Soooooo much of this article is relatable to me. I remember my first office job, I couldn't snap myself out of the habit of asking my boss for a break to go to the bathroom. He finally said "You don't need to ask me, just go, jeez." I was just so used to jobs where you had to ask.

The time clock thing too! To this day, the back of my mind still wonders if I punched in and whether all my hours are being counted. Can't just walk away from those habits once internalized.

The culture difference is so real. I remember sitting in a meeting with a bunch of managers just a little higher on the totem pole than me. Not executives by any stretch. And they were all complaining about their taxes, the cost of private school for their kids, and the fact that they can't find a good second nanny. I'm just sitting there thinking "If I lose this job, I'm living in my car." Really hard to consider these guys my peers, and I know that affects my work and my working relationship with them.