Day one…

Yep, the pic is of the house I currently live in. Typical British I would say.

I got to bed at 9pm last night and got up at 5am, ready and excited about my first day at work. I ended up talking to my very good friend Rina, so I managed only to get a shower. Didn’t eat at all, but it was ok. I didn’t know when the bus came by so I stood out in the rain for about 20 minutes. I had an umbrella though, which I need to replace soon, because it’s barely keeping me dry at the moment (The weather was better during the day). The bus came and it cost me £2.50 to get to Wythenshawe bus station which is about 3 minutes away from work in walking distance. £5 per day is a bit expensive, so I bought a weekpass for £9. I can use it on any Arriva bus whenever I want for a whole week so I think it’s a good deal. The bus took about 20 minutes which is ok, but I would like something closer.

Speaking of closer, a Norwegian girl who also is new owns a house 2.2 km away from work. She lives there, but rents out the rooms. She has a couple of rooms available so during the week I will go check it out. If I like it, I might move next week. The rent there is the same as here, 80 GBP a week.

Let me tell you about the job! Well since this was my first day, I can’t really have a clear picture yet, but there are signs… and the signs are really good. Of course I compared this company to my last tech support job and the difference is huge. In my previous company they had absolutely no control, constant PC problems, and no follow-ups. This company has that and more. It feels like a real company. In both my previous jobs, it hasn’t been very inspiring, things didn’t work at all. That is the impression I got from the company.

What also impressed me was how happy everyone who worked there was. Not a sad face around. I thought it was weird. No one is that happy! So I checked around and it turns out that the majority of people there had worked there for 4, 6 or 8 years which is unheard of in a call center environment. There must be something wrong here, maybe they secretly drug the employees?

Just as I was determined to find out something bad about the place, I found it :P. Apparently Wythenshawe is a notorious crime area, the worst in Manchester according to people I spoke to. Don’t go there in the dark they warned me. Well, I guess there had to be something, yet the people there love to work there and since they have stayed so long, I guess nothing bad has ever happened to them.

And then, I’ve saved the best for last. It’s a free-for-all-party at work! Free lunch (which by the way is excellent, 3 warm dishes to choose from, lots of extras, take what you want… free soda. Oh, and the vending machines at work is free, so free tea, free hot chocolate, whatever you want. Crazy people!

Well that’s it for day 1. It can only get worse :P.

Oh, another negative thing about the job. I come home so late, so Kei had just gone offline when I came home. Time zones is an awful thing (sounds familiar). Also she gets my text messages, but I don’t get hers. Well I suppose that’s something :-).