Today was my first day splitting my time between the two departments. I started in KRM. One of the girls I will be assisting just returned from a week’s vacation today, so she had a lot of catching up to do. The boss has a bad back and was visiting the chiropractor and is also preparing to go on vacation for 3 weeks. The guy I will be working with (it’s a team of 3) was there, and he was able to spend a little time with me.
When I first got to my desk I had to call Support to have a tech guy get me fully set up. It was kind of complicated, since I have two sign-ons (one for when I’m in KRM and one for when I’m in HR). I also have two email addresses, since I have to be able to send things out from the appropriate address.
I got completely set up and tried to familiarize myself with everything on the new desktop. There are a lot of databases and documents I need to use every day and I was looking at them. They also gave me a Procedures Manual, which is over 120 pages. I started reading it. Some of it made perfect sense. Some of it was Greek to me. I explained to the guy the same thing I’ve told other executives over the years – if I understood everything you were doing, I could have YOUR job! I don’t think I need to understand everything. I just need to know enough to do MY job.
Basically, this job entails maintaining spreadsheets with updated information, sending and receiving emails – coordinating, communicating and maintaining. It’s a lot of repetition. I told them that’s good, because once I get something, I’ve got it. They said not to worry, they understand that it’s going to take some time for me to get going, but in the meantime they will be training me.
They were all so friendly, and so nice. The guy is a bit of a tease. He came up to me at one point and said, “Did you finish that spreadsheet?” For a minute I freaked, because I thought maybe he sent me something and I didn’t get it, or I just couldn’t think of what he was talking about. It must have shown on my face, because he broke out laughing and I said, “Oh, you’re going to be trouble – I can tell!”
They’re all younger than me. He is probably in his early 30s. The other girl I’ll be working with is probably a year or two younger than me and the boss is probably in her early 40s.
The morning went very quickly and, before I knew it, it was time to go downstairs to HR. The boss was turning 50 and they had decorated the entire office and had a party planned. When I got back they were all waiting around for her to finish a meeting behind closed doors.
They had a fabulous lunch set up in the HR conference room. There were two different kinds of pizza (vegetarian and pepperoni), two different kinds of salad (basic and a fancy salad with craisins, blue cheese chunks and walnuts), and crudite and dip.
The boss was very surprised and we all ate lunch. It was all the girls on the team and the man in charge of accounting (who must be a good friend). We had a lot of laughs. I mean, a lot. These girls love to laugh and they are all so funny! I made them laugh telling them about Molly Shannon’s character, Sally O’Malley, who always says, “I’m FIFTY!” They got such a kick out of it. I told them they should see Molly do it!
After lunch they brought in a cake that was TO DIE FOR. It was huge, chocolate, with chocolate icing covered with chocolate chips, and inside was a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding. Could it BE any better than that? Maybe -- if there was peanut butter or raspberry in it!
The pieces were pre-cut and they were tremendous. I had a half piece and I swear it weighed a pound. I ate most of it and was SO full, but SO happy and satisfied, after salad, pizza and this amazing cake.
After cake she opened her gifts. I felt a little guilty hanging around after lunch, so I left them to their party and went back to work, but the luncheon broke up soon after. Fortunately, the party didn’t end there. This boss is so popular in the office that people were coming down ALL AFTERNOON to wish her a happy birthday and see all the decorations, have some of the leftovers and cake, and just enjoy the celebration.
The girls had made a quiz – “How Well Do You Know the Birthday Girl?” with 15 multiple choice questions about her. There were questions about her pet’s name, her favorite sayings, her hobbies, and embarrassing things that have happened to her at the office over the years. The answers were SO funny and so clever.
They also had a big poster with things that happened the year she was born, and the price of gas (30 cents), etc. They really went all out and it was fantastic. It must have made her feel really good to see co-workers go to such extremes to be sure your birthday is fabulous. I thought it was wonderful and told them so. I told the boss that I’d been with the firm 7 months and hadn’t seen anything like THAT before! She must be really special!
I managed to get some work done, even with all the partying going on, and the afternoon flew by. I think it’s great that I get to spend the afternoons in HR, because it’s definitely going to be easier, and it will make the day go faster since the harder part of my day will be the morning, and I have easier afternoons to look forward to!
Tomorrow morning I’ll definitely start training. The girl training me is very sweet and I’ve known her since I started, because she sits near the fax machine and helped me out months ago, the first time I had to send a fax. You need to put in a code, and she let me use her code every time I sent a fax, and then she’d get the confirmation (in an email), and would forward it to me. So, we already had a relationship (and I think she may have had something to do with me being requested for this job). I’m looking forward to working with her.
Today was a really fun, busy day. It was just what the doctor ordered. I’m looking forward to more busy, fun days. This office is really great and I love going to work every day.
When I got home, I immediately took a nap, because I was exhausted. When I woke up I watched LEGALLY BLONDE and then Eric and I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Eric had eaten (really just snacked) while I slept, so I had a NUTRISYSTEM mushroom risotto and then finished my ice cream from last night. I found out Eric finished his ice cream last night, while he watched Leno and I was sleeping! I really enjoyed it all over again. I swear, COLD STONE CREAMERY’S chocolate peanut butter perfection IS perfect!