Whoa there - I've got a new job!!!

My grandmother once told me that the greatest sin is to be late.  She also told me that carrots would give me night-vision and if I pointed at her goldfish one more time it would die, but while those proved to be less reliable words of wisdom, her advice on tardiness has always stuck with me. 

Which is why it’s 8.30am and I am an hour early for my first day.   In a desperate attempt to allay my nerves, I was showered, dressed, redressed, redressed, breakfasted, redressed and on the tube before my alarm had even gone off.  

Because this is a big deal.

I am now, according to my signed contract which is very carefully nestling in my bag, PA to the Directors of a cutting edge creative firm.  It’s a bit of a coup. Since coming to London five years ago, it’s been a fantastic journey.  I started off in a junior admin role in the City where everyone socialised very well on expenses and I developed some great all round skills alongside some enduring friendships and blurred memories.  Then I got serious and, after two years, stepped up into a mid-level PA role for three senior execs who were notorious for their demanding natures.  It was do or die. I clearly ‘did’ because here I am:  a PA to my very own Directors.

Of course, I’m terrified.

While I sit there, nursing my over-priced coffee in the little café around the corner in this unfamiliar part of town, all I can hear is my pesky inner critic reminding me that none of my new colleagues will like me. Agonising over such key questions as: are the heels too much? Would flats have been cooler? And then there’s the loudest voice of all:  the one that’s bleating on about how I’m a terrible PA, and really what was I thinking taking on such a challenging role?

And then, as I’m about to combust with angst, it’s 9.20am and time to shift it. The office is on a side street off the main road.  I stand before its huge wooden doors, my heart in my mouth. I’ve been here for two interviews before, but was then so excited at the prospect of the role that I’d barely taken anything in. Now, I drag the door open. My heart pounding, I climb the stairs and then I emerge straight into the vast, bright, open-plan office and my new life begins …