This week flew by, but it was totally exhausting. I finished up my project – 183 letters all sorted, stuffed, labeled, and the two forms completed. I gave the last of them to the mailroom at about 10:00am and then worked on some other projects for the rest of the morning. It was very sweet, because several people came over to express their disappointment that I was leaving the department and would now be in HR full time.
The thing about HR is that it’s totally cut off from the rest of the firm – because of privacy and confidentiality issues. So, the only time you see anyone else is when you venture out of HR for some reason, or because someone comes to HR for some reason. It’s not like working on the other floor, where there are a lot of people in different departments all using the same color copier (so you run into them there), or getting something out of the fridge in the kitchen, etc. I’ll miss the socializing aspect, but I’ve got the HR girls to hang out with, so I’ll be happy!
Here’s the kicker on my big project. We got an email from someone (outside the firm) at a little before noon asking if we already mailed the letters, because we used the wrong forms (which went with each letter). We could NOT believe this guy – who knew we were working on this project for WEEKS and knew for at least a month that we had the old forms – called on the day they were being mailed.
When I left at noon the woman I worked with was calling the “big boss upstairs” to find out if they wanted to send out an email to everyone we were sending the letters to saying to discard the old forms and get new forms (they’re readily available to the recipients of the letters), or open up 183 envelopes, remove the old forms and insert the new ones.
I’m glad I won’t have to deal with it, because starting on Monday I’m training the new temp! Elsa told me I am only able to train on Monday and Tuesday and, starting on Wednesday, I have to work full time in HR, because then the other woman is going on sabbatical and I need to be there.
Today was Elsa’s last day. We were also celebrating someone’s birthday, so the woman in charge of HR ordered salad and pizza for lunch for everyone. We sat in one of the conference rooms, but I just ate and ran, because I had so much work to do. I'm really going to miss Elsa a lot, not only because we commute together every day, but because she's fun at work, too. She also trained me a lot and she's a patient teacher.
There were 3 pieces of pizza left and I brought them home, because it was SO good. There was no sauce – it was a 4-cheese pizza and I LOVE cheese! I also brought home the salad dressings (they gave SO much). I had a slice tonight for dinner (after I finished 2 loads of laundry) and I have two slices left. I can have one tomorrow night with a salad, and another for lunch on Sunday!
I don’t know what I’ll be eating all day tomorrow, but they’re feeding us breakfast and lunch – probably bagels for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. I just hope they have tuna, because I don’t eat meat!
I spoke to Eric tonight. He got his car last night and drove himself to the bus stop this morning for the first time. Susan is finally off the hook and can sleep until a decent time. She went above and beyond for Eric for the past two weeks, chauffering him around ALL the time – doctor’s appointments, DMV, apartment hunting, and driving him and picking him up from work. She’s the best!
Today, after work he waxed the car. He said it’s a mess, and not really a great car, but – hey – it’s just to get him around town.
Tonight I watched a show that’s in its second season, but I never watched the first season. It’s called TIM GUNN’S GUIDE TO STYLE. Tim Gunn is the guy from PROJECT RUNWAY, but before that he was at Parson’s School of Design and he is a fashion mavin.
The show is just like WHAT NOT TO WEAR, where they take a woman who has no style and is dressing all wrong and show her how to dress for her body, her lifestyle and her age. It was very interesting and I learned a few things, which is always great.
I’m definitely going to bed early, because I already set the alarm for 7:00am! The subject matter for the focus group is Social Issues – whatever that means. I’ll fill you in tomorrow!