notes from week #1 of new job

[moominmolly]

(1) I believe that having green hair got me unexpected professional respect, today. That was fun.

(2) The people in the office I work in -- all non-technical -- are neither nerds nor arty types. They are also not suits. I have to look vaguely presentable, since people come in to this office to interview a lot (it's an admissions office). I have NO idea what to wear in the mornings. This is going to get exciting quickly.

(3) Dear world: Charmed as I am that you assume I'm a professor because I work at a university, I have to inform you that there are people who work on university grounds who aren't students, faculty, or food service.

(4) I kind of love it when people don't expect me to be smart and then realize that I am. (Not my officemates.)

(5) My first day of work, I got a thank-you card for showing up. Seriously. It was like a "we'll miss you!" card, except that everyone had written a few lines about how excited they were I was coming to work for them.

(6) One guy I work with is an ex-personal-trainer photographer cyclist type with a dry sense of humor and a vague interest in Buddhism. Today, my boss told a funny story about some guy she hooked up with at her last job, and it made me feel relaxed rather than uncomfortable. When I got the tour of the office, the first thing they showed me was where they kept the really, really, really nice printer paper and the color printer, and then basically told me that I should feel free to waste office supplies. (Yes, my office now has photos in it.) This place makes me feel *comfortable*.

(7) I don't think I've ever wanted to go to an office holiday party before.

Comments

[gretchens.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad your first week is going well.

On dressing (I am SO not a person who knows fashion) but what I did was wear suit-y type clothes for the first few months, and now I'm basically in khakis 4 days a week, much more casual than when I started. But, I always dress for important meetings or whatever. I'm in a front-line-ish office (registrar) too. For winter, I love LLBean's "Weekend Pants."(they have them in heather and herringbone). I don't know why they are called Weekend Pants, because they are way more fussy than anything I'd wear on the weekend.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I have the so not knowing what to wear problem when I first started at my recent job. Slacks and a button down are almost always ok, and in the winter add a sweater! I must say I love some of the NY and Co shirts because they are less gappy than many places.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Aw, yay! I wanna work in your new office!

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yay! My university dressing theory: be distinguishable from the work-study kids who also work in my office :)

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I must say I love some of the NY and Co shirts

YES YES YES

fanw and I (who both have, you know, breasts) are always talking about how we get all our work clothes from there. Especially now with the nursing I have had to just totally ignore all my work shirts from anywhere else.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

*lol*!

...and actually, having met you, I can see how that would be tricky. You *would* look like a college student if you dressed down too far.

(I know how it goes. When I was working in a high school when I was 22, people routinely tried to give me detention.)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Slacks and a button-down is what I'm defaulting to, but the problem is basically that everyone is fashionable-looking. In a nerdier office, people are often trying to look nice without really trying to look too interesting. This doesn't seem to be that. Still, I should go to NY and Co.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... nice jewelry makes me feel more interesting. There is plenty of classy but also interesting stuff that I think would appeal to you and would make you feel more neat!

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it doesn't help that I find it hilarious that I am allegedly their boss, although this in no way undermines the awesomeness that of their having to do stuff I don't want to do.

Also, I'm a totally plausible age to actually *be* a graduate student -- in fact, I'd kind of like to be one again soon -- and they are rampant on campus.

I'm not sure I have attached your real name to yor LJ name, and therefore, embarassingly, I can't think where I met you :)

[ectropy.livejournal.com]

So... you got a new job?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yup. I work for BU. I make approximately no money, but I get tons of vacation and (at least for the time being) I don't hate myself every morning, and maybe the bike commute is short enough that I'll actually DO it sometimes. I started Monday.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Apparently some of my students thought my assistant AI and I were both undergrads. Which is kind of plausible with my assist., because she's just a year out, but I was all, "um, what?*"

*I'm totally aware that there are 33 year old undergrads out there, but, realistically, not on this campus.

[palmir.livejournal.com]

Yay bike commuting!

Which reminds me: You haven't been updating your workouty journal lately, and I miss it :(

(Not that I've been doing any better. I should be more active starting January, though.)

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Among other places, I was at N's birthday party with the world's sweetest 10-month-old in tow.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

And you had to remind yourself that said 10-month-old is huge and I am not.

[jasra]

Congrats on the new job! :)

[beowabbit]

Yay! Congratulations. I worked at BU for three years after moving to Boston; despite Silber (who was still president then), it was a lovely place to work.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Yay new job in academia!

(My beloved just got some excellent shirts at NY & Co, who have a store in the Wayside Commons shopping center in Burlington. I would definitely echo the recommendation to check it out.)

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Maybe you can confirm/deny a rumor I heard, that when Silber ran for governor everyone at BU voted for him - to get him off campus.

[chaggalagirl.livejournal.com]

i'm glad i wasn't the only one wanting to ask this question. ^_^

[veek.livejournal.com]

When you do, provided I have a job by then, I would like to accompany you.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I don't think your 33-ness is visually obvious :) Certainly, I would have guessed younger, even knowing things about your life (like that you were in grad school when I met you).

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

moominmolly gave away your superhero identity :) And now that I've got that sorted, I can totally imagine how you could have that problem too.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

This all sounds so lovely! Yay!!!

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

I'm a NY and Co devotee, after finding one of their shirts at a thrift store in San Francisco. Now I have six. I plan to rotate through them (and my collection of subtly varied black slacks) when, you know, the weather is warmer.

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[valancy17.livejournal.com]

yay new job goodness!

[d3l1r1um.livejournal.com]

YAY!

Maybe some "golf" or "work" shirts from someplace like ThinkGeek (http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/golfshirts/) since people are making clothing suggestions and I feel left out? :)

I think the "work" type shirts are absolutely lovely as a casual businessy look worn open with a plain black/gray tee or something.

[cloeigrrl.livejournal.com]

Very cool on all points! Glad your liking it at your new office/job sounds like fun.

"(5) My first day of work, I got a thank-you card for showing up. Seriously. It was like a "we'll miss you!" card, except that everyone had written a few lines about how excited they were I was coming to work for them."

When I graduated from high school and moved away I got a job at a law firm. My first day there I got flowers from the main lawyer saying "Happy Graduation" which I found sweet and odd....but it was pretty cool.

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

Jobs in academia rule. How much vacation is "tons of vacation"?

Sorry about the hating yourself every morning at the old job. From a distance, it didn't seem *that* bad.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

Yay! This was awesome to read -- your new job environment sounds very satisfying. How exciting!

[bemocked.livejournal.com]

(i'm catching up on a couple weeks of posts that i missed...)

I/m reading this wondering what is this "NY & Co" of which they all speak... "must be a New England-East Coast thing". But through the magic of google I see that, No, they are national, and even have stores in the frontier of Texas/Houston (where I last lived in the US). So now I just feel out of touch with the mainstream (yet again).

All sorts of buy-one-get-one-free-discount-goodness all over their website today too...