Here it is, March already.  No, wait, it’s April!

And by “already” what I really mean is “FINALLY.”

Isn’t it funny how, the older you get, the faster the time seems to fly by? Life events that you could swear were just a few years ago were actually decades ago.  Think about it.

About a year ago, we lost half of our staff at my office.

Now before you get too excited, “fully staffed” is only two employees, so really, we lost one person, which, if we’re going to be honest, wasn’t so much of a loss.

However, this meant that I was IT.

Phone rings?  I got it.

Coffee pot empty?  I’ll make more.

Documents need to be drafted?  Me.

Mail sorted?  Mine.

Filing to be done?  All me.

Bond closings?  On it.

On the bright side, I was able to streamline a lot – A LOT – of the work we do.  I had to, or I never would have been able to keep up!  After a few months, we did hire a new person – and not a minute too soon!

But you know the thing about training someone?  You spend all this time doing a job, and you just, I don’t know, DO IT.  After a while, you don’t really think about it, and you certainly don’t have the time to write down Every Single Thing you do.

And then along comes a new person who doesn’t even know where the restrooms are, let alone how to do this work, and you have to step back and teach her how to do the work you’ve been doing mindlessly for 20 years.

Yikes.

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to go back to her and say “oh, I’m so sorry, I guess I should have mentioned . . . ” – something I knew in my head, but never really THOUGHT about, you know?

The good part, though, is that New Person and I get along very well, and she’s as patient with me and my limitations as I am with her inexperience in this area.  And together, we’re working to carve out a job that will be uniquely hers.

And the best part is that she’s willing to learn her job and to adapt to an admittedly unconventional work environment (and, of course, to me!).

The final test, though, is yet to come.

Because of the type of work we do (with which I won’t bore you – and believe me, I’ve seen people’s eyes glaze over when I try to describe my work them!) we have periods that are interminably slow.  Days and even weeks when we have little more to do than rearrange the supply room and dust the bookshelves.

And then there are periods of ridiculously intense busy-ness.  Times when we have to actually worry about whether we’ll make the last mail pickup for execution documents, and times we’re lucky to grab lunch before it’s time to go home.

That will start in just a few weeks.

I have a good feeling about it though – in fact, I’m kind of looking forward to it, though that may be because I’m speaking from the doldrums here.

But I think we’ll be fine.

Categories: aging current events

Tagged as: weird work

kristinebryant