First day on the job!

So it’s my first day and I’ve already boobed: I completely forgot how cool the office is and now I’m totally regretting wearing the heels. 

It’s mid-sized practice consisting of about twenty-five achingly cool people.  And now me.  In my stupid heels.  Why didn’t I pay attention at interview?

The outgoing PA is friendly – she’s off travelling for a year so of course she is.  She takes me around and introduces me to all the Creatives – me clopping around after her like a pit-pony while she glides around in flipflops.  The office is completely open plan apart from a long, glass meeting room on one side. Four long rows of white desks run the width of the central space with Creatives sitting either side in front of their huge Macs.   Most of them say hello.

I am the only PA in the company but there are two other admins who I will be directly managing: a Project Coordinator, Lena, who supports the Creatives and a Receptionist/Finance Assistant, Natalie. Natalie also works alongside the Finance and HR Manager, Tiff, who is on holiday this week.  Worryingly, while everyone else has been quite friendly, these two have appeared a little standoffish. I sense a hint of animosity between them and the outgoing PA which I’ll need to nip in the bud:  I want to start my role with a clean, fresh slate and need to be sure not to absorb other people’s issues during my handover.  I resolve to tackle this next week when I am on my own.

And of course, there are my new bosses: Jeremy and Kate. They’re married with two teenaged daughters and started the company together twenty years ago so they’re very used to working together.  We met at my second interview and seemed to get on well, but you never can tell: even I find myself irritating when I’m nervous …

Jeremy is very tall and comes across as slightly aloof, while Kate is a petite brunette and appears to be the complete opposite: she beams at me constantly and laughs generously when I make a lame, nervous joke.  I am to sit between them.  This will be interesting …

However, within minutes of me being re-introduced, they are both called into a meeting and then I only catch flashes of them for the rest of the day.

It all passes in a blur as I’m taken through the electronic filing system, the marketing library (I am to co-ordinate the marketing too, apparently, which is very exciting!) and the email. I am introduced to the diaries – they run an office wide diary rather than individual ones which will take a little getting used to.

And then it’s 6pm and I’m prepping Jeremy and Kate for their meetings tomorrow, enjoying a surge of confidence and acceptance.  Indeed, I’m feeling so pleased with myself as I switch my computer off, that I find myself thinking: I’m going to like it here.

As I walk towards the stairs, I say goodbye to Lena, the Project Co-ordinator, who’s on her way back to her desk looking harassed and annoyed.  She ignores me.