So I recently started a new role as a temporary help for a company for two months (on average 40 working days) to cover a long term sick leave of an employee of theirs.
On the first day I arrived promptly at 10 am and enthusiastically signed all the new starter forms and was eager to see what all I was assigned to do to help the company out.
In the rush of hiring me, it had passed the attention of the management team to request access for me to the systems, so I had to wait for that. The day went along and I never got the access. I chased it at least three times to the point that I felt like a bit of a nuisance but yet I still left the day having done nothing at all and feeling a bit disheartened.
The next morning I came to the office with some regained enthusiasm in the hopes that surely the access had been granted overnight but sadly this was not the case. I sat there at 9 am, feeling stupid because now everyone was getting along with their work and then there was me who was checking the 3 emails that I had printed out over and over as I had nothing else to do.
I asked who could I talk about the connection and the response was that they didn’t think he was in yet…
Now the reason I shared you this little story was because this is nothing new. I have started a new role quite a few times in my life and quite frankly I feel that 90% of the time the first couple of days you literally sit there and fiddle your thumbs. You don’t know the people yet to effectively get things done, you rely on the help of others, but more often than none, this help is not available.
I am pretty sure I am not the only one who has gone through this, in fact I am positive that most new hires go through this.
Now, why is this such a bad thing. Enjoy the quiet time while you can, right?
I guess if I was 18 I would agree, but I am 34 and my time is precious. If I wanted to do nothing at all, I would sleep a bit longer and then lounge on my comfy sofa rather than look like a moron trying to look for ANYTHING to do to make the time go by. Also, I am not cheap. I am charging the company pretty hefty sum for each day so you would think they wanted to make the most of my time.
Well, they have 39 days (well 38 and half) left to utilize me, otherwise I will literally sit here and write blog posts (nope, still no access).
On other news, we are now back in London.
I really miss Switzerland and my friends. I want to go back there as soon as possible but for now it seems that it will take at least couple of years until this will happen. I am sad, but at the same time I know we have to be here for me and James to have a balance in our relationship (he get his career going and so on).
The positives are that we live in a really nice (except a bit small and expensive) house that has south facing garden and is indeed a detached house, i.e. no neighbors right on the other side of the wall. James is getting a driving license and a car soon and he has a job already as well.
We live in Alexandra Palace, which in my opinion is the nicest part of London. The nature of Switzerland is amazing but in Schaffhausen, where I lived, there was nothing like Alexandra Palace. Ok there is no clean river where you can jump to swim here like there is in Schaffhausen, but winter is coming soon anyway and you can't swim when it is cold.
I also really like how easy it is to go to the movies (everything is in original language!) or restaurants or shopping. In London you have everything on your fingertips which is just simply great.
On the negative side though, it takes really long to get anywhere. On average it takes me an hour to go to work each morning, and an hour to come home. Then if I want to go shopping or to movies, add couple hours more. In London, you never have enough time for anything (which brings me back to the point I mentioned in the beginning that my time is precious).
I think our minds has gotten a bit clouded what we wanted to do. We started to wonder whether we should stay in UK or move to Finland...
But I just read my post I wrote while I was still in Switzerland and it made me remember that I really want to be where my friends are.
I want to have them around me when my kids grow up. I want to be in the lovely nature where I have time to spend with my kids. Just have to keep reminding myself of the goal.
Now... lets see if I have access to the systems to do some work... (probably not).
Well, they have 39 days (well 38 and half) left to utilize me, otherwise I will literally sit here and write blog posts (nope, still no access).
On other news, we are now back in London.
I really miss Switzerland and my friends. I want to go back there as soon as possible but for now it seems that it will take at least couple of years until this will happen. I am sad, but at the same time I know we have to be here for me and James to have a balance in our relationship (he get his career going and so on).
The positives are that we live in a really nice (except a bit small and expensive) house that has south facing garden and is indeed a detached house, i.e. no neighbors right on the other side of the wall. James is getting a driving license and a car soon and he has a job already as well.
We live in Alexandra Palace, which in my opinion is the nicest part of London. The nature of Switzerland is amazing but in Schaffhausen, where I lived, there was nothing like Alexandra Palace. Ok there is no clean river where you can jump to swim here like there is in Schaffhausen, but winter is coming soon anyway and you can't swim when it is cold.
I also really like how easy it is to go to the movies (everything is in original language!) or restaurants or shopping. In London you have everything on your fingertips which is just simply great.
On the negative side though, it takes really long to get anywhere. On average it takes me an hour to go to work each morning, and an hour to come home. Then if I want to go shopping or to movies, add couple hours more. In London, you never have enough time for anything (which brings me back to the point I mentioned in the beginning that my time is precious).
I think our minds has gotten a bit clouded what we wanted to do. We started to wonder whether we should stay in UK or move to Finland...
But I just read my post I wrote while I was still in Switzerland and it made me remember that I really want to be where my friends are.
I want to have them around me when my kids grow up. I want to be in the lovely nature where I have time to spend with my kids. Just have to keep reminding myself of the goal.
Now... lets see if I have access to the systems to do some work... (probably not).
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