Well its come and gone - and all over. Its Friday 5:30pm and I am home! I have accomplished my first week's worth of work!!!
I laid awake from 2:45am this morning just thinking of things and plans and projects etc for my new work so I got into work early this morning. I caught the 6am train which got me to my desk before 7:40am. We can start any time between 7:30 and 10:00am and we can finish anywhere between 3:00pm and 6:00pm. I finished at 3:10pm this afternoon after being awake most of the night.
I'm getting a fast handle on the technicalities of the job. too fast of a handle for some of them - they refused to train me further today - decided to put off my questions until next week - very irksome!
The staff and the bosses will take a lot more to get used to especially as I often lack necessary diplomacy skills. My supervisor has already apparently gotten upset a few times because he's perceived my questions of "why do you do it that way" as a personal attack....
Oh well we'll get used to each other. I've already decided I'm going to give this job three years. Made a little compact with myself to treat this job like a three-year contract. That will help me when things don't go to my liking I think - hopefully I wont get as too depressed about old stick in the muds in the job as I did in the last one!
Decided to spend tonight doing a little bit of tidying and cleaning and washing and then probably fall asleep on the lounge before 8pm :)
Tomorrow its shopping - I need a warmer coat, a air of gloves and a cordless phone - so I can talk to people *while* getting things done each night. I no longer have the time during the weeknights to spend hours on the phone without making dinner or ironing clothes or other necessities at the same time.
And of course HP is out tomorrow - and I must see how it ends .......
12 comments:
HMMM... Well, the first couple of weeks is always a bit odd, I guess. I was at my current place of employment for I think 2-3 weeks before I even had a computer - it was pretty stupid. And my trainer spent 7 of every 8 hours on personal phone calls, so I pretty much figured stuff out on my own, and surpassed her by the end of the month. Needless to say, we didn't really get to be friends. It'll just take some time for you all to figure out how each other work, not to mention you having to readjust your entire schedule, so you can get back to your comfort zone. You'll get there. Sounds like maybe you just need to breathe some new life into 'em, and maybe that's what they are hoping for, too, though won't admit it :) Plus, you get the weekend off! New book, time to stitch, etc!!!! No spoilers on HP, since I just started The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell, so I won't get to it for a couple of weeks!
Happy to hear that your first week of work went well. I think that a three year compact with yourself is a great idea. By then you should be really settled in and be able to make a firm decision about where to head next, if anywhere at all. Are you able to do any stitching on the train? Or is it all too new yet? Enjoy the Harry Potter new book. I am going to get my copy this weekend too, but I am not going to read it until I have finished re-reading #5 and 6 (1/2 way through with #5). I want it all to be fresh :)
Glad to hear you made it through the first week. And the first month or so is always an adjustment for everyone. Too bad your supervisor feels attacked when you ask questions, but I'm sure he'll figure out how you are soon. And I like the idea of a three year compact with yourself.. gives you a goal so to speak. I hope you're enjoying your weekend!
And I'm currently on the other end of that - I'm training the person who will take over from me. We get along very well, she's a really nice person and about twice as dynamic as me - can be reached fairly easily, I'm not exactly a very dynamic person anymore.
Anyway, I actually do tell her everything I know. I want to give her a better start than I received, but in the past three weeks she was immediately loaded with things from the boss who will probably later on complain that I haven't trained her well... :-((
On that same note: Déborah, the girl who replaces me, was astonished that the boss is throwing me out...
Mel, you sound like you really dove in head first! Hope you can pull through, and get the message over that you just want to know why things were done in a certain way to better understand how processes could be improved...
Sounds as though it went well Mel - good for you :-)
Were you very surprised?
I suppose you've read it by now...
Otherwise... spoiler space, don't read on! I've read it in just about 12 hours straight through, LOL.
It only surprised me that she killed so many. Found many scenes no better than fanfiction. No surprise that Harry was the last Horcrux, but I really expected him to be a goner for good. HATE the pairings, because they're really, really trite! Hated it, that she put Remus together with Tonks (of course I already hated that in book 6) and that she killed them both. Again, really, really trite...
It did bring some closure, but I didn't think it all too satisfactory at all...
Thanks all for all your kind comments about my first week of work !!!!!
I've chatted with Mariann via PM on HP and I'm going to remove her comments from here so we don't accidentally spoil it for anyone else - because you'll have to read past those comments to get to this reply for example.
