The New Job

Well, next week it will be 2 months on the new job and so far it has been going well. I love the environment - most people are very outgoing and happy to be working here. Lots of them have been here for many years. My immediate boss use to do my current job and got promote right before I was hired to do her old job. She is learning her responsibilities along with me learning mine which can be frustrating at times. She is very nervous about proving herself to her peers (she gets flustered very easily and her brain is always going a hundred miles a minute) which can make it tough for me to keep track of what she is teaching me. I have taken tons of notes and I know in time it will come more quickly to me. One of the things that I am having to get use to that is alittle hard is sharing an office with her. For most of my last 12 years in non-profit I have had my own office. As you know everyone has their own style and personality, my boss tends to be very loud on the phone, her desk is disorganized and when she is teaching me things she comes over with her chair and almost sits in my lap (doesn't get personal space...such a big pet peeve of mine). She also is in the habit of taking things (pens, stapler and ruler, etc.) off my desk and not realizing it until I ask for it back. I believe I have solved this issue by locking these in my desk before I leave at night. I am the type of person that likes my own things and hardly ever borrows from people and if so always returns them the minute I am done (of course I always ask first). All these issues aside, I do like her and she seems like she appreciates the work I do and respects my past experience doing this type of work. I truly think from what she has told me about the past person who left after one year (whose job she has now), she never truly got along with her and didn't agree with the way things were handled by her. This may be why she is trying so hard. I just hope that she doesn't make herself "sick" or burn herself out by the end of her first year. She works late hours and comes in on weekends (which I already stated to her how I have seen people I worked with prior in this line of work - crash and burn from this so easily). Time will tell, but one thing I know for sure for myself - I have walked that road before totally stressed and I will not go down that road myself. I was very upfront about having a good work/life balance which is the reason why I took the hours they offered me of working 8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. - this is so important to me. I have attended meetings in the evenings here already - but I come in and work my normal hours and then come back for the meetings in the evenings (advantage of living closer). It works so well for me that I plan on continuing it.

All in all, I am pretty happy with my decision on taking this job. I feel very lucky that my job hunt didn't take many many months as I realize that jobs aren't as plentiful as years ago...tough job market out there today...more people looking for employment.