it’s a big one

while i wait for my hair to dry and my rotini to cook, i guess i should work on that weekly update i promised you on Thursday.
strangely, and completely out of character, my super-busy week has carried over into a super-busy weekend. friday night was probably the only downtime the entire two days. just a short list of the things i’ve accomplished this weekend:
– laundry
– grocery shopping
– xmas shopping
– xmas decorating
– cleaning floors
– washing many dishes
– making candles
– taking many pictures
– dusting
– finally putting last three boxes away
– organizing storage closet
– present wrapping
– fried rice cooking
there’s more, but i did say a short list. honestly, i haven’t felt very comfortable just sitting around at all. it’s like i’m someone else. someone who shakes their rugs out and puts up xmas lights and has a bubble bath. i don’t know this person. who is she and what is she doing in my apartment?

that’s enough about my other, June Cleaver-esque personality. my first week on the new job. well, it was definitely something different than what i’m used to. i’ve already moaned about the increase in working. seriously, i didn’t actually realize just how little i was doing, or rather just how efficient i’d gotten, in my previous position. this job is going to seriously challenge me on many levels.
firstly, it’s much more physical. instead of having my ass parked in the chair all day i’m up and down stairs all the time. this is not a negative. this will give me QUADS OF STEEL which is a good thing. then there’s the lifting, shifting and general carrying of tools, parts, uniforms, files, etc. there could be quite a bit of that.
secondly, i have to deal with many, many people. PEOPLE. other human beings who won’t just drop things off and pick things up, but people who will come to me and demand ANSWERS and SOLUTIONS and STUFF. part of this dealing with people involves the having of one of the fancy phones and voice mail. voice mail. i have voice mail at work. i can’t avoid the people by hiding in the file room. they can leave me messages. this… i’m not sure how i feel about this yet. ask me after this week. the person i’m replacing (henceforth known as The Annnoying Incompetent Psycho, or TAIP) did most of the phone answering last week. it was her way to control the situation just a little longer, you see.
thirdly, there is just SO MUCH WORK. oh my god, the work. it’s unfathomable. piles of it everywhere. you think i’m exaggerating. i’m not! when i got there on Monday, there were literally PILES of it on the desk. thankfull, thanks to TAIP’s inability to properly train me, i managed to get most of it filed away (because that’s all i’m good for to TAIP: doing crap filing so she didn’t have to). not only is there a lot of work, it’s a lot of different work. paperwork, tool work, more tool work, uniform work, safety documentation work, filing work.
i’m making it sound like it’s all overwhelming and horrible. well, it’s not horrible, but it was certainly overwhelming. i attribute most of that to the complete and utter frustrating ineptitude of TAIP to answer my questions or properly convey the why’s, how’s and where’s of the job. as told to me by my new officemate, Sean, TAIP has never once fully trained anyone to do her job. he surmises that is her means to maintain control. by the end of the week i had to agree with him. it’s a way to make herself look better: “hey, no one can replace me. this job is so complicated and complex that only *i* can do it!”.
additionally, i think she’s just incapable of letting go of her unbearable negativity about EVERY FUCKING THING. seriously, i can handle being bombarded by buckets of new information, emergencies disrupting the training time and all those stairs. what was going to get to me by the end of the week was her passively agressive attitude. luckily, i had Debbie to vent to and both she and Sean were so understanding and supportive of the experience. they just kept telling me that i’d be deprogrammed next week. indeed, that’s what’s going to happen. they’re going to re-train me to do most of the things TAIP either glossed over or showed me once or didn’t show me at all.

i make it sound so doomy and gloomy. i don’t mean to, but there were a lot of big, new, scary, annoying things about the week. of course, they were tempered by the cool, fun, interesting, challenging things. filed under cool things were my new safety shoes! ohmygod. these are the most comfy shoes i have ever owned right out of the box. who knew that steel toed shoes came in sneaker styles? i certainly didn’t. i also never expected them to be comfortable as all get out. i would love to get a non-steel-toed pair just for the rest of my life, they’re so great.
other neat things included meeting a bunch of people whose names i’ve known for the last seven years but hadn’t yet seen their faces, getting to go up to my old desk to work on the website one last time, going out for lunch with my new departmental co-workers, and discovering my new supervisor is pretty damn cool.
i was so nervous at the beginning of the week. i was convinced i had chosen incorrectly. that i should have stayed where i was comfortable and safe. where i didn’t have any stress or worry. where i knew everything and everything was manageable. i was wrong. this job, once i get over the learning hump, is going to be great. i needed this challenge. i can already feel a difference. i may be exhausted and need a lot more recharging in my off hours, but i’m happy. i’m practically giddy, even. i can actually see potential now. not only in my work life, but in my personal life, too.
it’s new and it’s good. i don’t know what i was so worried about. ;)