A New Day Has Come

So, today is my first day in my new job! I'm sitting in a new office, surrounded by new faces I don't know, and just about the only thing I can do by myself is go to the loo, because if I try and go anywhere else I get lost (this building is like a maze). But somehow, I feel ok. I thought I'd be sick when I walked in the door this morning - I have never been this nervous starting a new role. But I needn't have worried - deep down I knew all along that it would be fine. Everyone has been super friendly and welcoming, and I know I'm going to really love it here when I get settled.

At the moment I'm suffering through the typical new starter's issues of not having very much to do. My new boss, let's call him Dagwood (a reference to his nickname, which everyone - internal and external - all refer to him by) has been in meetings almost constantly since we all got in, so I haven't really had much time to talk to him or figure out how we're going to work together. My first impression I formed of him during my interview seems to be pretty much correct though - he is very busy, very important and very much one of life's over-achievers, but he is also down-to-earth, friendly and not at all intimidating.... ok, maybe a very small bit, but only in the way that everyone here is a stranger and therefore slightly intimidating.

I sit in a cosy little square shape with Dagwood, JM (the Director of the Trading team - Dagwood is Director of the Commercial Sales team) and Sammy, JM's PA. Sammy has all the luck though - there's no-one behind her so her screen is closed off from everyone on the floor. Not so with me - the 2 rows of peeps behind me can see what I'm doing, so that means I have to be all professional - at least, until I'm settled and I know how much mucking about I can get away with.

It is strange to be waiting for orders from someone other than my old team - I keep looking around expecting Jackie to come up behind me and start asking me to squeeze meetings into places where there aren't even any places, as she did several times a day. I am literally sitting here waiting for something to happen, so in the meantime I'm reading up about the company on the intranet. It reminds me of when I first started in all my other temp roles, and I know if I could fast forward a few weeks, I'd see myself laughing and chatting with colleagues (whom I'd be calling by name - a seemingly impossible feat right now), getting on with tasks that will be as familiar to me as breathing and generally feeling like part of the furniture (a good thing). I know I have that all to look forward to - I just have to get through the first few days.

The great thing about this office is the noise level. Sammy and I have a radio crossing the divider on our desks, and that along with two or three others in the office are permanently on, resulting in someone constantly retuning theirs as someone else changes stations, so we don't have conflicting broadcasts jarring our brains. It's so cool to work to a soundtrack of music - I'd forgotten how much I like the background noise.

Anyway, I think maybe I've spent long enough wasting company on my very first day, so hopefully soon I will have plenty of hot celebrity gossip to set these pages alight - I'm crossing fingers!