Half a decade
Yesterday marked my fifth year of work here, according to my A/R record. My boss is a bit more confused on the actual day and I'll tell you that I do not remember.
What I do remember was how quiet I was for like...the first year. I thought I would do everything wrong and I was still getting used to doing things the bookstore way. Everything was good, even if I was as scared as a mouse and made less noise than one.
I was SO happy to have a job that actually utilized my degree.
Now I can't help but laugh about how angry I used to get over perceived "unfairnesses". Then I grew up a little more and realized that the world is not even, is not fair. Something I should have already known really. What about my life was ever fair? Ha. I think that school was fair. I think I got used to everyone being treated the same way and the "easiness" of school. So coming into a job where certain people are treated differently was weird. Some of it was normal, since others had been here far longer. But some of it still occurs, and I still get peeved, but I just bitch about it to someone else and then I feel better. No amount of saying anything will change things, so I rant about it and let it go.
I've learned so much in five years. How to stick it out even while screwing myself into probation. How to bite my tongue and keep my head down when the office "crazies" are flying around. I don't know what it is but occasionally it would seem that everyone has gone mad. Everyone but me of course. Ha.
Today only really served to illustrate how far I've come. Before lunch I helped with the deposit, covered customer service, ratted out someone who calls in habitually (ok, so sometimes I can't let it go, but that's more than unfairness, show up to work dammit!), and nicely (but in a firm way) dissuaded some idiot from talking to the managers. All before lunch! I happen to know a lot of background on the company and I know she left messages, but NONE of those messages were to me and they were all garbled and hard to understand (I know you live in NY, but slow the hell down please), so I explained that she needs to talk to ACCOUNTING, not others to get what she wants. That kind of shut her up, along with the information she wanted.
But to be able to get to that firmness in dealing with vendors? It's been a long time getting here. My boss had even noticed it. And I had to get the right amount of "venom" and use it only at appropriate times. As with most things in life, I think I tend to go overboard if I don't hold it in check a bit.
I'm pretty sure I have my very own hate club in NY (I can see the t-shirts now "I hate Desiree!"), as those people are the ones I seem to have the most problems with. All I know for sure is that I KNOW how to do my job. I know what I need, and I KNOW what they need to get me.
I've got my very own job title, even. This girl at work made me a sticker for my name tag that says "Invoice Master". Well, it says "Invoice M@ster", which some people have mistaken for "Invoice Monster", but that's funny too. These people appreciate my help, and that helps me a lot to keep the smile on my face when I've been asked the same questions over and over again.
It's good to feel secure. It's good to be able to express myself. And five years means I get three weeks of paid vacation now! They might even contribute more to my 401k plan, I can't remember exactly how it works.
I feel needed here. I feel wanted here. I feel in place here. All those years ago when I envisioned my accounting job, I'd hoped for a smaller type of office, and this is a small-ish company, so I guess I got my wish. I don't want a bunch of faceless people, I want to know and be friendly with a bunch.
Which seems like a far cry from my "norm", but I can be friendly with work people. Just not most people in general.
More on that later.
What I do remember was how quiet I was for like...the first year. I thought I would do everything wrong and I was still getting used to doing things the bookstore way. Everything was good, even if I was as scared as a mouse and made less noise than one.
I was SO happy to have a job that actually utilized my degree.
Now I can't help but laugh about how angry I used to get over perceived "unfairnesses". Then I grew up a little more and realized that the world is not even, is not fair. Something I should have already known really. What about my life was ever fair? Ha. I think that school was fair. I think I got used to everyone being treated the same way and the "easiness" of school. So coming into a job where certain people are treated differently was weird. Some of it was normal, since others had been here far longer. But some of it still occurs, and I still get peeved, but I just bitch about it to someone else and then I feel better. No amount of saying anything will change things, so I rant about it and let it go.
I've learned so much in five years. How to stick it out even while screwing myself into probation. How to bite my tongue and keep my head down when the office "crazies" are flying around. I don't know what it is but occasionally it would seem that everyone has gone mad. Everyone but me of course. Ha.
Today only really served to illustrate how far I've come. Before lunch I helped with the deposit, covered customer service, ratted out someone who calls in habitually (ok, so sometimes I can't let it go, but that's more than unfairness, show up to work dammit!), and nicely (but in a firm way) dissuaded some idiot from talking to the managers. All before lunch! I happen to know a lot of background on the company and I know she left messages, but NONE of those messages were to me and they were all garbled and hard to understand (I know you live in NY, but slow the hell down please), so I explained that she needs to talk to ACCOUNTING, not others to get what she wants. That kind of shut her up, along with the information she wanted.
But to be able to get to that firmness in dealing with vendors? It's been a long time getting here. My boss had even noticed it. And I had to get the right amount of "venom" and use it only at appropriate times. As with most things in life, I think I tend to go overboard if I don't hold it in check a bit.
I'm pretty sure I have my very own hate club in NY (I can see the t-shirts now "I hate Desiree!"), as those people are the ones I seem to have the most problems with. All I know for sure is that I KNOW how to do my job. I know what I need, and I KNOW what they need to get me.
I've got my very own job title, even. This girl at work made me a sticker for my name tag that says "Invoice Master". Well, it says "Invoice M@ster", which some people have mistaken for "Invoice Monster", but that's funny too. These people appreciate my help, and that helps me a lot to keep the smile on my face when I've been asked the same questions over and over again.
It's good to feel secure. It's good to be able to express myself. And five years means I get three weeks of paid vacation now! They might even contribute more to my 401k plan, I can't remember exactly how it works.
I feel needed here. I feel wanted here. I feel in place here. All those years ago when I envisioned my accounting job, I'd hoped for a smaller type of office, and this is a small-ish company, so I guess I got my wish. I don't want a bunch of faceless people, I want to know and be friendly with a bunch.
Which seems like a far cry from my "norm", but I can be friendly with work people. Just not most people in general.
More on that later.
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