--I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, but I’m having a bit
of trouble transitioning from my eight-month “long weekend,” back
into the working life.
For one thing, they’re asking me to arrive in the middle of the
night:8 am on the first day,
and 7
am
the next. Outrageous!Plus, I don’t know anyone, have no idea what I’m doing, and
sometimes get lost.
The people have been exceedingly friendly so far, but they all know
one another and have history.So, we’ll be sitting around bullshitting in the break room,
and a guy will turn to another person and say something like, “Who
do you think you are, John McAllister?!”
This will cause the entire group to bust out in wild shrieks of
laughter, and I’ll just be sitting there blinking my eyes real fast,
thinking, “Who the fuck’s John McAllister?”
So, that’s awkward.Plus,
I’m being bombarded with incredible amounts of information, and it
feels like only about ten percent of it’s sticking to my brain.They keep saying, “Don’t worry, one day it will all
click.”Of course, I know
this is true, but right now it’s quite disconcerting.
What worries me most, are the little quirks and exceptions to the
rules.I’d been at my
previous job so long it was all just second-nature to me, and now
I’m starting with nuthin’.
So, in addition to learning how things work in the general sense,
I’ve got to also know stuff like, “On this screen, for some
reason, you’ve got to put a dash in front of the command.”Or “When you’re running this function, you have to remove a
zero from the item number, or it won’t work correctly.But only if the number starts with a 0, 1, or 2.”
What the?!
All this can cause a person to run his hands through his hair.But, like they say, it’ll all come together soon.I remember feeling the same way when I started in Atlanta.I was certain I’d never understand any of it, and be run out
of there on a rail of sarcastic laughter and cruel mockery.Seventeen years later, I was one of the last men standing…
I also got lost at my new job on Wednesday.I had to attend a meeting in a part of the maze-like building I
didn’t even know existed.Someone
had taken me there, but wasn’t around when the meeting was over.
So I was on my own, and ended up walking through corridors with a
large cartoon question mark above my head, nodding and smiling at
strangers, and trying to pretend I knew exactly what I was doing.I’m not sure, but I think I was on the roof at one point.
The whole thing feels like an out-of-body experience so far, or the first half of a Bentley Little novel.For some reason I don’t seem to fully believe, on an
emotional level, that my job-search is over; it just doesn’t feel
real yet.So, it’s as if
nothing has changed, except I’m going to some strange building every
day, talking to people I don’t know.I’m disoriented, and uncentered.
...And using words like uncentered.
I guess it goes with the territory?Right?I haven’t really had to go through anything like this, since
1990.When I moved to CaliforniaI already knew folks at the new office,
same with the move to Scranton.This new gig is entirely
new.So I don’t know anyone,
have no idea what I’m doing, and sometimes get lost.
Pass the beer nuts.
--I hope you guys had a great
holiday.We were planning to go
to West
Virginiafor Thanksgiving, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to ask
for time-off after two days of work.Ya
know?So, Toney made a very
tasty turkey and all manner of turkey accessories, and we had our own
private Thanksgiving here at the Compound.
I looked at the newspaper ads, drank an entire pot of Dunkin Donuts
coffee, watched several hours of Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons Marathon
(never once seeing Hey,
Arnold!,
one of my all-time favorites), and just hung around with the fambly
all day.
What did you do?Anything
exciting?Here’s what Kyle
Franklin did a few years back, in a Surf Report Classic.Heh.Use the comments
link below to tell us your
story.
--Speaking of the Black Friday
newspaper ads, did you see anything interesting enough to coax you into the
stores on Friday?
I want to get my parents one of those electronic picture frames, and
pre-load it with snapshots of the Secrets, but I didn’t see any
deals worth risking my life for.In
fact, I’d rather just pay more.
And since we’re on the subject…I
plan to load-up that frame with pictures of our kids frolicking in the
fall leaves, building snowmen, etc.And
stuck in there, at random, will be one picture just
for fun.Like this one, perhaps.What do you think?Good
idea, or not?
My Dad: Did you see that?!
My Mom: Yes, it comes around every few minutes. I don't know how to
stop it.
So there you go…This is
about as good an update as possible at this point; I swear they’ll
get better.
In the meantime, use the comments link to tell us about your
Thanksgiving, whether or not you’re going to succumb to the Black
Friday ads, and while we’re at it… let’s hear your
Starting A New Job stories as well. I need to know I'm not alone...
