McKinsey nightmare

I had a bad nightmare last night. I had just finished my MBA, and for some reason, I was starting back with McKinsey! I was at a welcome dinner in London, ready to start my associate training, and they told us there were different training locations where we would have to go the next day. The locations were London, New Jersey, and Frankfurt. We each had to draw a card that would tell us where we were bound. The director (who happened to be a serious German guy wearing a grey suit) handed out the cards. I told him I wanted to stay in London, that since I lived in London I saw no reason to fly of to some other place just to do a training. He said these were the rules and I would have to show flexibility as a consultant. I refused and finally managed to force him into giving me a card that gave me the right to stay in London. But he told me that I would regret this, that I had the wrong attitude to be a consultant, that I would have to show flexibility and be delighted being told to fly around. He would take my attitude into account at the next "people's performance committee".

After that, the dinner continued. I was sitting opposite an associate principal who I had actually known during my time there. She told me that she was pregnant and would probably going to stop working for a year when the baby came, because, after all, APs didn't earn that much and it wasn't worth it. Then suddenly I was just myself and told her that that was true, that I was very happy with my decision to become an investment banker, and that taking into account my bonus I would probably earn more than her as an Associate, hehehe.

Then I woke up, the sun was shining, and I was in London. I didn't have to fly away. I just took a long walk through Hyde Park, bought fresh juices at Wholefoods, came back home, read a book about 19th century explorers to Tibet, and then took a nap on my sofa. Life is good.