5 work lessons from sorority rush

Sometimes, the parts of a situation we hate the most are the ones that teach us some of the most valuable life lessons. This is the case for me and sorority rush.

I hated rush. Like really, really hated it. It sucked, it was tedious, it was exhausting and once, it even prompted me to refuse to talk for an entire night (I think my husband still has the sign I wrote declaring that I was done speaking). Unfortunately for me, though, I was good at rush. This meant I often had to take the lead spots in the receiving line, help other girls who had a difficult time making small talk, and walk new sisters through the process. Kind of like a rush mentor.

Then I started thinking about how similar those tasks are to leadership roles at work. This thinking meandered down the river of too much time on my hands and led me to the island of other work lessons I learned from rush:

Work when you don’t want to. For reasons that none of us could explain, our first rush party (which was dictated by the Panhellenic Council, so we had no say in the matter) was always, every year, without fail, on Valentine’s Day. The timing was pretty amazing, actually. Those of us with boyfriends clearly hated this unfortunate circumstance, and the girls without boyfriends weren’t too pleased either. But we had to attend, especially if we wanted to keep the rush chair off our backs and not pay a fine for missing a rush party. So even though I would have rather spent the night with my boyfriend, I showed up.

The same goes for work. There will be times when you really, really don’t want to work. You’re hungover or it’s a beautiful day and you’d rather go to the park or it’s rainy and you’d rather stay in bed and watch movies or the idea of work in general makes you want to throw up. And maybe on some of those days you take a vacation day or a mental health day. You can’t always do that, though. For starters, it’s looks bad to constantly call out and two, it’s a good way to burn through your time. So, most times, you need to show up at your job even when you don’t feel like it. It’s part of having a job and being a good employee. And also keeping a job.

Show up on time. Or deal with the consequences. I wasn’t alone in the fact that I hated rush. Most of the girls in my chapter hated it. Those 4 nights were, at times, akin to torture. We’d leave the parties hoarse, exhausted, frustrated, and sometimes kind of sad. Not really incentive to show up the next night. But we did, and we did so on time. Because if we didn’t, there were consequences like fines and a really annoying lecture from the rush chair. No one wanted that. So we used those potential consequences  as incentive to show up on time (even early!).

For as difficult as it may be, you need to show up to work on time. Not only is punctuality most often a job requirements but it’s part of conducting yourself professionally. It’s how a responsible employee acts, even if your boss or supervisor is chronically late. You need to be better than that. Because if you’re not, you will get into trouble in some manner, even if that manner is passive aggressive monitoring from a nosy co-worker. It’s best just to adjust your schedule, either at home or at work, to ensure that you arrive on time.

Handle yourself appropriately. I wish I could count high enough to track the number of girls I didn’t want to talk to during rush. Some were insanely rude and snobby, some were about as exciting as wet paint, and some were just huge bitches. Despite all of that, I needed to stuff my feelings down, talk to them politely and enthusiastically and bite my tongue (or I just passed them off to one of my sisters). The hardest part, for me, was keeping the snarky comments to a minimum. But conducting myself appropriately was a huge part of not only recruiting new members but not getting into trouble.

At work, you’ll need to do the same. You will face people and circumstances that easily lend themselves towards a poor attitude, rude comments, and unprofessional body language. You’ll need to learn to keep that in check, though, because not only will those actions reflect badly on you, they’ll be a huge turn off to those who are in a position to promote you. No one wants to promote someone who can’t handle herself professionally and appropriately in unpleasant circumstances.

You’ll have to work with people that don’t like you. And vice versa. Despite what you hear about sororities, we’re not all happy, singing BFFs who get along all the time. In fact, there are some of us that can’t stand each other. And this never comes out more than during rush. Spending that kind of intense time with someone you’d rather punch in the neck is enough to make you want to tear your hair out (or drink heavily). But you can’t do that for reasons other than the fact that tearing your hair out probably hurts a whole lot. It’s just not the professional or adult way to act.

At work, you’ll face similar circumstances. You will encounter people you don’t like and people who don’t like you. And often, you’ll have to work very closely on a project or team with that person. It’s a shitty circumstance, having to stuff down feelings of contempt and annoyance, but workplace violence is a sure way to get fired instantly (and probably arrested). Part of being a good employee is learning to deal with people who you don’t like and who can’t stand you. Conducting yourself professionally in

Perform crappy tasks to the best of your ability. One year, one of my closest friends was our rush chair. That meant that she was responsible for the entire process, which included, among a host of tasks, dividing us up into committees. For what I can only assume was a cruel joke, she put me on the spirit committee (I will pause and allow time for laughter). It was the worst. Thing. Ever. Even though I hated every moment of it, I still did the best that I could, which include peppy singing and dancing and encouraging girls to…well, I can’t remember what I encouraged them to do but I’m sure it was insightful.

I assure you, this will happen to you at work. There will be horrible, tedious, painful tasks that you are asked to complete. There will be assignments given to you that you find menial or below your paygrade. But you must do them anyway and you must do them to the best of your ability (and, if you’re going to complain, do it in your head or at home). By doing so, it shows that you are willing to help out when asked and that you are trustworthy. This will come in handy when you’re up for a raise or promotion.

Sometimes, we learn the biggest lessons from the situations we hate the most. Such was the case for me and rush. I only wish I had figured out these lessons when I first started working. It would have made a huge difference.

Readers, what unpleasant situations have taught you some significant lessons, either work related or personal?