New job? Splendid!

For those of you who don't know, I recently started a position at music store.  It's a pretty good job, and the people have been fantastic so far.  I have only two real issues with the position: 1) I'm on my feet all day, and 2) it's approximately an hour away from where I live.  Other than that, it's an okay gig.  I compiled a list of thoughts and feelings on the situation over the course of my first two weeks.

1. Being on my feet all day sucks.  It sucks especially hard since I'd pretty much been sitting on my butt all day in the interim between jobs.  The first week was predictably difficult.  I work with four guys at the store, all of whom have been exceptionally helpful.  What they didn't do during my first 4 days though, was sit down.  There are a couple of stools behind the counter, but they just never sat down! Thankfully by my 5th day, I saw at least two of them relax a bit.  The other nice thing is that we're allowed to wear athletic shoes.  I haven't yet, because mine are, unsurprisingly, orange, and it's hard to look cute in a skirt and blouse when you're rocking orange Asics.  For now, my black Mary Jane Danskos are working very well.

2. The drive kind of sucks, but luckily in the long and boring way and not the heavy traffic kind of way.  After I accepted the position, I immediately downloaded a bunch of podcasts to listen to on the drive.  My commute is approximately 58 minutes, which is means hour-long podcasts are perfect.  I've been going through a backlog of the Nerdist podcast, and that's keeping me very entertained on the drive.  I also started listening to audio books recently using Audible.  This week I'm listening to the audio book version of Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.  I've already read the book, and I'm obsessed with her blog, but I'm really enjoying listening to her narrate her own life story.  Seriously, if you haven't read anything she's written, get thee a copy.  Get thee a copy.  (Obscure Much Ado About Nothing reference alert!)

The mouse's name is Hamlet von Schnitzel

3. The day before I started working, I was out buying more than I originally intended at Target, like you do, when I found Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips with music notes on them.  I mean, really, how perfect would it be to show up to my first day of work at a music store with music notes on my nails?  The answer is super perfect.

I mean, really.  Super perfect.

As I mentioned before, I mostly work with a bunch of dudes at the front desk, and they were completely oblivious to my fabulous nail art.  However, I did have two separate customers compliment me on them, so I will mark that in the Win column.

4. Quite a bit of my work the first week was learning how to fill out the contracts for instrument rentals.  The contracts are not overly difficult, but they're intricate.  I watched a few before I tried one on my own, but I felt confident by day 3 that I could do one solo.  That was doubly good because no one else was available to help my first rental customer.  After explaining the rent-to-own process we use for most of our band instruments and having the customers fill out their portion of the rental agreement, I headed to the register to enter in the down payment.  Luckily one of my coworkers was available then to check my work.  Because I had done all of the math wrong.  All of it.  I basically had to redo my portion of the contract, but we thankfully took care of it before I overcharged the customers.

The next day I completed three more contracts, and I felt like each subsequent contract was a VICTORY!  That is, until the end of last week, when the woman who enters all the contracts to our system emerged from her office.  Apparently I had been regularly forgetting one piece of information.  She told me that she had noticed it the first week but had hoped I would just figure out that I was doing it wrong.  Also, instead of coming directly to me at any point, she brought it up with one of the guys.  I'm not gonna lie, I was really irritated by how passive aggressive she was about it.  I mean, I'm new.  If you don't want me forming bad habits, correct me ASAP instead of wishing the problem away.  Argh.  Anyway, I have finally mastered the rental contracts!

5. With it being summer in Illinois, I tend to wear my hear up more to combat the heat and humidity.  The first time I wore my hair down, one of my coworkers commented, "Wearing your hair down today, I see.  Loose and free like a hippie!"  Um, no.  I use far nicer and far more hair product than a hippie.  Also, I'm not terribly Bohemian.  Also, just no.

6. Two of my favorite quotes from my first two weeks on the job:

"Mustang Sally is the Jessie's Girl of blues." - coworker

"I just think the bassoon is my spirit instrument." - local high school drum major