Second Day in These Foolish Things

Today is my second day at my new job and I’m sitting outside on the patio of a Starbucks while several other remote workers have meetings around me. It’s a little weird being two time zones away from my office, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get in the groove of this and figure it out.

It’s funny - they wanted me to hurry up and make my decision to accept the position on Sunday because they were going to lay off two people yesterday, but now they’ve decided to wait until Thursday and then they aren’t even going to announce ME until the following Thursday? It’s pretty weird if you ask me. I won’t even get an official business email address until then (??), but I did “quietly” start yesterday because I had to fill out paperwork (W-4, I-9, paycheck stuff) and sent that shit back in, so I am getting paid for quietly sitting on the sidelines and digging into the product line, etc.

My new boss is kind of anal, but he doesn’t seem like he’s even close to a control freak like Chief Cutie. We had a 2-hour meeting yesterday that started at 4:30pm my time where we walked through several things that have to do with team building (the Clifton Strenghtsfinder seems to be the be-all end-all for understanding co-workers and work styles) as well as calendar and email stuff (he looks at everyone’s calendars daily and he wants them filled out to show what you’re doing every hour, EVERY SINGLE DAY), so the thing to do is just fill it up, including making sure you take a full hour for lunch every day. He seems to be pretty good about not working longer than those 8 hours daily and told me to work 8-5 in my own time zone, though he did keep me on that call until 6:30 yesterday, so what’s the real answer? Not sure yet.

The kinda good thing is that before I get an official email, nobody can look at my calendar, and there’s not much for me to do except review product and where they stand with a bunch of things and get out and review the competitive landscape. My new boss also sent me this book to read: The First 90 Days. I’ve started it, but not getting into it. I’m flipping through but not super excited about it. Eh.

But I’m so, so relieved to have a freaking JOB. My anxiety all but went POOF yesterday, at least from the standpoint of actually being employed! I’m so glad that this happened when it did. I was unemployed this time for 14 weeks. Not terrible, but because I was unemployed for NINE MONTHS last year, I was going absolutely out of my mind! So I’m happy that I am here even though I’m not satisfied with what this is yet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to give it my all, but I’m also looking forward to hearing back from that other company and looking for better opportunities.

I already love the prospect of having a sense of routine back. I got up early yesterday and today and did my workout and stretching and then showering and got ready as if I were actually going into an office and that made me feel decent.

Funny thing is, its finally FALL and the weather is wonderful and I decided to throw on some jeans yesterday and ugghggghhh. They don’t freaking fit. I mean, I could squeeze myself into them, but fudge!! I hate that! I really have to be committed to my morning workouts, stretches and intermittent fasting, so having this work structure is a welcome gift.

Okay, I better get a move on. I want to get out to retail stores for a bit and take some photos to put into a report and start going, going, going!

Here’s something funny to ponder - why do people think that they can have full-on meetings and speak loudly while sitting next to you at Starbucks? Like, even in an office setting, don’t you want to get up and move to a more private setting for a Zoom/Video call? This guy doesn’t seem to think that and is chatting it up in full volume merely 36” away from me. I suppose I gotta learn this coffee shop etiquette if I’m going to be part of the Remote Worker culture!

Have a fantastic Tuesday!
GS