First 2 days at work

 So I have had my first two days at work. Probably completely atypical for anybody’s first days on the job because:

1. I have worked there before
2. I have joined outside of the usual ‘onboarding programme’ (that is consultant speak for new starters)
3. I have been to China in the last year and that threw up security questions

What it boiled down to is that I sat by the phone (the only resource actually assigned to me on joining) and waited for my security clearance to be signed off for the better part of 2 days. Until that had happened I had no permission to see any project information, no network access (even on the company standard network, never mind the secure networks) and *gasp* no web access. I also got shunted from desk to desk as I was hot-desking and didn’t have one assigned to me.

Eventually however I did get a shiny new laptop with several toys to plug in to it and once my clearance came through I got web access too. The first day was marred by me having completely forgotten to charge my mobile before leaving in the morning and having no recourse whatsoever to the web for 6 hours. Being completely melodramatic, it was like someone had given me earplugs and a blindfold. That was probably my first hours without email, messenger, web and phone access for a time measured in months.

Still, all sorted now and tomorrow I will be off and away working on site. On the other side of London. With a one-and-a-half hour commute. Each way. Every Day. Woohoo. Lots of newspapers, music and maybe even some DVDs for commuting I feel. Right up until the point when I get to read reams of project documentation while traveling instead.

I am looking forward to working again though. The difference this time around is that I will be getting paid for being there (unlike being self employed) and now, after a year of being self employed I have a newfound respect for all the work that gets done for me: Expenses, Timesheets, Admin, Systems Support etc.