First day at work

My first day at work was simultaneously interesting and boring. To be honest, It wasn’t really a first day at work - it was a first day at work training. Training will continue for two weeks, and then if we pass an exam, we’ll be deemed ready to begin for real.

I showed up there and met two other foreigners who would be starting in the same position as me. I was quite pleased that the others were around my age, one being a couple years younger and the other being one year older. I had been worried I would be a fish out of water - potentially working with much more experienced strangers who are also much older. But I suppose that certain aspects of the job means that people in my age and position will be the ones most eager to take it.

(It’s a task that will involve lots of traveling abroad, so that means anyone with small children or who is about to get one won’t want to do it. It also involves speaking foreign languages, which means that it requires foreigners.)

Anyway, we three newbies gathered in a small meeting room around an oval table, where several laptops, intimidatingly thick training manuals, and two Israelis were waiting. I was the last to arrive, and even I arrived several minutes before we were meant to be there. The locals had been working for the company for a month, and so seemed quite sympathetic towards us.

The day consisted of a series of lectures. We were introduced to our product, the company layout, basic concepts we needed to learn, and signed a lot of non-disclosure documents and their ilk. We learned that the laptops sitting on the tables in front of us would be ours to use for the time we worked there, and that we had been assigned e-mail addresses already.

We were given a guided tour, and whisked through multiple floors, introduced to new faces and names and departments. Unfortunately, this was all very confusing for me, but I think I’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

Our lunch break was very long. We had more than enough time to wander off to a commercial center nearby and eat. Then we wandered back, I bought candy, and we had some more lectures.

This was all fine and well, but then began the nightmare: the drive home. I had driven there myself, early in the morning, and easily found a parking spot. I came one hour early just to be sure I would get parking. It took half an hour and there was barely any traffic. The way home was another story.

To begin with, the drivers were all extremely rude and aggravated. They did not seem to understand that if they spent five minutes jostling and arguing over who is in the lane, no one can advance. If only one would let the other go, the whole thing would move much more smoothly. 80% of the drivers only cared about themselves, going deliberately out of their way to be rude and spiteful. I spent most of the time driving behind large trucks, because that seemed to be the only position that someone wouldn’t try to ram me out of, since no one wants to be behind a truck.
The whole trip took around an hour, and every minute of it was a battle. Absolutely horrible! Luckily, I had the insane gypsy-esque beats of Shantel escorting me through much of the drive, which made the experience much more pleasant and relaxed. It’s harder to take the insults on the road personally when you have someone singing “Disko Partizani” to you.

Next time, I’ll see if I can take the train to work instead.