Raindrops and Hairdryers

Well, today was the first day at my new job!  I woke up bright and early to give myself plenty of time to get ready and even had time to sip a cup of coffee and have some quiet time before heading off to work.  It was a rainy Monday morning, but I optimistically decided that the rain was my friend as I knew it would wash away the  pesky pollen and alleviate some of my allergy symptoms.

So, as I drove the short drive to work, I was actually feeling a sense of gratitude for the rain.  Upon my arrival at work, the rain quickly became my enemy!  I parked what felt like a mile away from the building and trudged my way through what can only be described as a MONSOON to the entrance of the office.  The wind was blowing like crazy and the rain was pouring down so hard, that it rendered my umbrella useless.  I stumbled into the office completely soaked from head to toe.  I literally looked like I had jumped fully clothed into a swimming pool.  I tried to towel off with paper towels from the restroom, but it did little to absorb the massive amounts of water that had permeated the fabric of my pants. As I walked through the hall, my pants made a loud sloshing sound each time I took a step.  I returned to the front lobby where I met another new hire who looked stickingly similar to a young Alec Baldwin.  I immediately noted that he was completely dry.  Apparently within minutes of my arrival at the building the rain had stopped completely.  Oh the irony.  Alec walked, while I sloshed, down the hall to HR where we completed endless paperwork.  

Shortly thereafter I was delivered to the marketing department where I met some very nice people who I will be working with.  Despite the fact that my clothes were soaking wet, things went pretty smoothly for the rest of the morning.  First days are always a little stressful getting acclimated to things, but it went a lot better than I thought.  Right before lunch, I visited the second floor restroom.  When I walked in, I noticed that there were hair dryers installed on the wall on either side of the sink.  At once I wished I had discovered this bathroom earlier when I was drenched from head to toe. Without thinking, I exclaimed out loud  "HAIRDRYERS?!?! I could've used one of these this morning!" Only once the words had escaped my mouth, did I notice that I was not alone in the bathroom.  I saw a pair of feet beneath one of the stalls.  I quickly hid in another stall as to avoid an awkward encounter with a women who was undoubtedly judging the crazy girl who talked to herself about hair dryers.  

The others in my department went out to lunch, but I had packed mine, so I ate in the lunch room.  I felt like the new kid at school eating alone in the Cafeteria.  I wish I had thought to bring a book or magazine to read so that I could at least appear as if I was intentionally sitting alone.  Here is a goal I hope to achieve by Friday: find friends to eat lunch with!

The afternoon went by pretty quickly; I attended a meeting and started working on the monthly health and wellness newsletter that I am responsible for.  Mishaps and embarrassing moments are bound to happen when you're new, but I'm very easily able to laugh at myself, so none of them put a damper on my day.  I'm really grateful to have this job and excited to see how the rest of this week goes.