May Day!


It's the first day of May and I'm seated in my "new" workstation.  There's nothing new about it, other than I am further away from the kitchen area and the ladies room.  (Well I'll get more walking in.)  Oh, and my manager's boss's boss has an office less than 20 feet away so we can survey his dominion.  (Or just keep an eye on those who work under him.)  Of course right now, he's not in the office so he can't see me sitting here typing away.

I took the early bus this morning.  We've had horrible rainstorms over the weekend, so I thought there might be some issues with flooding and such.  

I was also awake early.  REALLY early as I tossed and turned from 1:00 - 2:30ish.  I finally did fall back asleep until 3:30ish, but gave up and got up by 4:30. (Which gave me plenty of time to start a laundry.)  While watching the NJ Transit app, I kept seeing delays, which elevated my anxiety levels, so...I made sure I was out the door by 6:30 with the intent to catch the 7:01 express bus. (Adding to the anxiety, as I walked down the hill to where I catch the bus, the time to arrival went from 17 minutes to 9 minutes to 14 minutes!)  

I had purchased my new express pass (which gives a discount for 20 one way trips, but they must be used with a 30 day period) earlier in the morning and hopped on.  The earlier bus means less traffic and it also means less people getting on and off.  (At least until we hit Penn Station in Newark)  Amazingly, the bus arrived by 7:30, which meant I was on "my" floor before 7:40.  Even with the "setting up" that I had to do, I was ready to go by 7:50.  (I had put all of my things in a rolling "cabinet" which sits under my work station.)  If I'm going to have to be sitting in a industrialized little space, I want to make it mine, so there are photos of my son, family photos, a stress "poop," Lilo and Stitch bobbles, etc.  And of course a box of tissues. (This is a must for me.)  The only thing I DIDN'T have was a mouse, which I had stupidly left at home. (And I thought I was so organized.)



I figured I would just wait until the help desk people came in. (The help desk hub is in the middle of my floor.)  Eight o'clock came and went and no one was at the help desk. So I TRIED to work without a mouse (and to figure out how to set up my multiple monitors), but I'll admit I'm a dunce when it comes to touch pads. Must be because I'm old (my son rarely uses a mouse).  Eight thirty came and there was still no one in the area. This did not bode well for me.

However, I happened to see the person in charge of facilities. I had heard him earlier and had gone out of my way to thank him for moving my "drawers" from one location to another as well as setting me up with a new "nameplate" at my new location which identified me as Beth and not Elizabeth. I really appreciated that and let him know. This time, I asked him when the help desk team would be in and he told me that they don't generally come in on Monday.  (UGH!)  Not one to give up, I told him I left my mouse at home and asked if I could get a new one. Not only did he provide me with a mouse, but he also gave me a wireless keyboard. (In all honesty, I think he did this because it came as a package deal and it was probably easier that way.)

I went back to my new work area and set everything up. Once I had the batteries in correctly (yes, I put the mouse battery in backwards on my first go round), everything worked! I managed to set up my monitors (okay, so I called on my personal IT guy, my husband, to help me out with that). Then I FINALLY figured out how to turn on the overhead lights in my section (there really is plenty of light from the windows, even if I don't sit right next to one...I really DO miss my view from my pre-Covid office) and I have been up and successfully running since.

Although a few people have trickled in (including the VP who is 4 or 5 levels above me, making him my boss's boss's boss's boss!), it's been just as quiet as it has been in the past.  I have heard some random voices. I did see someone in another division who used to sit relatively close to me who has also been moved, but we no longer sit quite so close. And since one of the VP's (the one is who my boss's boss's boss's boss) sent an email saying that he was in, I made sure to go around the corner to his office (he's in the "executive" area which means his office is larger than most and he has more than one window) to introduce myself to him.  Though I technically work for him, we've never met and my only exposure to him has been on large group Google meets over the past several years.  If I've got to be here, I might as well make sure that my presence is known!

I suspect that Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be a bit more busy. While Wednesdays are always a given, I'm going to try and plan my days around the weather.  (I'd much rather work in my "patio" office this spring/summer when possible.)  I also need to plan around events, and with the end of the school year coming up there are a lot of them. (I'm not coming into the office on Prom Wednesday!)  Unfortunately, this week it looks like rain and clouds are hanging around (except for Wednesday!  Ugh!). Next week Monday looks like the nicest day, so I probably won't be coming in that day unless the forecast changes (which it probably will) even though I think I prefer the solitude (and freedom) of Monday).  But who knows how things will turn out? Stay tuned for more exciting adventures of Bfth in the office!

 


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