Let's Get Brainwashed.

The end of this week will mark my one-month anniversary at the new company. What a strange place. My first weeks I was exhausted, not because of too much work, but information and sensory overload - figuring out which elevator to take, trying to decode conversations in meetings where people only spoke their special investment language, and more. Actually, most days were slow in terms of week. I'd have about 2 meetings a week.

This week, things have finally ramped up. Today I had 6 meetings. Tomorrow I have 4. I'm interacting with people more, and I don't like being the one who makes mistakes.

Yesterday, my manager gave me some "feedback" on a presentation I did last week. It was my first one, and I was nervous, and couldn't read the audience (i.e., my manager's manager, one of the big wigs in the office). Apparently, he did not like that I looked down at my paper so much. So he told my boss that. And now he was telling me to try to look at people directly more. Did I need to explain my situation to him? I was new (I still "am" new), nervous, etc....I didn't say anything, though.

Today I worked with a project manager on writing a procedure that is needed by tomorrow. I wrote it in 30 minutes. Then he asked me to write a presentation slide. I did that in about 10 minutes. He rewrote the whole thing (by hand) and gave that to me. And I typed it up. Is that really efficient? Then, he gave me some example forms that needed to have some system codes written next to the line items. I felt like I was given summer intern work. And he gave me 5 copies, so I thought he wanted yellow highlighting on all 5. Oops. He said no when I gave them back - he gave me 5 copies in case I made mistakes.

Oh, so strange. When I looked out the window from my floor, 27 floors up, I could see something riding a bicycle up the steep street. I was so envious.