First week at the new job

Well, am I ever glad THAT's over!!
 Yes, this post is going to be a RANT.  This past week pretty much SUCKED, and I need to get it OUT.

Don't read any further if you're trying to avoid rants today!


Maybe it's my age?  But jeezuz.  The level to which my training is being micro managed is awe inspiring.

Such as..."you really need to put your initials over here, not over there...it's okay that they're here on this one, but they go there."  (I put them exactly where they were on the example I was looking at, so... ???)

And at one point, the trainer told me to go make copies of some checks.

So I did.

Then,when I  handed the copies to her, she told me I should not make individual copies, but to put several checks on a sheet.

SO I had to do it again.

Um...It MIGHT have been helpful if she had included that bit of instruction in  "Go make copies of these before we do the next step."

I mean, gentle reader....What would YOU do if you were handed a stack of checks and told to make copies of them?

Groan.

The space we are in is bizarre.  It's in this building that is aptly called the bunker, with dimly lit passage ways and unfinished concrete walls and galvanized steel "decorations."  I guess it's trendy, moderinist design.

Anyway, the room we're in is a vast open space filled with rows of folding tables covered with computers.  There are no windows that can be seen out of.

I was assigned to a lovely spot that is where two tables meet, so there is no where to put my feet, and the tables are not exactly the same height, so because my keyboard breaches the gap, it moves with every keystroke.

There are 4 of us in a row right there, then several un-filled stations, then there are two people.  Then in the rest of our row is empty.  There is one person on the other side of our whole row.

The next row back there are 4 in what passes as a cubicle of sorts.  Over there in the corner there are 4 who face INTO the corner.  And then, BEHIND that sort of cubicle?  There are 4 more...tucked back out of sight in a space that is dark, and crowded, and crammed full of stuff.

It's completely illogical how they have us scattered in this ENORMOUS space.

And the space itself is crammed full of stacks of computers and monitors.  It seems that we are in a huge storage room.  And the smell?  The smell of plastic, and electronics is overwhelming.

You know how a new computer or tv or any other device has that "smell" when you first take it out of the box?  Imagine breathing that in, multiplied by thousands, ALL DAY.

So, the big tables are what we have, and there are NO ergonomic adjustments that can be made, so every day, my hands go numb, and my neck and head are not just thobbing with pain, but BANGING by afternoon.

It's truly lovely.

And the commute is KILLING ME. I really, genuinely hate it.  The traffic at 5 pm is worse than any I ever had to deal with in the Chicago suburbs.

I got home at almost 6 one night.  SO, I have temporarily stepped down from my activities at the dance studio.  I can't get there to work by 6 on Mondays, so someone else is filling in for me for a while.

And class?  I don't know.  I skipped this past week, because that was the night I got home at almost 6, and class is at 6:30, and there was no time to eat, change, and drive up there.

We'll see what happens this week.

The people at the new job are largely cold and impersonal.  My boss is nice, and one of the other ladies actually spoke to me...but that's about it.  Even my trainer, who has been kind and patient (if a little...odd....in her training technique), has no sense of humor, and no personable traits.

I am hoping that this kind of atmosphere will change when we move back into the permanent office, which I overheard from the VP should happen during the week of the 12th, with the goal of opening for business on the 19th AT the home office.

I am hoping that EVERYTHING about this experience will improve 100% when we get moved to where were SHOULD be.

Please, gentle reader, my prayers in this regard went completely unheeded.... (I had prayed fervently, in many different ways, that the home office would be re-opened before I had to start work).  ... a little back up from you would be great!