First Days on the Job

I'm in limbo at the moment. I started work at The Saratogian on Monday, and right now I'm sitting at my desk at the end of my third day on the job. (and yes, I am on the clock right now, proving that sneaker sales is not the only job that allows you to blog at work.) So far, I've written two stories, and had one photo published.

My official title is "City Reporter," but so far I've done little reporting, and much more following around Ted, the current City Reporter. I was hired during the awkward period, during which Ted is getting ready to leave, but is still very much here. I also arrived in the midst of a hotly contested city election. Ted had been running the election coverge for months, so it wasn't logical for me to take any of that over, but at the same time, it's been frustrating, that he's had the opportunity write four or five stoires each of the past few days, while I'm left sitting at my desk, reading my dictionary.

Although I like Ted, and enjoyed his company during my internship here, and have learned a lot from him over the past few days, I'm looking forward to him leaving, and letting me rise to the occasion.

I'm excited at the prospect of my new job, but I've also been faced with a few other frustrations. It's now my third day working here, and I only got a voicemail box today. I don't have an email address or my own log in to the company system. That means I have to tell contacts to email me at my personal account, which is not ideal. And worse, I have to have my supervisor log me in so that I can do any work at a computer terminal. Not ideal. I don't have a key to the buidling, so my coming and going has to be monitored by other employees. So that's all been fun. Over the next few weeks, I'm also going to be spliting my working hours between reporting and editing on the New Desk, which is only going to cut into my ability to creat contacts in my beat.

In short, I'm feeling like my new employeers are not setting me up for success. I can only hope that things improve.

Well that's all that I've got for you on the job. Today I went for a 50 mile ride in the ass-cold temperatures. My hands were quite numb when I got home. But the ride involved only one long lap, which was a very nice change from Prospect Park. Okay... I hope all is well out there in the world. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with more exciting news!