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May. 16th, 2010

Newbie

May. 16th, 2010 01:37 pm
mbranesf: (Default)
Last night, I completed my first two weeks at my new day job. I like the job a lot, though I have been going through some new-job-adjustment anxiety. As I have mentioned before, I returned to a company for which I worked for almost seven years in a couple of different capacities. The company is a high-end caterer and also has contracts to manage services at a number of locations that include restaurants and other modes of food service. It was in the contract services division in which I spent my first period of employment with them as a chef and later a general manager. Now I work for its catering division, and a lot of what I experience there is both new and familiar at the same time. Honestly, I feel a little rusty with my skills. It's like I am unpacking tools that haven't been used enough in recent years, and I am having to reacquaint myself with their functions. Every day so far, I have had at least one moment where I find myself not understanding something quickly enough or making a dumb mistake, and then I realize just a moment too late that "Oh. Of course! I remember that! I am such a dumbass!" 

Is this irrational? I guess I will get past it, and it's already getting better. I had a realization a couple of days ago that I am really in an orientation/training phase despite my past experience, and that when I feel dumb in the presence of a co-worker it's probably just because they are trying to give me complete information. What prompted this thought was a set of instructions I was given to prep some chicken for a an event that we were doing. I was given verbally a step-by-step list of what I needed to be doing with this chicken and was getting all caught up unnecessarily in the details of it--wanting to get it just right!--without understanding what the end goal of the project was. If my co-worker who had asked me to do this project had not given me the step-by-step and instead just said, "Make ten pounds of teriyaki chicken for a salad," then I would have just done it in a much more relaxed manner. 

It would be like if I decided to train someone how to format and publish M-Brane SF for me. If it was someone who had laid out a magazine or a book before, I might be able to say, "Take all these documents and put together a book in 6x9 format, and slap together a cover and ToC page." But someone who hadn't done that before might prefer that I either give more specific directions, or at least describe the end goal of the project. Someone who had done it before, but perhaps years ago and with different software, might do best knowing the purpose of the project up front and then asking follow-up questions later as they arise. That's how I am in this new job, and understanding that has made the last few days easier than the first few. 

Die Young

May. 16th, 2010 04:18 pm
mbranesf: (Default)


Unlike some long-lived bands that change their lead singers, Black Sabbath remained great, and actually got a second wind, when Ronnie James Dio, one of metal's founding fathers, replaced Ozzy Osbourne. Dio's fight with cancer ended today. 

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