Sooooooo….I started the new job. I’m not sure where to begin.

I go there on time (if you know me at all, you know this is a major feat for me), and  must have looked very lost as a gentleman approached me and asked if I was a new hire. I said yes and he directed me towards a meeting room.

I spotted Kat and DD right away and scurried over to them to sit down. DD told me she had been worried since “we are the queens of being late”, but we both managed to be on time.

We were handed folders and paperwork that needed to be filled out. There were about fifteen of us in there I think…maybe more. As we filled them out we broke off in groups of four to get our ID badges. Already it is quite a switch from my old job where I didn’t get a picture badge for like four or five months. After a horrid picture we went back to the room and continued to fill out paperwork while everyone else got to get their badges.

I was a little concerned initially that after the trainer I had at my old job I would find the trainers to be stuffy, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth. There were four of them. G, C, K and R. G was the head of the trainers and led most of the training that day. They were all very funny and they joked with each other constantly. You could totally tell they love what they do and enjoy people who are a little chilled out and not so rigid about the whole “new job” thing. It was nice.

They briefed us on the “mission” of the company and all that good stuff for about an hour and then we played “bingo”. It was basically a break-the-ice-and-get-to-know-you game. The bingo sheet consisted of questions like: “Who has size 6 feet?” or “Who is left handed?” That sort of thing. We had to go around to all the other new hires and ask them the questions and then write their name down on the square. Once we had them all filled out then we got “bingo”. It was actually fun. There were only two people that admitted to snoring (that was one of the questions) and I was one of them. 🙂 After we were all done we went around the bingo board and we all shouted out the names to the questions and if there was a story behind it, it was told. It was quite fun.

We took a fifteen minute break and then it was back to the training. They covered the list of the higher ups and managers and the departments and then we got a tour of the place. It’s really a lot larger than I thought it would be. The break room was enormous!!!! They have like six or seven vending machines. One for sandwiches, one that had things like hot pockets and ramen noodles (of all things!), one for bottled soda, juice and milk, one for canned soda, one for snacks and one that I cannot remember what was in it. Two industrial sized fridges, seven microwaves and all sorts of other gadgets and gizmos.

The place is a bit of a maze but I am starting to get used to it now.

After the tour we broke for lunch. Kat, DD, our new friend Mel and I all went to a Mexican place nearby and got a bite to eat.

Back at the office we switched meeting rooms and went through some more training. I think they saw after an hour or so that we were going a little stir crazy because they said we should play another game.

We played “hot potato” but with a koosh ball instead. Basically we picked a topic and then had 30 seconds to name an example of the topic and pass the ball to the next person. The person holding the koosh when “time” was called was out. DD whined that she didn’t know anything so she didn’t want to play and we all laughed.

The topics ranged from fruit to movie stars. I was called out on the president’s category. I froze when I was told my guess had already been said.

The last two came down to ID and DD. The category was actors and actresses and DD got a major case of the giggles when she couldn’t guess anymore and blurted out “EMILIO ESTEVES!!!!” I thought for sure she was going to lose because she couldn’t stop laughing but she managed to pull out a victory! YAY!

Of course the trainers started to joke with her that there was clearly an Emilio Esteves story that we hadn’t heard yet. DD told me later that the real reason she got the giggles was because in her mind she was thinking of Ally Sheedy and she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. 😀

Anyway she won this calculator thingie that opened and folded itself up automatically, a little spiny jelly animal and a tiny eraser.

By the end of the day I was just soooo tired. I guess all those days of doing nothing but surf the net really didn’t prepare me for an eight hour day again.

My training class was comprised mostly of one department. There were only three of us not going in said dept; DD, another guy and I, all of us in a different one. So today the three of us sat in our own departments and watched others do their job while the others trained for their own department.

They stuck me with a guy that really wasn’t into training me or anyone. He had taken Monday off and was behind in his work and he clearly didn’t want to be slowed down by having to teach someone. So I watched him for an hour or so just do his work with out much explanation.

He would get up and his cube neighbor Pat would talk to me. She was fairly new too. Just out of training and she wanted to let me know that she was there if I needed her. She told me that when she first came out of training and even before, no one would even speak to her. She made a huge effort to try and help me.

Finally DD grabbed me for a smoke and when I came back the guy I was training with wasn’t at his desk. Pat went over to the sup and when she came back she said: “Kelly you can sit with me. I don’t know it all but I will try and explain it as best I can.” So that is how I spent the rest of the day before the HR meeting.

My boss came along and assigned me a desk so the rest of the time was spent clearing out this old person’s desk. Poor Pat was saddled with most of that.

I went to lunch with Kat, DD, and Mel again and then we went for our H/R meeting. It was long but the HR lady was super cool and nice. We were all itching to get out of there and she let us out early after she covered the class.

So far I think it is going to be a good experience…and I hope to prove myself right. Wish me luck!