Wednesday, August 17, 2005

I think they trust me

I did so well in my training this morning that they left me alone for a little over an hour this afternoon. I even managed to fix a typo on the website. Go me!
I am slowly meeting people here. Being new is always a bit weird at first. I’m usually pretty outgoing, but I do feel kind of shy in this new environment. I’ll talk to strangers in line at the supermarket, but only because I’m sort of stuck in close proximity in that situation and I’m really only speaking to them because they are standing next to me.
Here I have yet to actually need to interact with the majority of the news staff, so I just kind of haven’t. I hope they don’t think that I’m rude or something (if they’ve even noticed that I exist- I say this not out of insecurity, but because this is a busy place with freelancers and interns and etc passing through). And then there is the weirdness of sort of getting to know a person only to realize that you have no idea what their name is (or they don’t know yours) and then you pass the point where it is acceptable to ask someone what their name is without looking like an idiot.
My old workplace had this board with labeled pictures of every employee. This was both good and bad:
Bad- a lot of the pictures where about 10 years old and no longer actually resembled the employee.
Good- you got familiar with who worked in what department, how to spell everyone’s name correctly, and, if you were lucky, you could use the picture to identify the employee.

2 comments:

Lyss said...

It's good to have a supportive boss.

Bill T said...

My station has just taken up this idea -- and it is a wonderful idea, especially to get to know all those people in Sales whom you never see. (Or, if you're in Sales, to get to know that red-headed producer that kind of creeped you out on a Saturday morning as he was trying to cool his heels in your desk chair after a particularly trying morning show.)

However, it's a single large printed color sheet -- featuring the photos for our security badges/cardkeys. Most are on a par of un-flattering pictures a la the DMV and driver's licenses. Mine, I like to say, shows me grinning stupidly -- because I was so happy I was off unemployment, I like to say. The single sheet is already outdated; some people have already left with the (high?) turnover here. Then again, some people's names are misspelled -- like mine.