The *new job* update

So I started my new job yesterday. Full-time, good pay with benefits and everything. I could not have a more different experience than what I came from! Pleasant people who communicate kindly with each other and who seem to have some fun together too. And all the tea/hot chocolate I can drink. Not a bad gig.

I am in the Creative Services Department, which means we have 3 copywriters/promotions managers and 3 graphic designers. We create materials for both sales and marketing departments so they can go to trade shows with information pieces and do their sales-y thing. We also write up email blasts and web copy. Thank God I don't have to do sales anymore. I am just not a good salesperson.

The first day was your typical day... got a temporary badge so I can access the building, turned in all the tax paperwork, direct deposit form, parking form, etc. I was also handed a bag of Company P swag (insulated lunch bag, coffee cup, mouse pad, coasters, pen/notepad, and sticky notes). Then I was shown to my cubicle, which actually is in the shape of a stretched out hexagon. The cube dividers are translucent walls and mesh, so we can all see each other and hear each other. But it gives the feeling of privacy. I have a laptop with a desktop docking station, and a large monitor. They even gave me a laptop case. I have a small table in there (about the size of an end table) that can move around for various needs. There is also a locker in my cube, so I can hang up my coat/sweater, and a little shelf for my purse. I have three big drawers and two deep shelves to put personal stuff in as well.

While I was getting settled, I realized there was a basket of homemade chocolate chip cookies on the file cabinet outside my office with a "Welcome, Shannon!" sign (note the punctuation, only copywriters do that). My boss came by and asked how I liked them, and I hadn't tried one yet, then she said she made them for me! One by one just about every person in the department came by for a cookie and to introduce themselves. Several people were out at a trade show and won't be back until next week. (There were a couple of people right off I could tell I will get along with great, and a couple of people I wasn't so sure of. They also will remain nameless.)

C, another copywriter, asked where I was from and when I said Milan, she said she was too! Through the morning we ended up exchanging emails with a couple of other "Milanites" about the high quality of the fireworks display for the 4th. C had applied for a copywriter job at the other company I used to be at, while I was there, and didn't get the job but she said she recognized me from the interview process.

So then I went and got some office supplies from the copy room, got a nickel tour of the place from my boss and saw the cafeteria/Starbucks, and then called the Help Desk so I could log into my computer. I had email already, since they started copying me on some meeting requests (there's a weekly status meeting). I responded to some of those, and to a couple of "Sorry I am not in the office, but welcome to the group!" emails. I found out there that one of the graphic designers had a baby by emergency c-section Tuesday night... apparently she named her son Indiana. Yes, that's right, like the character in the movies. Everyone's OK and she'll be back in 3-4 months. Until then we all have to step up and take over some of her work.

L, the other copywriter, sent me a lengthy email after lunch with some hyperlinks to the network drives, and some internal links to the intranet so I could explore some product descriptions and even try out some of the genealogy databases. I spent the rest of the day doing that. I tried finding some Maclarens, which I did, and my great-grandmother, which took a bit longer, but finally I did (I kept spelling her first name wrong). She was in the 1930 census in Hesperia, MI. Interesting to note that she was 39 at the time. I found out her exact date of death (August 25, 1979), which I didn't know before.

I also met with C to take over a weekly e-newsletter, which is a sales-based info piece. Gathering the content seems to be the hard part, but I think I have an idea for an incentive to get around that. Free candy bars to all, if ALL of them get their stuff in on time. It will cost me a few bucks since there are 18 people contributing, but I doubt it will happen each week. And for consecutive weeks that all of them get their stuff in on time, the incentives will get better. I don't know what I will do after that, but if we can get this going, I think it will work in the long run.

The best part of this job, the hours: 9:00-4:30!