Thursday, March 12, 2009

My 1st Day at Work 3/11 and THE DOG & CAT

Wednesday 5:30 a.m. - woke up 2 minutes before my alarm. Tried to take the new doggie out but it was raining and he said heck NO. Ate breakfast, had shower, dressed and did makeup. Put on my walking shoes and a coat (forgot my gloves, hat, scarf, but remembered the umbrella). Took a waterproof messenger bag with extra shoes, water, book to read and papers.

7:00 a.m. arrived at Parker Rd. (taken by a sleepy Chuck) and got on the train immediately. It took off pretty quickly, but I sat near a door. It was a bit chilly. At Forest Lane, a nice man named Phil sat down and we talked all the way to downtown. So the book went back in the briefcase.

7:50 a.m. arrived at Convention center train stop. No idea which way to get to the office except I knew which direction. Asked the 1st guy who was waiting to cross street. He works at my new place and was to be my HR instructor for the orientation . He showed me the cryptic path to get to the office without going outside after the first block or two. Mostly under cover of parking garages and not too cold or wet.

8:40 a.m. the orientation started a little late due to the weather. We got a 10 lb (kidding) packet full of forms and policies & procedures. (Must memorize... kidding!). Our group has about 20-25. Usually they have over 50, but there is a hiring "cooling" as they said. Their budget is tight so they are slowing hiring.

Noon - after having writers cramp from filling out forms and some lecture time about new employee stuff, he let us out for lunch. I walked with two new colleagues a couple blocks to a hamburger joint next to Subway. It was windy and cold outside. The cafeteria is out of commission as the contract was terminated recently... They hope to have a new cafeteria provider some time. All the soda machines were Dr. Pepper products.

1:15 p.m. More info to digest on rules and regs, sexual harrassment prevention, workplace violence prevention and avoiding breaking the rules and reg.s ... by playing a odd game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. A chat about Fair Housing. And various other topics on Wed. afternoon. A few more papers to fill out.

Homework - bring a voided check for direct deposit setup. Decide which health plan that I want... one of their's or stick with a TI plan. I'm eligible for retiree medical but it's expensive. The medical plans are high deductible (3000) and expensive (3-4 times cost of my old plan) and provider isn't as good as BCBS. Chuck and I discuss over some fish at Red Lobster.

11 p.m. past my bedtime, drag dog into rain, he says F U and goes back inside. I decide to let him pee on the carpet! To bed.... perchance to NOT DREAM about the dog and cat trying to kill each other (it's possible).

Thursday 3:45 a.m. got up because I can't sleep any more... too excited about the new job and dog is hogging the bed.

Seamus (Shay-mus) is a puppy definitely. He thinks I'm his new mother.... and can't stand to be in my room without me. He follows me everywhere. Chuck even brought him to the train station to pick me up. He is afraid so far to jump up into the car backseat, but can be persuaded to jump down by pulling his leash. He's a doll except for the BARKING and Growling at the CAT. She's a bit ticked off at us, and is now living in a kitchen cabinet during the day when Seamus is at large in the house. Last night, I put him in my room with Chuck on the computer... and found her. I apologized profusely and told her it was all my fault. She didn't scratch me and is considering being nice to me again... in a year or two. But asked that the dog leave immediately. I told her that the family has one new member now... and she will have to adjust. She gave me the LOOK and turned her back to go to her liter box... More later.

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