As to work, I had meetings with my supervisor and the boss. My supervisor is male and the boss is female. I really really loved the boss - she's blunt and earthy just like me, an "all the cards on the table, tell you bluntly what she thinks and what she wants".
My supervisor unfortunately is a lovely guy who simply wants to be liked by everyone and takes all questions as criticisms .... so therefore I need to couch every question I ask as - this is not a criticism, I'm just trying to understand the organisation, so why .....
The staff are mostly long term most have been there over 10 years in the exact same positions doing the exact same work. The two senior of the staff have been there over 30 years each and have carved out great niches for themselves where they are seen as experts on everything, but don't actually seem to do any work ... they just make personal calls and gossip and wait for the other staff to come and ask their advice on matters.
I've been told by the boss that I was given the job because of my energy and enthusiasm and I'm there to inject some life into the staff or annoy the older ones enough that they will leave.
gee - great! And any reforms I try to implement, will have the full support of my boss - but not that of my supervisor - he has no backbone. I saw that in the team meeting on Friday - he went in with an agenda of changes and each one these two long term staff howled him down and he backed down - on every single point !!!
The other team leader (my colleague - we run the section in two halves under the supervisor) is also a long term staff member, He's been there 30 years also - and he refused to continue training me on Friday. He said I had learned enough this week and we will continue learning the computer system late next week. Excuse me ???? You are actively refusing to teach me ???? Oh yes, you see you're learning too quickly and that is unnerving the staff ......
So once again Mel is in a situation where she has to use her least developed skill - diplomacy and is expected by the boss to not only manage my staff, but to also manage my supervisor ..... great!
However the organisation is good and I love the work, so well we will see about the rest of it as it goes along. As I said earlier - I'm giving it three years and then will decide further .......
Well after six hours of tromping around shopping centres I finally found a coat - but no gloves. The coat is a man's woollen overcoat. Beautifully warm but P says I look like I need epulauts and a general's hat while I'm wearing it. It keeps me warm and feels comfortable, and I figured that's more important.
No gloves. I mean honestly - why would anyone want to buy a coat and gloves - its only the middle of July - the coldest time of year .... but no all the shops have their spring and summer clothing in already. Some of the stores told me they ordered very little winter stock this year, (and nothing heavy like coats) because the meteorologists back in January said we would be having a very mild winter - well guess what, they were wrong!
I did pick up Harry Potter though and read it - I enjoyed it. The ending makes it clear that there will only be seven books in the series. She might write some more in the same universe - but she ends this series quite conclusively.
And I picked up a set of cordless phones, so now I can chat on the phone and get dinner ready or ironing or other such things - makes me a little more organised when I only have a two hours between getting home at night and going to bed.
So all in all - a happy Mel this Sunday morning - but no stitching yet this week unfortunately - maybe tonight ......
Mark is wondering if all the staff are given Mogadon as part of their breakfast after two years in?
Well, it sounds like an adventure at work to be sure, Mel. I think it's great, though, that you have a boss you like and who will understand your personal style. On the plus side, it sounds like you'll be able to make this job a bit of what you want it to be, even though it's going to take some work.
As to your comment on the diplomacy skill - just think of this as a lesson/growing experience. I have a similar situation that I'm trying to view that way. I firmly believe that there are certain lessons we're meant to have, and that fate/the universe/whatever you believe in sends them our way on purpose. (Ok, so today's a good day, there are lots of them where I don't handle this challenge well at all! lol)
And last but not least - I feel your shopping pain! I went shopping for a couple of summer (hopefully sleeveless) blouses for work over the weekend - and NADA! Everything's turning toward autumn here. Maybe we should swap? I could get you gloves and warm stuffs and you could get me cool! LOL
As this situation keeps cropping up again and again and again ..... I assume yes the Universe is going to keep sending it my way until I learn ..... {sigh}
Good luck with your shopping - I did buy a few summer work shirts because they were incredible bargains while I was looking for my coat .......
Thanks for your positive comments and ideas :) :)
Just remember one of my personal favorites: Well-behaved women rarely make history :) And I include being PC/diplomatic or not under behaviour. And from one who is definitely NOT PC unless I feel it necessary (which is rarely), if there were a few more of us, perhaps the world wouldn't be in the state it is in today. But that's a whole other rant! And I'm having a hell of a time finding shorts and t-shirts on the clearance racks for the boys to wear to school in a couple of weeks. We go back to school so early that they are already in when the good Back To School sales hit - I'm over it by then...
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