#myworkinglife

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Yup. That was me this morning. I was too excited that I woke up ten times before my set alarm. Then dozed after the third alarm that I was almost late (by that I mean I got to work 15 mins before schedule) yikes!

I got to work without any tickets getting handed out and enough time to take a deep breath. I went through the front doors and was greeted by one of the office admins who told me to sit while she fetched the HR. I was perched at the edge of the chaise when the HR arrived and whisked me to one of the many conference rooms in the office. We went through new employee paperwork, the usual stuff (I was familiar with it having dealt with new people while working at Target). She ran me through rules and regulations, and so on. I had to surrender a copy of my passport and driver's license in case I need to drive the company cars! Yay! After that it was a whirlwind tour around the office meeting different people. I was just praying my hands weren't sweaty when I shook hands with the former and current presidents and all the division managers (OMG).

After the mini-tour, the HR lady showed me my cubicle, with matching nameplate! Oh yeah! That just made it official. I thought I was gna b stuck in a small corner like in my previous job but this one was spacious and furnished! First thing I did was of course open up the computer and went tinkering around the programs and changing passwords on my log-in. One of the IT guys came by after a couple of minutes and showed me the printers and plotters we're going to be using for printing out work plans. He also told me I had my own company e-mail and cubicle phone. Haha. I was stoked! Accounting was supposed to give me my log-in info for the timesheets and online access but I didn't get any e-mails by the end of the day. Made a note to talk to them first thing Wednesday.

We then had a department meeting at one of the conference rooms. A little background about me: I am shy with crowds (somewhat mini-agoraphobic). My boss had me stand up and introduce myself to the room. The managers talked about me for about 15 mins, dropping jokes about giving the new guy hell. Lolz. I was dying. Given the fact that i was overdressed (I went all in suit and tie), it became more uncomfortable. After that, it was on to business and we went over the projects that each group and division were working on, deadlines, upcoming events, and so on. Took a bunch of notes, did a bunch more handshaking after the meeting then headed to my cubicle.

I realized I didn't have anything to do so I hunted down my supervisor to ask if he had any tasks for me. I wish somebody told me to be careful what I ask for. A few minutes later a junior design engineer stopped by my cubicle and started showing me design plans for a project they were doing and that the contractor in charge of construction had problems with the design. Then he proceeded to tell me I had to fix the design and see if I can find a solution. I just nodded and said OK but inside my brain was screaming bloody hell and my sanity was threatening to leave me. He took off and I was left staring at 50 pages of drawings with no idea what to do and how to start it. I was so ready to scream FAIL!!! I took a moment to steady myself, start scanning through my memories of school, and say a small prayer.

I took my lucky pencil out, my handy dandy calculator, an engineering notepad, and went to work. It took me an embarrassing hour and a half to figure out what to do before I started chugging numbers out. A couple of the employees and former classmates stopped by to say hi and take a look at the dashing and sexy new intern (don't roll your eyes at me... no head shaking either). After 5 straight hours (I didn't take my lunch or breaks. Pfffft. I wanted to finish my calculations), I finally had a bunch of data that I translated into a drawing. Printed 'em out and made my way to the junior engineer's cubicle. Got a surprised look from him and a pat in the back for a good job done (I was dubious since I thought I could've done it in half the time but I'll take it). We knocked on our supervisor's office and met with him discussing the plans and what we could revise on it. Go it red marked and I was done for the day.

By then I had a massive headache and was ready to go home. All the design engineers were still working on their projects and I know that'll be me in a few months. Overall, it was a stressful but uplifting day. I'm finally moving forward with my career. Next stop, getting my engineering license ^_^

Thanks for reading through this long and boring post! Thanks to my new followers and hello to everyone!