Working Girl

Today was my first and last day as a temp worker - sadness. Judging from how today went, though, I'm glad I have a more permanent job.

I worked at Nova Capital, some kind of financial firm, as a receptionist/admin assistant type. Highlights of my incredibly slow day include balancing precariously on a pile of printer paper as I tried to reach the highest shelves in the stock room, making endless cups of tea and coffee for visitors, and requiring a full-length tutorial to figure out how the phone system worked. So yeah, maybe I'm not cut out for the PA/Admin assistant kind of position. Too bad that's what I start doing tomorrow. :)

Tomorrow's my first full day of work, and we'll see how well that goes. The people seem really friendly, and I'll have the current job holder to guide me through for three days (until she leaves). I'll get back to you on how it goes.

Random observations: The more time I spend in London, the more sense Harry Potter makes to me. "Cellotape" is the brand of Scotch tape they have here, making "Spellotape" all the more understandable. Also, at the Post Office, I saw an Owl Brand post box - very clever. :) Also, speaking of the post office, it's the weirdest place. It seems to provide just about every service you'd ever need, from selling car insurance to providing a phone plan to selling lottery tickets. And they have these cute little cartoon ants to advertise each of their services - so, for example, the phone ad features a cute little ant talking on a huge phone, or the win a vacation ad has some ants lounging on the beach. It's weird that the post office has an ad campaign that's so...adorable, but it's nicer to see than the characters from Shrek, who were gracing American post offices last year.

Also, globalization = not so great. Sometimes when walking through London, I feel like I might as well be in New York. The place is covered in KFCs, McDonald's, Starbucks, Niketowns, the Starbucks look-alikes Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero, and most inexplicably, Subways. Subway like the sub-par sandwich shop. At least KFC has some tasty mashed potatoes to justify its presence.

= :)