8:25 p.m. - 5 August 2002
Work and Thanksgiving
So. New job. Today was my first day downstairs all day. I've been filling in down here for pretty much the entire time I've been employed at this hospital, so it wasn't really anything I haven't done before. The only
change is that now I can't escape back upstairs to my little hole on the
fifth floor. That, and I have about 500 fewer things to do.
My desk is amazingly clean. Kathy even commented on that when she came down for a meeting this morning. I told her that it wouldn't last (because it won't). But it's hard to be messy when you don't have anything to make a mess with. I have a picture of Lee next to my phone, a typing stand, in and out boxes that came with the desk, a vertical file holder, and that's about it. The desk was completely empty except for an outside phone book. I had to go find an internal one.
On the plus side, I did get to spend some time this morning picking out office supplies. And since that's one of my favorite things to do, it wasn't all bad. I got the feeling that I could have ordered more than I did, too, but I reasoned that it will take me a few weeks to really determine what I'll need on a daily basis. So today I picked out a stapler, scissors, a wrist rest (very important), a tape dispenser, and a letter opener. Not terribly surprisingly, I think the letter opener will get the most use for a while.
Honestly, most of my new job duties are answering the phone. Which is fine. I guess. Have I mentioned how much I hate talking on the phone, particularly to people I don't know? Several of my college friends will attest to the fact that I never ordered pizza myself; I always got someone else to do it. Now? Eesh. I'm on the phone all the time. When we were in the process of buying the house, I made most of the phone calls: to the realtor, to the utilities, to the bank, to the lawyer, etc, etc. A large part of working in the medical staff office was calling physician offices to ask for stuff, whether it was call schedules or missing documentation. So now I don't like being on the phone for the simple reason that I'm always on the phone.
The other main part of my job? Scheduling meetings, particularly for the CEO. The problem? I don't have access to anyone else's calendar yet. So when my new boss -- who called several times last week to tell me how excited she was that I would be joining them -- gave me a list of things to do today, I was able to do two of them. All the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. However, in the time it took for her to type the list, she probably could have done several of them herself.
I have been able to continue making snarky remarks about my replacement to Kathy via the wonder that is email. Of course, they are not very reassuring to her. Hell, I'm not reassured. She's been in the office for two weeks now, but I don't have the feeling that she's getting it. Heck, she's called me two or three times this afternoon looking for some answers and help. Kathy told me this morning she's got thirty days to prove herself. If it still looks like the lights are on but no one's home...
In other news completely, I think I volunteered to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. I sort of blocked it out. I don't think our table is big enough. I don't think we have enough chairs. I don't think I have enough sanity to cook Thanksgiving dinner for my entire family. What have I done?
