[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"exercise-944":3},{"payload":4,"id":45,"user":46,"level":52,"course":53,"activity":54,"activity_slug":55,"title":6,"topic":56,"tone":57,"stats":58,"created":61,"score":62,"is_favorite":63,"public":64,"is_external":63},{"text":5,"title":6,"answers":7,"questions":38},"When I started my new job at a medium-sized technology company, I expected the usual challenges: learning unfamiliar software, remembering dozens of names, and trying not to look lost in the corridor. What I didn’t expect was that the hardest part would be understanding the company’s culture. Everyone seemed friendly, but there were unspoken rules about who could interrupt whom in meetings, how quickly you were supposed to reply to messages, and even which jokes were acceptable.\n\nOn my first Monday, my manager introduced me to the team and then hurried off to another meeting. I was left with a laptop, a long list of tasks, and the uncomfortable feeling that I should already know what I was doing. People were busy, headphones on, screens full of charts. I told myself I’d figure it out by observing. After all, asking too many questions can make you look incompetent.\n\nBy Wednesday, I had made my first mistake. I sent a message to the whole department asking for a file that, as it turned out, was stored in a shared folder everyone used daily. No one was rude, but the silence that followed felt louder than any criticism. Later that afternoon, a colleague called Marta stopped by my desk. She didn’t laugh or lecture me. Instead, she said quietly, “It happens. The folder system here isn’t obvious at first.” Then she showed me where everything was and, more importantly, explained which channels to use for different kinds of questions.\n\nOver the next few weeks, Marta became an informal guide. She never acted like she was doing me a favour, which made it easier to accept her help. She also didn’t solve problems for me; she showed me how to solve them. When I struggled to present an idea in a meeting, she suggested I send a short summary beforehand so people could read it in advance. When I worried that I was too slow, she reminded me that speed without accuracy creates more work for everyone.\n\nWhat surprised me most was that Marta wasn’t a manager. In fact, she had joined the company only a year earlier. One day, I asked why she spent time helping new people when she clearly had her own deadlines. She shrugged and said, “Someone did it for me. And if you learn faster, the whole team benefits.” It was a practical answer, not a sentimental one.\n\nLooking back, I realise my early fear of appearing incompetent was actually slowing me down. Marta’s approach made the workplace feel less like a test and more like a shared project. I still make mistakes, but now I correct them sooner because I’m not wasting energy pretending I’m perfect. If there’s one lesson I’ve taken from my first month, it’s that the best support often comes from the person who remembers most clearly what it feels like to be new.","The Unexpected Mentor",{"1":8,"2":13,"3":18,"4":23,"5":28,"6":33},[9,10,11,12],"Understanding the unwritten ways people behaved at work","Finding the correct offices and meeting rooms in the building","Learning the new software tools as quickly as possible","Remembering every colleague’s name immediately",[14,15,16,17],"He thought it might make him seem incapable","He believed questions should only be asked in meetings","He didn’t have time because the task list was too long","He preferred to wait until his manager returned",[19,20,21,22],"He asked everyone for a file that was already easy to find","He deleted an important shared document by accident","He sent a private message to the wrong person","He forgot to reply to a message from his manager",[24,25,26,27],"By completing his tasks for him when he was under pressure","By teaching strategies so he could handle issues independently","By telling the manager that the writer needed extra training","By criticising his errors so he wouldn’t repeat them",[29,30,31,32],"She saw helping as useful for the team, not just kindness","She was asked by HR to support new staff members","She enjoyed feeling more experienced than new employees","She wanted to impress management to get promoted quickly",[34,35,36,37],"Support from colleagues can make learning faster and more honest","New employees should avoid making mistakes in their first month","Managers are the only people who can teach workplace culture","Technology companies are difficult places for beginners to work",{"1":39,"2":40,"3":41,"4":42,"5":43,"6":44},"What did the writer find most difficult at the beginning of the new job?","Why did the writer avoid asking many questions at first?","What was the writer’s mistake on Wednesday?","How did Marta generally help the writer?","What does Marta’s answer suggest about her motivation?","What is the writer’s main message in the text as a whole?",944,{"id":47,"username":48,"first_name":49,"last_name":50,"image":51},23948,"harley-davidson","Harley","Davidson","https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJD0KETXvAHpaISIfOtHmvNQSo2JhJOkmYOleW8KnChRvrtStjD=s96-c","B2","Reading","Long Text","long-text","A standard Cambridge-style question","Standard",{"times_played":59,"num_favorites":60},2,1,"2026-05-23T17:54:51",null,false,true]