Induction

I had recently started working at a new company. It was in my initial days where I had been following the unwritten rules: keep your head down; do not get involved in the gossip; stay low; keep everything low profile; avoid doing everything that would attract unnecessary attention; overall keep to yourself. Since I had just started working with this new team I was acting more of an observer. I was given simple tasks which did not require much of training. While undergoing the 'on the job' training I was doing certain minor tasks as well.

This office was a very different from the multinational companies I had worked earlier. In my previous companies people would never respect the working hours. People would work for several hours even after their working hours would get over. But here the working hours were considered sacred. Once the working hour ends nobody would stay back to continue to work. They would leave almost immediately. This was one of the major changes that I was still not able to adapt to.

There was one such evening. The working hours were officially over at 5:30 p.m. right at the time when I was about to pack my bag I received a minor task from my boss. It was not an urgent task yet I decided to stay back and work on it. When I started working on it I realised that it was not a minor task. It was not easy as I was told it would be. Also it was time consuming. It was now 6:30 p.m. but I was still working on that task. The crowd in the office had started dwindling. At 5:30 I could see almost 70 people on the floor. At 6:30 I could see that the number has gone down to 10.

It was now 7:00 p.m. and I was still not done with the task. I looked around and I saw that including me there where hardly five people in the office. As someone who had worked in the dreaded night shift the lack of crowd never bothered me. I actually preferred working when not many people were around because the floor would be quiet and peaceful. I continued to work.

While I was engrossed in my work I was startled by a sudden tap on my shoulder. The tap broke my concentration and I turned around. I saw that the senior manager of Human Resource Department was standing next to me. The corporate etiquette made me stand up to speak with her. The HR manager smiled at me and asked me, "what is your name? Which department do you work with? Who is your reporting manager?"
I was really tensed with this interaction. I started making the calculations in my mind to understand what I had done wrong which required intention from a senior HR manager. I really could not figure out if I had done something wrong. Maybe she read my face or my mind, "do not worry. You are not in trouble. I have never seen you here that is why I am asking you. I suppose you are new here".
That made me relax a bit and I provided every information that she had asked for. She is smiled at me again and looked around. She saw my reporting manager sitting and working at his desk. She told me to pack my bags and told my manager that I was leaving with her.

My manager nodded. I was still not able to understand what was happening. Though she told me that I was not in trouble I could not understand why did she say that I must leave. While on our way out she looked at me and said, "I guess nobody told you but our office is haunted".

I froze at that moment.