two days, thousands of papers, and one large migraine

Today marks the second day of the new job. That’s two days in which I have received about 16,000 sheets of paper which include several regulation manuals, an employee handbook, and hundreds of assorted forms, documents, forms which must be filled out in order to process these documents, and documents which must be signed in order to receive the form which must be filled out in order to process the attached document.

And the next two weeks look to be filled with more of the same, at the end of which my orientation will commence. There’s a strong possibility that my sanity will also commence at this point as well. And in between lengthy periods of reading these various manuals, I actually get to sit across from someone who attempts to expand even further on the information contained therein.

For example, as I sat across Doreen today, a lady who also works in the Financing and Billing department of the office supply manufacturing company that I now call my employer, she explained, “now, the pink A.C.K. form is used in tandem with the green U.G.H. report. In order to process the orders these will both need to be filled out in triplicate. This, naturally, doesn’t apply when a 1055A is amended to the pink A.C.K. form, however. Though this will be obvious because, in cases like this, the A.C.K. form will be replaced with the blue A.R.G. form. If the A.C.K. is mistakenly attached, you will immediately have to call Karen and file an amended B8099, and forward all corresponding documents to Judy in the Business Office. Are you getting all of this?”

The answer to her question, unfortunately, was no. Because it was around this time that my brain completely shut down. When this happens, I go into head nodding mode, agreeing with everything that is said, usually followed by an “Uh-huh” or an “I understand.”

And for some odd reason, I question just how prepared I’m going to be to actually DO the job once my training is over.