As you may have read earlier, I’m temping this week. Which is fine. Really. It’s a week of work and I had no other offers for this week or next week. This job is running from Monday the 19th to Tuesday the 27th. It takes up my day and keeps me out of the apartment and off Couchie.
The catch? Let’s face it there’s always a catch. It’s boring. Now I’ll admit I’m biased. I just ditched an office 3 weeks ago and now I’m back in one! However, this office is slightly different than the one I worked in for a year and it got me thinking (whoa now…). Plus, it’s nice to know that Tuesday is my last day. And that this isn’t something that will be going on and on and on and on…
For starters, this office is around 80 people whereas my last office was 25-ish. Quite the difference. It seems everyone is in their cluster of cubicles and only associate with their areas. Everyone runs in a little past 9am and runs out a little before 6pm. Routines. It’s so easy to get stuck in them. I am an old lady in some ways and do have my routines. But this office is their life. Maybe they enjoy what they do, maybe they don’t. I wouldn’t know. This place is very impersonal (is that a real word?) In other words, very few people have said Hi to me or even introduced themselves. And no, I won’t take it upon myself to introduce myself to them. I’m a body, another number. I’m here while the other Receptionist is on vacation, I’ll be gone when she’s back. This is okay with me.
I’m here to answer the phone, the 5 times it rings a day. I’m here to sort mail. I’m here to e-mail and IM with friends. I can’t complain about the rate seeing as how I am doing absolutely nothing. I guess it’s better than sitting at home doing absolutely nothing, at least I’ll have a paycheck at the end of this.
I just wonder if people are happy with this work environment. Minimal personal interaction. Routine. Everyday in and out. I guess they do enjoy that and that fits their personality. Just blows my mind. I bet there is people on my side of the office that have never seen or spoken to people on the far end of the office.
This office, on the other hand, is a lot better than the other office I lived in. I can get here 5 minutes to 9am and it’s okay. Driving here in the morning it takes 15 minutes. At night it’s a little worse but not horrible. I don’t have to make coffee, there is an actual Office Manager so I don’t have to fix every single problem. My job is strictly receptionist and there’s something comforting about that. Plus, people don’t expect anything out of me because I am only the temp.
The only sounds in this place are computers humming and keyboards clicking away. Everyone in their own worlds with headphones on and spreadsheets open. It’s also PC based. I shouldn’t scoff. But I haven’t used a PC in ages. To me PC’s seem outdated, but that’s probably because I haven’t used one for a long period of time in the past 4 years. This place seems corporate on the outside but jeans and t-shirts on the inside. It’s a weird combination. I’m not complaining. I’m really not, just voicing some opinions. Just reminding myself I’ll be done in a few days.
Speaking of being done – Fruit Flush 2010 is officially done and I am 5 lbs lighter (only for a second though, it’s all water weight). 5 lbs, not bad, right. I mean 5 lbs in 3 days with borderline starvation. Day 2 of just eating fruit was manageable. Day 3 was brutal. Three days and I’m crying about it. Haha. But really, I just like carbs too much. It really was nice to step on the scale this morning and see that I had dropped a few lbs. Now it’s time to workout and eat right and be at my goal before this wedding I have to go to in September. I can do it. I can. I just have to quit making excuses and DO IT.
Good thing we’re hosting a Girl’s Night tomorrow night. Mexican Themed. I’ll just need to not hover over the chips and guac and I should be fine. So now these next few months, we can all monitor my unemployment successes and failures along with my Wedding Diet 2010. Oh joy!
– J
