations, I thought I would share my latest story with you about my orientation in Hawaii.

I started a new job in Hawaii—a place that takes some adjusting to if you come from anywhere else in the world, where things are dictated by the clock. In Hawaii, everything gets done on their own timetable. If you have an appointment, you will typically have to wait a while for anyone to show up. Somehow, it all works out, though.

I arrived at my appointment with Human Resources, on time, of course. I was told that the person I had an appointment with just went to lunch and she would be back in about half an hour.

While waiting, I decided to go to the cafeteria to get something to drink. To my astonishment, there was hardly any food in the cafeteria. When I looked at the menu, I noticed it only offered two items. When I inquired, I discovered that the cafeteria only opened for an hour in the morning for breakfast, two hours for lunch and one hour for dinner. During that time, there were only two menu items to choose from and there weren’t any snacks to buy or anything you could get after hours. What an eye opener that was!

When I got back to Human Resources, I had to wait while the secretary finished up her personal call. Once she got off the phone, she proceeded to tell me about her personal situation before asking me what I was there for. I wasn’t too taken aback because I knew that Hawaiians are much more open than “mainlanders” about their personal problems. Also, most Hawaiians work at least two jobs to be able to afford living there, so their work is their life.

I finally met with my HR contact and she proceeded to tell me everything I needed to know, including where to park. The parking lot was a mile away and she told me that a shuttle would come by every 20 minutes to take you to the hospital. She said it would pick me up under the tree. At first, I thought she was kidding, but she wasn’t. When I went to check out the parking lot, I noticed it had several trees and I wasn’t sure which one was the pick up area.

I have adjusted and gotten used to the way things are done here. It’s not as bad as it seemed at first. Looking back, though, my orientation was amusing and out of the ordinary. Do you have any interesting stories to share about your orientation?