Monthly Archives: April 2006

Devil In My Car

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I’m sleeping better and feeling good and still showing up crazy early for work. Day two and still I can’t figure out how I could get there with less than a half hour to kill. I do have the key card to get in now so I could just start earlier than usual. Fine with me.

The only problem I could see at work presently, besides not wearing a suit and tie, is using a Mac program. I’ve been fairly proficient on pc’s and not having to use a Mac for so many years I am a little bit more than rusty. I keep double clicking which achieves nothing on a Mac.

Today I had to add names to the emergency contact list and it wasn’t an easy cut and paste job. Spent a little too much time on it and still it was incomplete. I promised tomorrow I will put it in an excel program which make it a little bit easier. There are other systems I have to figure out, and I hope they are understanding enough to let me learn them.

They are a nice group of people, a few Brits sprinkled in the office. Met one of them, Roger who is really nice and suggested that I take a refresher course in Mac programs. I agreed saying that it would be beneficial for all concerned. The best part about that is that the company would pay for it. Hence it being beneficial.

They do things a lot differently at McMann and Tate. Different type of clientele. Different set ups for conference rooms. David, the temp who I’m replacing told me that these people think in visual terms so it’s all about the presentation when setting up for a lunch meeting. Have to keep that in mind.

There’s a new system also for booking the conference rooms, different colors and names for each room. I also have to remember to answer the phone with ‘Good Morning, McMann and Tate’ instead of mentioning Wanker Banker. Just a beat in my speech pattern for a second that makes me think, ‘where am I?’

It is a nice office, all white with big windows and the sun pouring in. I am really trying to do a good job and I remember how I felt when I was at Wanker Banker in my early days there. I wasn’t so sure about fitting in there either but eventually I did. Then I didn’t after a few years. But that was then, this is now.

Luckily for me, Julio is good with Mac programs and so is Bill, in fact Bill might be ahead of the game with his power book and his super Mac at home. Julio offered tonight as we were walking tonight to show me some short cuts on the Mac, but I was fried. We have the weekend to do that. Plus Bill said I could use his super Mac so looks like I’ll be in front of another computer most of the weekend.

Which is fine since they’re predicting rain on Saturday anyway.

And no I don’t have a car.

Back To School Days

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Slept well last night. Actually been sleeping just fine lately. No complaints. Woke up great, wrapped in Bill’s arms, where I could’ve stayed all day but the new job was calling and I had to get out of bed. Hadn’t shaved in about a week and had something resembling a beard to get rid of.

Then it was a leisurely walk through Church Square Park and down Garden Street to the train. Playing a singer named Res who I heard years ago in a store and bought her CD. Very good music and lyrics and her voice is good too. Nice alternative vibe to it with a definite R&B feel. That doesn’t happen too often.

The trains are of course, crowded at 7:30 in the morning. Takes a lot of Buddhist tolerance. I only have to go one stop to Christopher Street so it’s ain’t so bad. Then it’s a 15 minute walk to work. It was a gorgeous morning walking down Hudson Street in the springtime.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I had to be at McMann and Tate at 8:00 or 8:30 so I opted for 7:50. Of course that meant I didn’t have to be there until 8:30. I loitered in the street outside. Very busy corner of Soho what with the 1/9 train emptying out at Houston Street. I saw a guy in handcuffs being escorted into a government building across the street. White collar criminal, perhaps mail fraud?

I made it in and walked through the doors with one of the senior managers, introducing myself and sitting around for someone who knew what I supposed to do, to show up. Someone did, David who sat at the desk when I came in for my interviews. He’s a temp, he’s an actor and doesn’t want to be tied down to a 9 to 5 job.

He showed me the ropes and told me his life story so far. An interesting story, yet non-descript. Apparently living with a woman who he’s broken up with a few times and reminds him of his mother. He mentioned that he seems to go for the type that makes one think of Oedipus.

The office started coming to life around 10:00. A bunch of designing hipsters. Nice people, no attitudes detected.

As the way things turn out, I got a phone call from Lawrence on my cell that I had to reject. I called him back a few minutes later. He told me he had a job that seemed perfect for me. I told him thanks, but today was my first day that I started at the new job. He was happy for me and I thanked him for looking out for me. The same thing happened at my last day at Wanker Banker.

I had a phone call from Judy Wagner from another agency. She was asking me if I was still looking for a new job and I told her that I had gotten one and she was catching me at the last day from the old job. She congratulated me and told me if I knew of anyone looking for a job to keep her in mind and refer them to her.

Feast or famine.

I had a glass of wine with the office manager at McMann and Tate before I left. She seems cool. Cool enough to toast the end of my first day. She also noticed the cigar in my pocket. She thanked me as I walked towards the elevator.

I hit the street and lit up a Padron 5000 and walked up to 14th street so I could enjoy it properly. I got so many cigars last week, got to smoke em all.

Much love to everyone who wished me well.

Thanks.