Welcome to The Office

Next Tuesday will be one month that I've been at my new job. Can you believe it? One month already and I've told you NOTHING about my new job! Can you ever forgive me?

I'll make it up to you by telling you a little bit today.

Let's see...In the interest of privacy and confidentiality issues, I'm going to keep things pretty vague, but at the same time, since work takes up a large portion of my days, and I'm sure will be fodder for many tales, I should tell you a little something, right?

For starters, I'm pretty sure I mentioned that taking this job meant a complete career change for me. I've been a paralegal for eleven years now, and even though I liked my last job at The Firm, I was ready to leave the legal field behind. It was always supposed to be a temporary stop on the way to something else...but then, that's how it goes, right?

I now work in the financial field, as the executive assistant to the President and CEO of a fairly large local financial institution, to be known simply as "The Office" from now on.

The office itself is located in the downtown area of my hometown, and I absolutely love working in this neighborhood. My own personal office has these fantastic large windows that face out onto a busy downtown street. All day long I can look out and watch all the activity going on outside. Which included the old guy who suns himself out on the roof of his building, directly across the street from my windows. Yeah, if only he was a bit more eye candy, and a little less...um...raisin in the sun.

During lunch, I get to take nice walks, and if I choose to, eat at any of the many restaurants and cafes, many with outdoor seating, while I catch up with friends, or a good book. AH, the life!

Also, it takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to commute to and from work. This is a vast improvement over my last job, and I've only had to fill my tank twice so far since I started this job, and that's mostly because I drive all over creation on weekends.

Equally as fantastic is the fact that I now leave work at 4:30 p.m. daily, which is a full hour earlier than my official quitting time at The Firm was. But the difference here is that at The Firm, if I ever left before 6:00 p.m., I thought I was getting off easy. Here...4:31 and the place is a ghost town. 4:45 and I am HOME ensconced on my couch, or even better, lately, in mom's pool.

As time goes on, I'll introduce you to the cast of characters here at The Office, but for now, I'll just tell you about my boss, the CEO. He is a portly, jolly Italian guy...sort of a cross between Santa Claus and The Godfather. I know, I know, that's quite the image, ain't it?

But he is honestly just a good guy, and we are getting along great. He very much has an "open door policy" method of management, and everyone is really comfortable with just dropping by with questions, or just to say hello. He's also the type of boss that says "please", "thank you" and the all important "good job". Besides that, he's a fun guy, walking around the hallways singing (and he can actually carry a tune), adopting the Godfather voice when it fits, and taking a genuine interest in his employees personal as well as professional lives. He's created a really convivial, yet professional atmosphere here, and I really think we'll get along FABULOUSLY. FYI, from now on, he will be known here as "The Don".

I should also quickly introduce you to "Friendly" because you'll be hearing a lot about him. Friendly is the person who told me about this job. He works in the human resources department, and got me the interview when he found out I was looking for a job while we were working one of our "food for the poor" events. Let me tell you, the moniker "friendly" suits him to a T. Everyone loves him. He's a young kid (in his early 20's), and always willing to lend a helping hand, both here at work, and with our church. We get along great, and I'm glad I work with him. It's a good thing we get along, because we'll be spending a lot of time together this summer, not just at work, but with the new youth outreach program we've started at our church. (I'll have to fill you all in on that at a later date).

Plenty of other characters for you to meet in the coming months, especially as I get to know them all better, but I'm happy to say that I have yet to locate a "Nazi" type here, and if there is such a thing as a "Whisper Wednesday", I'll never know it, because I'm privy to, and even keeper of, all secrets in my position, so no whispering around me. NICE!

And the work itself? Well, it ain't brain surgery, but it's actually pretty interesting stuff. I've already had the opportunity to participate in events and things that are completely different from anything I'm used to, and I'm getting to meet all sorts of people. There is the typical "administrative" stuff, but then there's the more involved stuff as well. And The Don is trusting me with some pretty cool creative work as well, already, so it can only get more fun from here on out. And the stress level? NON-EXISTENT, which is SUCH a nice change from the legal field.

The only drawback I can think of? No "personal use" Internet access during the day folks. I mean, I can pop on for the occasional search for information or what not, but I will NOT be blogging at work here. I've not even attempted it, but would probably come across a fire wall if I even tried. Still, we're supposed to work at work, right? So, all things considered, I can't really complain about that.

To sum it up? So far so good, I'm liking it. I'm a very lucky girl that things turned out the way they did.