Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Three Months

I have finally figured out why companies generally give you 90 days to settle in. It takes that long to figure out what you're supposed to be doing.

Today is the three month mark for me at my new job, and I think everything has gone fairly well. There were the days I had to miss because of funeral services for grandpa, but I don't think anybody is holding that against me. Heck, half the office has been out multiple days for being sick - a day and a half for a funeral didn't faze them.

Other than funeral things I haven't missed any days of work even though splorp! was trying to give me a nasty cold a couple of weeks ago. He actually missed several days himself, and went to the doctor (gasp!), so you know it was serious. But I spent the night on the couch for about two weeks so he could toss and turn as much as he wanted, and also not infect me with the coughing he was doing at all hours. It wasn't terribly effective as far as sleep went - I woke up every night at 3:30 AM, and even made a 4 AM drugstore run for cough syrup and cold meds for him once - but I didn't come down with anything more than a mild cough, so I'll consider the lack of good sleep a fair trade for not actually being sick.

Having reached my 90 day mark at work I'm feeling a little more confident about the near future. Not that 90 days means I'm guaranteed a position any more than any one else in this economy, but I think they like me pretty well. Heck, I know they appreciate my ability to pound out the HTML. Just being able to read and edit the code on the spot means I have saved them hours and hours of work. Ta-da, done! It's nice to feel useful.

What's new to me is that my new boss doesn't micromanage. She also works from home some mornings, and leaves early and works from home some evenings. So I'm on my own a lot, which I always thought I wanted. But the lack of oversight means I find myself feeling nervous that I'm going to make a mistake, and suffering little fluttery feelings in my stomach.

I think I'll get used to it. They do have guidelines and "how-tos" so I can work the store's back end software on my own. And it is a pretty cool feeling that they trust me to make decisions. Want to increase sales by writing a post on the company blog? Cool, knock yourself out. Go review a product and put it on sale. Here's your guidelines: "Don't drop below the company's cost." Ok, um, I can do that.

The 90 days did seem to go by quickly and I guess that's a good thing. I'm trying to think positive and hoping it continues to go well.


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