I woke up, and put on the clothes I laid out the night before. My hair wasn't cooperating, but I'll blame that on the rainy weather! *sigh* I stopped at wawa for breakfast, only because I didn't feel like waking everyone up with the dogs barking.
Then I was on my way to the HR department. I've been surprisingly at ease while driving in Philadelphia these past few weeks. Granted, I have not ventured out into center city, but the suburbs and other outlying areas seem to be fine if you know where you are going. Once I figure out the road system, it will be easier even still!
I arrived at the HR department, and it was raining, raining, raining! *sigh*
The adminstrator's assistant had me sit down at a table as we waited for the other new employee to arrive. All of my now fellow coworkers said good morning and hello to me. This is always a good sign, because it shows that there is a level of respect for people who walk in the door. It also puts your clients at ease, because its a direct response, and its easy to respond too. Without them having to worry about what to do next.
The assistant laid a full packet down in front of us, it was massive! I never had to do such paper work for McDonald's!!!! It took us about an hour and a half to go through it, and then it was off to get my FBI finger prints done. We went to this sort of yellow school bus graveyard. (the buses were fine, but it kind of reminded me of a graveyard because of the weather)...
Then I drove to my office. I'm sure parking will be one of my daily battles, because we are on a fairly main street I guess. Its not too busy of a street though. The front desk lady, gave me a tour of the office... We actually have a nice place and we rent it from a church that takes place in the same building
I made myself at home at my desk. There are no cubicles or offices for the case managers, but I almost prefer it that way. Then I can converse and work with my case managers easier. I worked at a place that was all cubicles before, and it was hard for me to be social, and to connect with the other people in my work place.
They ordered pizza in honor of me starting. haha. I think they were more excited about the opportunity to get pizza though
haha. I told them that I hope that I can give them more opportunities to eat pizza in the future. haha.
For the rest of the day, it was paper work, reading and learning about case management. My supervisor gave me one of the cases I'd be taking on gradually, and I had a checklist to review the file. It was hard to know what everything was. I was also being told when reminders had to be sent out. When paperwork had to be done. How many visits were to be made monthly with whom, and where. I feel as though this time management piece will be the most difficult for me, because it kind of means I have to lock in 13-14 schedules in my head (and in my calender)... and keep track of them all. I might have to color code them. I'm not sure how easy that will be though. I guess I gotta go pen shopping now! (ooooh I love office supplies!)
I have a lot of reading to do... a lot lies on me because if I don't have certain documentation in my file, the agency could be documented and be shut off from receiving referrals for a period of time. This isn't good, becuase then they aren't getting money from DHS, which puts us in a bind financially. I think its a good way to keep us on our toes and accountable, but the amount of paper work and nitty gritty information is pretty much ridiculous. My supervisor has been at his job for 10 years, so he's good at keeping us on track.
This rain is making me very gloomy, and it was definitely hard to not be bored by the tedious work ahead of me. I want to problem solve! I want to meet my kids! I want to dig in! Thats the part I'm looking forward too!
I get to meet a lady who has most of my cases tomorrow... we'll get to talk over them all, and I hope to learn a lot about them.
That was my first day in a nut shell. There wasn't much for me to do. One thing, I need to be weary about is how I respond to advice, and policy. I need to hold my horses sometimes and just soak things in. Its alright for me to just learn the ropes for a while before I go about critiquing and critisizing them.
Have a good night!
Babs
Comments (1)
Ack, paperwork is the bane of any activity. Good luck with all the things that you will need to keep track of. It sounds a bit on the intimidating side but all new jobs seem to be that way when you start out.