I started my new job yesterday. Although I am working for a temp agency, it is contracted to the Department of Energy. The government. I spent 4 hours in the morning watching a computer screen, moving through about 30 sub-topics with a little quiz at the end of each. I learned a lot about Beryllium! I also learned a lot about safety and it seems to be the number one focus of the training.
I had to find something interesting in an otherwise "boring as hell" environment. The place where I went for the orientation was a huge classroom which was mostly empty because there are big layoffs pending this month. The lady at the desk where I had to get my badge said I was lucky to get a job out here.
I finally made it to the job site at 1:30 p.m. and found a group of very nice, older women who warmly welcomed me to my cubicle. The nice thing about these cubicles is that the walls are only about 4 feet high so I won't suffer claustrophobia like I did in my last job. I have two big flat computer screens on my desk. My trainer demonstrated how I will be copying and pasting from one screen to the other. Love it! In true government fashion, I will be indexing piles and piles and piles and piles of paperwork, one single paper at a time into one system and then taking that information into another system.
THE GOOD PART: The ladies in my office gather in the center of the cubicles at a table for lunch. Lunch is my favorite hour (1/2 hour here) of the work day. At my last job, we had a kitchen with a table but I could hardly ever get anyone to join me for lunch at the table. Everyone just took their lunch back to their cubicle. It was a culture I could not change. Yesterday, one of the ladies told me they like to gather at the table to share lunch and I was genuinely excited about it. I expect to learn some new things about the Tri-Cities, recipes, grand kids, etc. I don't expect we'll be talking much about Beryllium. Yay.
Well, I'm up at 4:00 a.m. today and have to leave for work at 6:10 a.m. I still have to exercise, iron some clothes, shower and get out the door. Hope wherever you are that you have your best day so far!
love, susan
Here is to your new job and may it be fruitful and full of adventures. Love ya N
ReplyDeleteWhat fun that everyone gathers for lunch! I would like that too. I used to work as a teller in a credit union and we each had to take a turn for lunch, so none of us were gone at the same time. Sometimes we would have "potlucks" but that just meant everyone brought food and put it in the kitchen, so when it was lunchtime, we would go individually and dish up some food and eat it alone before returning to work. DULL!
ReplyDeleteSounds Fancubicle!!! hahaha. I hope you do enjoy your new job though. Especially lunch in the middle. The book..yes, I will work on that. still culling ideas in my brain. I need to carry a notebook around with me to write things down as they pop into my head...i never remember that stuff later. like a great blog post...i will think of it at night, or at the grocery store, only to forget it by the time i sit at the computer. ever have that problem?
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Susan! I am happy that you have a job after a great summer.
ReplyDeleteI won't whine about missing your outdoors voice. You even manage to pull me in with your "inside voice." Clearly a sign of a good writer. :)
Mail heading your way. Enjoy your long weekend holiday.