Change Of Life

I worked four half days this week. Hell, I worked a lot more hours during more days when we were busy at Albuquerque Little Theatre. But there I was a volunteer, doing exactly what I wanted to do and no more. It's very different having an actual job, where the boss is boss and I am the part time new guy nobody. And there's a lot I have to learn before I'll be an asset to the company.

There's a lot of computer work. It was a good thing that I spent so much of my unemployed time on my computer, so that learning curve is shorter. Our time clock is the store computer system. There are training CD ROMs to plow through part of each day. The bulk of the paint mixing is computerized. All of the sales are entered into the computer. Any delivery that includes hazardous materials has to have a bill of lading that includes every item being delivered, and the computer generates that as well. I have an idea that I'll be doing most of the deliveries. I delivered to three places on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning I gathered up all the trash and took it out to the dumpster. In the afternoon I swept, mopped and vacuumed the store before I left. Any day now I'll be cleaning the bathrooms.

Thursday afternoon Diane (the manager) took me around the store and talked about the ptoduct information on the display fixtures ("You don't need to memorize all of this if you know where to find it.") Then she started talking about her plans to rearrange the store and modify some displays - "Now you're talking my language!" I said.

Anyway, I'm happy to have a job and so far I like everybody I work with. The assistant manager, Vinnie, was on vacation this week. He's the one who tried to scare me away when I was applying for the job. I anticipate some challenges on Monday when he is back. That's okay, I've had challenges before.

The real losers have been the kitties. ReLu has had me home all day most of the time for a year and a half. Poor baby, no-one to pester for food for three hours every afternoon. And the blogs are suffering as well.

We'll get over it.