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Training the Noob

Accounting Stuff, General Comments Off

Aug 032011

There are a lot of new people where I work. Apparently the boss has got some salespeople drumming up more business, and in anticipation thereof he’s been on a hiring spree.

One of the new guys may not be there next week. He started with the lady who does payroll, but was slowing her down too much. This week he’s working with me and my supervisor. My supervisor is dealing with a huge mound of paperwork that has to be finished by Friday, so she asked me to show New Guy how to do what we do.

So that’s what I spent about half my day doing yesterday. I made a copy of my check list for him, and when he had questions I’d go and walk him through it. I tried to explain things clearly (English is his second language), and have him do the entries while I was there so he’d have some hands-on practice. I took it slow so he could make notes. I did my best to set him up for success, because I can totally relate to being inexperienced and struggling.

But he’s on thin ice, and he knows it. He’s not very fast at getting the data entered, and he’s making a lot of mistakes. And knowing he’s on thin ice is making him flustered and nervous, which of course only makes it worse.

El Jefe is giving him until Friday, but if he doesn’t improve he’s probably going to get laid off.

The whole thing prompted me to ask my supervisor, “You’d tell me if I was making mistakes, right?” She assured me that yes, if I make mistakes they’ll definitely let me know, and I’m doing fine. I hope New Guy can make it. Getting laid off sucks.

How Did THAT Happen?

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Jul 292011

I’ve been at my new job for three weeks now.

Somehow, in that time, I’ve gotten a reputation for being smart.

I don’t know how that happened. I spent most of the first week wandering around asking stupid questions. A lot of them were questions to clarify something I’d already been told, because I wanted to make absolutely sure I understood what I was supposed to be doing. And yet by the second week, people were coming and asking me how to do things.

Last week I helped someone with a Word formatting problem.

Earlier this week I showed some co-workers how to move a folder in Windows.

Yesterday I assisted someone with Roman numerals.

Today I helped another co-worker fix a file association for a spreadsheet she was trying to open.

It’s not like my co-workers aren’t smart. In every case I was able to explain to them what I was doing to fix their problem, and they understood and will be able to do it themselves next time.

And it’s not like I always have the answer; frequently they’ll come ask me if I know how to do $THING, and I’ll look blank and say I have absolutely no clue about $THING. And together we’ll go seek someone else to show us how to do $THING (because now I’m curious, too).

Nonetheless, in three weeks I seem to have become the office fix-it girl.

Not that I object, mind you. With any luck this will make me indispensable.

Trolling the Coworkers

General Comments Off

Jul 272011

At work, we generally go to lunch on our own individual schedules. Often the office admin and I wind up having our lunch at the same time, so naturally we chat a bit.

One afternoon she was musing about whether she should put styrofoam in the microwave, or would it melt. “I don’t think it would melt, unless the food gets hot enough to melt it,” I opined.

“Okay, if it doesn’t work, I’m blaming you,” she teased me. “After all, you’re the microwave expert.”

I looked at her straight-faced and said, “You know, that’s actually on my résumé.”

For a second—just a second—she goggled at me. Then she said “No, it’s not!” and we both started laughing.

Now that’s her running joke whenever someone says they can do something. “I know, it’s on your résumé.”

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