My new job in the Capital-Part I

I alluded earlier that I have a new job since I've moved to The Capital. Yup, I'm no longer the Librarian/Substitute Teacher/ Weekend Receptionist. I'm not even in education. I'm doing something completely different. Drum roll please............... Executive Assistant.

That's right, I'm the executive assistant to the CEO of a small computer company- we provide managed IT services to small to mid sized companies and do everything from their help-desk work to their server and network work.  And I'm the assistant to the man in charge.

I'm here to tell you 1- is sounds waaaaaaaaaaaay more glamorous that it really is. 2- It really sucks 3- I miss libraries and/or teaching.

I do 1- love wearing jeans to work every day and 2- I like that my boss is in our office about 10% of the week, 3- that I am the one in total and complete charge of the AC settings in the office, and 4- that we're a small company so everyone but the Boss and me work from their homes, so I like being on my own.

I said I like being on my own MOST of the time, is a more true statement. It's hard to eat lunch alone every day so I usually eat a salad at my desk through my lunch and work. And when you work alone and you've moved to a city, it's hard to meet people and make friends. I would guess that most people my age who have relocated somewhere started their friend base through their place of employment and I don't have that. It can be lonely sometimes.

My office is on the 13th floor of a high rise on the north side of the city. It has a nice view and the people who manage my building are nice. I like to look out the window when it was snowing last spring- it was like being inside of a snowglobe! Being on 13 is scary, I must admit. Oh stupid superstitions! One day the elevator was out and walking down 13 flights was NOT fun! And at the beginning of the summer, when the Capital (as most of the state) was having a huge tornado scare, it was frightening to be in a stairwell. But the view is lovely.

I hate my commute. I *insert f-word here* HATE HATE HATE my commute. I live 17 miles away but it takes me about 45-50 minutes in rush hour traffic to get to the office. It sucks. It beyond sucks. And that's going to and coming home from work, both. I can't win. I spend almost 2 hours a day on the road. I HATE that. Have a I mentioned I hate my commute?  Maybe if I liked my job better I wouldn't mind it so much. Or if I made better money? I do listen to lots of audio books, NPR, and I treated myself to a subscription to XM radio.

Really, my boss is super nice. He's a brilliant guy, a big thinker. He never treats me like an idiot as I learn the ropes. He is a GOOD PERSON, which I'm learning is a rare thing.

Being his personal assistant has a funky job description.  Many of you might remember the running gag in the TV show FRIENDS about Chandler or in HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER about Barney- what the heck did they do for a living? Even their friends weren't sure! I'm that person now. My friends know my job title and what sort of company I work for but don't know what I do. When people ask me what I do, my first reply is usually a pregnant pause followed by, "Weeeellll...  it's  complicated." I do answer his phone, manage all his emails and his calendar, and I open all the mail. After that it gets tricky. I write proposals for new clients and renewals for current clients. I also have many projects I'm working on; my Boss has these "visions" of things he'd like the company to do but the research/legwork/set up falls to me. I've r-re-written our company handbook and I've set policy. I'm working on a company wide "best practices" document for employees and a training manual. I've written job descriptions and updated our onboarding policy. I renew all software licenses for our clients. I actually do some customer service work for finicky clients. I planned an luncheon so we could sell a multi-million dollar project (we haven't sold it yet but the Boss is in mad amounts of meetings over it. I guess these things take time!). As you can see, I do a lot of stuff, all over the place (One day I dropped my boss's car off at the garage for an oil change and once I hired a tree trimmer for his house. I also schedule his doctor appointments. And buy wine for his wife.)

I like the guy I work for. I don't like the job really, because I miss teaching and libraries. As far as being able to do either of those jobs, I'm back to square one. Yes, I need to either go to library school or take the stupid state exams to teach.

The other problem with my job is that our company is young and we don't make a lot of money. We're growing slowly and getting in a position to either make money or close the doors, I would guess. When I was hired, I was told in 90 days I would be evaluated and then made salary. I took this job with a very, very low hourly rate (barley more than minimum wage). I worked by proverbial ass off the first 90 days. I didn't know anything about the industry so I did a lot of homework at night, on my own, just to be able to keep my head above water. I worked a lot of overtime. At the end of 90 days, my eval was pushed to 120 days. I finally forced the issue and my boss said I was great, wonderful, best assistant every but right now he had no money to give me a raise and he was sorry. I told him I was going to look for another job. I held my breath because I thought he might just let me go but he said he understood but doesn't want me to go so now he's scrambling to find money. I have no health insurance and the paid vacation benefits suck. The whole situation really sucks, to be honest. But I need to make a living and I want insurance. (I applied for 2 jobs and both called me with a desire to interview and neither had insurance so I turned the interviews down. I'm not wasting my time).

So I'm in the Capital, employed, but looking for a new job.... again. That's why this post is a Part I title- part 2 will be the NEXT new job. Whatever that may be!

Maggie