. I survived the first day of work. It was tiring.
It took me an hour to get in there but an hour and 25 minutes to get home on account of very heavy traffic on the Interstate. To give you an idea of the congestion, it's only 33 miles. I took a different route this time which probably cut in half the amount of time I spend on the Interstate, but it probably would not be workable to take all back roads and avoid it entirely.
Just this morning, before leaving for work, I idly calculated my daily gross pay and I was surprised to see that the gross pay for a 3-day work week would be $3,536 a month, more than enough to get by and have some savings to spare. (Remember, no mortgage now.) The gross for a full 40 hour week would be $5,893.
I recalled that the hiring manager said at the interview she needed someone there 5 days a week, on site and that they really needed two new people, not just one. So I had the impression they were swamped with work.
So imagine my surprise, shortly after arriving there, when the hiring manager is showing me around and I wanted to clarify my work hours for this week and next, ie, that this first week I’d only be working two days (so I can tie up some other loose ends) and then I would start in full-time the following week. That’s what the plan was and what I discussed with the recruiter.
But the hiring manager said oh, no, we decided we’d have you work just 3 days a week to start and bring you on full time down the road. Didn’t anyone tell you?? I said NO! No one did. I’m not sure exactly WHO was supposed to tell me but I imagine someone from their HR should have communicated that to the recruiter, who would have told me. But someone dropped the ball.
Imagine how upsetting that could be to someone who really needed full-time work. I had, after all, quit my p/t job already! In hindsight, I could have conceivably kept both jobs, although in truth it would seem to be very unworthwhile to hang onto the lower paying proofreading job I had.
And truth be told, after experiencing that awful commute one day, I am relieved that they want me to start at three days a week. It could actually be ideal for me, the happy middle between dealing with the long commute and still having some free time and sanity. I might never want to do any more than that! I wonder how long they’d want me at 3 days a week?
I really feel so out of the loop on this when you’d think I’d be first to know. At least give me a chance to discuss it with you.
Aside from that, it was a rather uneventful first day. I attended two brief meetings and came away understanding very little of what was discussed. The marketing group is very young. I think I’m the oldest one of the bunch. I did some simple proofing and spent most of the day reading stuff on their website, as directed by my manager. I hope I can find some people to connect with/relate to; as I said, the people there are very young.
They use Macs there and so that took some getting used to. I used one at the last f/t job I had, but that was back in 2009. They also use Google Docs which I’ve used before, but don’t really understand well. So there’s a lot of new stuff to get used to.
One funny thing is that the same HR woman who worked with me when I first joined my last employer in 2008 also did the same here! In fact, about 10 people from that last f/t employer of mine migrated over to this company. I didn’t know any of them well, but I did recognize some faces.
First day of work: surprises
May 29th, 2013 at 01:15 am
May 29th, 2013 at 01:32 am 1369791138
May 29th, 2013 at 01:37 am 1369791421
May 29th, 2013 at 02:12 am 1369793559
May 29th, 2013 at 02:43 am 1369795382
Will you be working the same 3 days each week?
May 29th, 2013 at 04:38 am 1369802326
May 29th, 2013 at 01:01 pm 1369832493
Well, despite the shock, I am glad that you can make it work!
May 29th, 2013 at 01:18 pm 1369833534
May 29th, 2013 at 04:31 pm 1369845081
I am in a young office, too. I have found friends, despite the age difference. People are people, after all is said and done.
My commute is longer, but I only have a few years to go. And I also have the possibility of telecommuting at least a little while when our office moves into new space. They'll need time to build out the offices, so I'm on the list to work from home during the transition! Whoo-hoo! I'm hopeful they will see the value of it and make it permanent, at least a few days a week.