Day One

Creative title, eh? I'm feeling a little sluggish. I spent so many hours in front of a computer today. Today, as you see, was my first day of work at a real life job. Forty hours a week doing... well, I'm not really sure what. Technically, I'm the receptionist. What I feel like is a random person who walked in the door and has no idea who anyone is or what they do... or even where exactly I am.

You see, I got this job through a temp agency. I didn't apply for this specific job at this specific company. I didn't even intentionally apply to a temp agency. I was on one of those websites where you can efficiently send out resume after resume into the vastness of the internet. All of that aside, I did get a job. A long-term temporary job. Long term, as I'm told, is through Christmas. Ho ho ho.

I know that the company sells promotional products to individuals, small business owners, as well as major distributors. I know that we have different divisions so there are different customer service and billing departments. I know we have an IT department, though who is in it and who is in charge is beyond me. I also know that most of our extensions that I can transfer calls to go out of state, but I never know which state. I know we have a CEO. Somewhere. I think he's in the building. Somewhere. I met his assistant. Great, wonderful, sweet, extroverted assistant.

I spent the day trying to remember the detailed instructions that I was being given and then repeating the tasks. I ran into some issues, though.

The first was that, given my ignorance of the nuances of the company infrastructure, I didn't know where I should transfer the rapidly incoming calls. I made my best guess. I probably also made some departments mad with inadvertently misdirected calls.

Second, I don't speak Spanish. The lady on the phone, who was from Mexico, kept talking louder and louder while I responded slower and slower. Neither of these strategies helped bridge the language barrier.

Third, I spent most of the day working with some sort of accounting program. I think. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Anyway, I pushed the buttons the way I was instructed. It didn't make sense to me. And since I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it, I had nothing by which I could judge the execution of my duties.

True to my philosophy major, I wanted the answer to why. All day. I wanted to ask why. But receptionists... don't ask why. They try not to embarrass the company. And maybe, as a bonus, they escape embarrassing themselves.