Friends don't let friends drink Coke

First of all, suits are entirely too expensive. If I didn't already have a job, there is no way I could have afforded the charcoal pinstripe I picked up last weekend. Which raises some questions about the backwards logic of the relationship between suits and interviews (need suit for interview, but need job to afford suit...). I think I may have just stumbled on to the root of homelessness...but that's a whole other can of worms.
Second, working for a Fortune 500 company has its advantages. Most notably their deep pockets. I bring all of this up because I recently returned from my first "business trip." As part of the Campus Development program, I had to give a presentation to my boss's boss's boss's boss's boss and his yes men. The phrase "nerve wracking" does not do this situation justice. But on the bright side, I ate 5 meals and cozied up in a Marriot hotel without dropping a dime (i.e. the aforementioned deep pockets)
As a quick synopsis of the trip, I spent two days in Maryland with roughly 20 other Campus Hires. We each had our moment in the spotlight to talk about our training and work experience thus far yadda yadda yadda nothing terribly interesting to anyone outside the soda industry...or to anyone inside the industry for that matter. And of course, there was your token kiss ass who asked entirely too many questions and shook everyone's hand enough times to put the inventor of hand sanitizer into early retirement.
I assume that my presentation went well. I say "assume" because I'm relatively sure I blacked out for the majority of the time I was talking (think the debate scene from Old School). But what really shook me up about this little corporate adventure was the notion that I had begun my career. Can this be true? Have I reached a point in my life where such a heavy word can be applied to little ol' me? The jury is still out, but Mr. Bossman sure seems to think so. He threw around terms such as "mobility" and "tenure"...which basically sounds to me like in 20 years I'll be selling soda in eastern Kentucky. I suppose it's a good thing to know that I am viewed by Pepsi as an investment. But on that same note, they also view me as a mature young pro-fessional. Not the case. For instance, one of my Pepsi peers who I've been training with was mentioning that his new route really "pushes a lot of volume." To this I instinctively replied "your mom pushes a lot of volume." Enough said.
So I guess the general outcome of this whole ordeal is that I'm willing to see where the soda train takes me. That is, of course, unless they recognize me as the village idiot that I truly am and pull the plug. Until then, I'll be their Pepsi Posterchild 5 days a week. Just don't hold it against me if I throw a couple back on the weekends and fall asleep on the metro. Because, after all, we are young. And that beer's not going to drink itself.