Monday, December 10, 2007

New Kid on the Block

First day was a good day
Lunchtime was a blast
Afternoon was so easy
Now I hope it lasts

They can see it in my walk
Hear it when I talk
See it in everything I do
Even in my thoughts

I got the right stuff, baby
Love the way work ends at 5
I got the right stuff, baby
It's the reason why I feel so high

All that I needed was this
Oh, work, you’re so right
All that I wanted was this
This is everything I've missed

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
The right stuff!

Ok. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, here's a more balanced view of my first day of work, comparing New Job to Old Jobs.

INTERNET POLICIES
Old Jobs: Employers placed trust in employees. (Translation: You could go to practically any site.)
New Job: All personal e-mail (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, etc.) is blocked. All message boards are blocked. Blogger is blocked. Streaming video is blocked. Looks like Monkey will be extraordinarily productive.

FIRST DAY LUNCH
Old Jobs: A place like Cafe Pinot, Morton's, Roy's, Zucca, etc.
New Job: BJ's.
OFFICE
Old Jobs: Three windows. Two windows.
New Job: No windows. I almost cried. I've had windows for over six years.



SALARY

Old Jobs: $$$$$$
New Job: $$$$$$ - 32.5%
The main drawbacks of the new gig seem to be creature comforts (or a lack thereof) only. I had a lot of fun joking with my new co-workers about these things. One guy said, "So how does it feel, giving up $XXXXX to get a windowless office and lunch at BJ's?" I hadn't breathed a word about what I'd been thinking! It's like he read my mind! We all laughed about that one.

They know exactly where I'm coming from because they're all big firm refugees, too. Most also have diplomas from Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, etc. hanging in their offices. I'm in good company, and we all gave up the same things to come here.

The best thing was that all of my colleagues kept telling me that I'd love it here, and every one of them is ridiculously happy with the decision he or she made.

I look forward to getting to know my new co-workers. So many people visited me today to introduce themselves. It was so fun! At one point, I had five people in my office at once.

I was overjoyed not to be alone in my office and to have a steady stream of visitors who stayed to chat for awhile. I hope this is because they liked me. It could be simple curiosity, of course. Cross your fingers that I am lucky enough to make some new friends!

19 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm sure you'll have no problem making friends. :)

    And I was thinking about you today. Glad to hear that it went well, despite no windows and no fancy restaurants. I'm sure it'll all be worth it!

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  2. Yeah, who wouldn't want to be your friend? Glad it went well and there is hope for you to be really happy there. Welcome to the world of no personal emailing or web surfing. Gosh, that building looks like Toyota...Now I want to know specifically where you work. When I worked for Toyota's agency, they were in deperate need of lawyers...but then again, I don't think you would have received a pay raise there :)

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  3. Glad your first day went well! I have found that the older I get, the harder it is to make friends at new jobs because people are either 40+ with kids or 20 and looking to troll bars for guys. I hope you have better luck with that. Work friends sure do make it more fun to come to work. ::)

    Oh, and blogger is blocked for me, too. Ugh.

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  4. i'm so happy to hear the first day went well. and i'm sure you'll have no problems making friends! here is to hoping the rest of the week is as good as today!

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  5. for some reason, i don't think the friendly monkey will have any problems making new friends. yay for seemingly good people so far. they can definitely make up for lack of other things...like creature comforts. ;)

    funny how the other new guy is and old face.

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  6. If a guy stands out as a dork amongst other lawyers, then he must be really freakin' nerdy! HA!

    BTW, "Somebody loves him. That's something" cracked me up!

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  7. loved the post. You'll have friends by the end of this week, I'm sure! Good luck with everything. :)

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  8. congrats on surviving the first day! so sad you wn't be able to join us during the day though;(

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  9. Making friends will be the easy part. You've already got them coming by your office in droves. ;)

    So.sad.about.internet. :(
    But so happy your 1st day was good. :)

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  10. Heehee. You did nail it: corporate-y policies, less money, different lifestyle . . . but you'll sound just like your coworkers in no time. Me, on my way home today, seven months in: "Man, I'm so much happier now than I was at a law firm!" *no-billable-hours dance*

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  11. love the recap! thats cool people were nice to you on your first day!! (i took a big paycut too to switch to my current job) but it really IS worth it to be at a job you enjoy.

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  12. congrats on your 1st day! sounds like it will take some adjusting, but you will be far happier in the long run. yay!

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  13. I have no doubt that you will make tons of new friends. :)

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  14. dude, i had no doubts that you'd make friends. even without m&ms!

    i totally thought of you yesterday. it's sad not seeing any e-mails from you all day long, but i'm really happy to hear that positive feedback from your CWs - and especially that they came from backgrounds just like yours. it definitely sounds like the good outweighs the bad. well, at least, i'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way!

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  15. OMG SADNESS on the email policy!!! I'm glad you had a good first day and that none of the other kids picked on you :)

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  16. good first day, but wha? no blogger =(

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  17. I'm so sad to read about the new Internet policy :( But I had no doubt you'd be making lots of new friends!

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  18. Hello, Ms Popular!! Yay for a new job!

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  19. I totally giggled at "somebody loves him".

    No blogger at work though!?!?

    Eh.. that's what the iphone is for right?

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