First Day Jitters

[prosodic]

Today went fine on the phone...better than I had expected. One client was really pissy with me, because I guess he keeps getting handed off to different payroll specialists, and he swore and made pretty snarky comments. But I tried not to take it personally. I only made one slight faux pas when calling a customer, so overall the day wasn't too bad.

I was flooded with emails from my Rochester classmates though. Wow. I just sat and watched them pop into my inbox every few seconds. I was particularly busy between 9-10 am and the team leader was sitting with me (although she wasn't listening to my calls), and she commented on the number of emails I was getting.

Getting those first few calls under my belt was all I needed. I pretty much sailed through the rest of the day. My first call was a one person payroll, so how could I screw that up?

Anyway, I am pleased to say that Reece's adoption is moving forward. We agreed to take her to doggie daycare...Petsmart has a program and it's near both our offices. It's expensive, but we can afford it (and it's the cheapest option of all the doggie daycares we looked at). And Lance gets a raise next month. It's just that it costs as much as child daycare, but as she gets older, she'll need it less and less. Petsmart's program gets dogs gradually accustomed to spending time alone. She'll start at half hour intervals and work her way up.

Right now, they are checking references. My mom, Lance's sister, and our friends Ruby and Robb are references for us, so I don't anticipate any problems. We're golden.

For those who haven't yet seen her superlative cuteness and turned into a puddle of goo, here she is, without further ado...



That look is going to undo me. Every time she gives me that look, I'll want to give her anything she wants. It's going to be hard to resist that face.

Anyway, on the domestic side of life, I made Linguini Carbonara for dinner today, or a reasonable facsimile. It's not authentic, because it doesn't have egg in it. But a mixture of milk and sour cream gives it its creamy consistency. It was really tasty and very easy to make. Carbonara is my favorite Italian dish, and I'm completely bummed that no Italian restaurant in the US makes it (that I know of anyway...too paranoid about partially cooked eggs). It was almost always what I ordered at any Italian restaurant in Europe.

Also, we are having a breakfast potluck at work on Thursday...our team is, not the entire office. I offered to bring muffins, and I have 3 boxes of quick bread/muffin mix in the pantry. But for something like this, I feel like I should make them from scratch.

If so, I believe I'll be making the recipe that navygreen posted for Banana Crumb Muffins.

Thursday is a great day to have the potluck. I have ONE PHONE CALL scheduled for the entire day. Seriously. And it's at 2 pm. That could change, because sometimes clients aren't ready at their scheduled time and I might push them back a day. But still...Thursday is going to be really easy.

I have other things I want to post. I have pictures from Niagara Falls that I probably need to upload from my camera. Maybe I should do that right now. I just haven't been in a place emotionally where writing my travel blog and taking care of the photos have been a big priority. But I promised to email photos to my travel companions in Niagara, so I better do it. Once we bring Reece home, I'll be too busy.

Comments

[mysirensong.livejournal.com]

It's so funny ... we really could've ended up in the same training class because I *seriously* considered a job with them (and wasn't turned off by the idea of going to Rochester for the training since that's where my ex-boyfriend lives LOL). I have always liked dealing with the company -- my boss at Sylvan (which is franchised so they may not all use the same payroll company) used them and they always gave impeccable service and if people could work with HIM, well then ... they HAD to be able to deal with real jackasses. LOL Anyway, I've seriously considered interviewing with them and chucking this whole teaching thing lately when things got so ... well, let's just say violent to keep my potty mouth in check.

I'm interested to see how you like it.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I'll say for now, since I'm still reserving judgment on the job itself, that the people I work with are awesome. I've never had a job where my co-workers are so incredibly supportive and encouraging. Several times today, people stopped by my cubicle to ask me how my day was going, to see if I was handling things okay on the phone. It's a very positive environment, which is such a departure from what you've been experiencing lately.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Oh, and by the way... A WHOLE LOT of people at Paychex have teaching backgrounds. I'm really astonished at the number of people I've met there who are former teachers. But there are opportunities to become a trainer eventually, whether at the branch level or the corporate level, so that teaching experience comes in handy.

[mysirensong.livejournal.com]

I was a trainer at the telemarketing company I worked at for about 4 of the 5 years I was there. I *loved* it and it was one of the reasons I decided to get into teaching ... but Dave has become a sort of corporate trainer, and I find myself REALLY missing doing that. Hmmmmm ... Maybe I'll give them a look. Salary and benefits need to be comparable but right now I'm amazed at how I'm getting by on a Workers Comp salary so it turns out I don't NEED as much as I thought I did. And it's not like teachers make a ton ... but our governor is talking about an $8000 a year raise for us so I'm like, "Is NOW the time to leave teaching?" LOL

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not going to say much about the salary. I'm getting paid one of the higher starting wages...I think it's due to the high cost of living here in Seattle. But raises are pretty frequent and generous as you complete each level to work your way up to senior level. But I'm just talking about the Payroll Specialist position.

I think the benefits are pretty sweet. I just don't need most of them because I have Lance's health, dental and life insurance.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

It was the pictures that did you in. *nods knowingly* Seriously, I've made these four times now, and they get RAVE reviews every time. They are SO awesome!

[mrs-picasso.livejournal.com]

I was checking the menu for the place our office is going for lunch today. They have a Carbonara dish that includes egg. You might be able to find it where you live, once you have more of a chance to explore your area.