It was 30 minutes past 8 am on a Tuesday morning at work, and I walked briskly into my office and towards my workstation. My laptop was already turned on and I was ready to activate my work mode for the day.
I greeted my colleagues and sat myself down on my seat, then I turned around to talk to one of my new engineers about a topic that needed some attention.
“I’ll be going in to check on it, Rebecca” she said as she swung around to look back at me from her seat.
I stared at her for a good 2 seconds longer than I should have, and then I proceeded to thank her for following up on her tasks in our production line.
The reason I had paused in my usually fast-paced conversations with her was because as she turned to look at me, I noticed a large pimple patch on her right cheekbone.
For those who don’t know about it, these patches are used to treat acne and hasten the healing.
It was quite obvious, a circular transparent piece covering a large pimple beneath it.
She was unfazed as she conversed with me, as though wearing the acne patch was completely normal at our workplace.
Most people would usually wear these patches at home, me included when I had my breakouts nearing that time of the month that most girls would dread.
And she was younger than me by almost a decade. In comparison, when I was her age, I was a much more self-conscious girl than she was and would never have allowed myself to do something like that.
And frankly, I was not put off by it but instead, I admired her for it.
Because what she did showed that she did not put too much emphasis on other’s perceptions of her and how she looked, and that was not a common trait for a young girl in her twenties.
She was confident in herself, and that was something I struggled with in my younger adulthood.
On top of that, as she was my subordinate, I had no complaints about her work performance.
She was focused on her work, polite, proactive, earnest, and smart.
That day I learned a bit more about her and the new trait I saw in her was refreshing.
Her head was in the right place as far as I was concerned, and that event made her stand out in my memory in a good way.