Newt's First Day

First, I had to go to the corporate office to do my paperwork. I was greeted with the most impressively presented little benefits book and informational packet, very nice people, a nice leather portfolio and a book bag. Their corporate office is gorgeous. It's in a fantastic woodsy setting and the building has lots of glass, beautiful woodwork, and lots of polished stone. It's simply impressive. From start to finish I was wowed by them.

Then it was off to my campus at the other end of town. Let's just say it's a titch more rustic. More industrial. I was greeted by the Admin/Coordinator for our group. He's fantastic. I liked him from the second we met. He took me to my cube. It's in a sea of cubes. My co-worker that has the same position is officed in a small office with two other people. It gives cozy a whole new meaning. I'm not sure what I did to deserve my own little cube, in fact my boss is in a cube next to me and she has the exact same shabby chic little cube. I think that is the best word for our area, shabby chic. But everyone has a smile on their face and everyone is friendly.

I have a laptop. The building is wireless enabled but the network cable works a little faster. I realized quickly why they are set up for wireless. Everyone goes everywhere with their laptop. They go to other people's cubes to do work with their laptops. They go to meetings with their laptop. It was fascinating. But, I guess when your job is the computer systems you just might need to have those resources.

Then they told me I will be getting my Blackberry in a day or so. A what? At my last job the only people that got those things were the ones in bed with the CEO. You had to be more than somebody to get one. I don't know what to do with this much technology. Damn.

So, for the rest of the day I got hooked up to all the programs I'll need. I got access to a bunch of stuff. And spent a few minutes on the phone with the helpdesk because a few bugs couldn't be worked out of my laptop. And Matt was wonderful.

So, our facility is rustic, my cube is shabby chic, and the people I work with are wonderful, goofy, and all about working as a team to accomplish our goals. I couldn't be happier. I felt instantly at home. I felt like I belonged.

And then to confirm that I was in a whole new world in the work place I noticed that my boss reads a book during lunch. As does my partner in crime. As does our admin. And then I noticed there is a bookcase in the lunchroom full of well read paperbacks. And there's one in the hall, and one in another hall, and one in the next building. And by paperbacks, I mean horror, mystery, adventure, drama. A full selection of pleasure reading books, no business crap books. OH MY GOD! I've joined geek heaven.

And then, I noticed the next thing. Everyone, was dressed my type of business casual. I didn't see one dark suit, white shirt, and red power tie. In fact, I never saw a tie. Or a suit. And the outfit I wore, my partner in crime told me it was as fancy as I would ever need to be. That business comfort was more the style of the day.

So, when all was said and done I felt like I had made a good decision. I have a lot of reality ahead of me. It's not going to be all smiles and happy thoughts. But I think I am in a work group more suited to who I am. I adore the friends I made at my previous job. I wouldn't trade my experiences in for anything because of the people I met. But I have never been cut out for the sales world. I'm not a good schmoozer. I'm not good at B.S. I'm not good as selling a bridge in New York to make a quota.

So, there you have it, my first day. I'm excited. I'm invigorated. And I'm encouraged.

I also found out that the ultimate plan is to move us all to the Corp. Office when the new additions are built. They figure around 2009 sometime. So my commute will go down to 15 minutes. And the direction I will have to go is exactly opposite the commuter traffic. I don't know if it will ever actually happen but it's nice to know that my long commute might not be forever.