Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Fire Island

A few weeks ago it was Memorial Day weekend which is the official beginning to the Summer Season (although ironically Summer doesn't officially start until June 21st or something, somewhere close to the solstice). Anyway, a friend of mine organised a share house in Fire Island, which is a long narrow island off Long Island on the way to the Hamptons. You have to catch a ferry to cross the water and once there there are no cars and roads, just footpaths and red wagons (seriously!). It's very quaint and there are lots of families that come here and the kids ride around on their bikes without fear of being run over by cars. There is also a rather large partying contingent consisting mainly of 20-somethings. However, I would describe Fire Island as the antithesis of the Hamptons - very low key, relaxed and stress-free. But being a full fledged New Yorker by now, I could only last 2 days there before I was itching for my New York life again - so I headed back home a day early.


Work Turnaround!

I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 weeks of unemployment and was somewhat disappointed to learn that I had managed to land another job. I would have been perfectly happy to have been a bum for the duration of the Summer but alas it was not to be. That's not to say that I didn't think the job I had accepted wasn't a good opportunity, because on the surface it seemed like the chance for me to make a lot of impact and bring the company and it's website into this millenium.
So when I started and was subjected to an orientation session with others (who were to work in the call centre) I was considerably stunned by all the rules and regulations. Now, I have worked with government departments in Australia, but this government agency was like no other workplace I had encountered. I was not allowed to eat at my desk, nor wear headphones and I had to use a timeclock to check in and out everyday (haven't done that since I was a sales assistant at Myer) ! And that was just the start of the restrictions - imagine all their restrictions on web and phone access! There were other issues as well but I don't feel I can discuss them on a public website. So, after my first week there, I was not looking forward to my second Monday.
That morning as I was sitting at my desk, surrounded by people from non-English speaking countries (you can probably guess their origin - I am in IT) I felt the need to put my headphones on to drown out the foreign languages being spoken around me (actually that was another rule that was broken that I actually agree with), only to be chastised for wearing the headphones! That was the beginning of what I thought was the end of my time there. I informed my agency that I could not see out the contract and they asked me to hold out for a few days until they notified their client. When they finally were informed (that was a long 4 days!) the HR lady asked to speak with me to understand my reasons. I was to learn that I was not the first person to leave for the restrictiveness of the organisation.
A few hours later the CIO summoned me to his office. He asked me not to leave and promised to make changes to address all of my concerns including lifting all those restrictions and changing my reporting structure (I now report directly to the CIO) and even promised to make things more financially rewarding.
So, it's a week later and a lot has changed at the place where I work and I'm actually starting to enjoy it! Wonders will never cease!