The weekend is finally upon us - two whole days in which to sleep and recharge batteries
Now, the observant of you who were at Beach Party last weekend might have noticed I wasn't quite my usual self and perhaps a bit more distant and anxious than I'd have liked. Last Friday, I'd had a bit of a talking to at work. It came as a bit of a surprise as I'd been there less than a month and was still learning the ropes, but out of the blue I was told managers had received a lot of negative feedback about me, that my performance wasn't at the level they expected of their staff and basically I had a week to sort it out, else my 'future would be reconsidered'. I'm still VERY new to the role and have pitifully little experience, so I've been on an extremely steep learning curve for the last month or so.
However, as I'm posting in this thread and not the other, you've probably guessed I've had a bloody good week. Working hard's never been an issue for me (when I'm being paid for it anyway, school was another story!!), but obviously, my personality being the way it is, it can sometimes be hard for me to make good first impressions, which is something of a handicap in a new job! Anyway, having gone in this week, superglued on a smile, kissed a few backsides, worked a few 10/11 hour days and fetched coffee for the people who are marking my work, I seem to have turned it around - I had another meeting this morning and this time everything was positive.
The work I'm doing isn't coming back from the quality team covered in blue ink and amendments anymore, the girl on my team that I was initially terrified of turned out to be a pussycat underneath, I'm *slowly* coming to terms with the idea of having to use the phone - and to cut a long story short, I've still got a job to go to at 8 on Monday morning; after the six months I've just had, another employment failure was obviously my biggest fear.
I'm not the world's most confident person, and it's not often I'm genuinely proud of myself; indeed, this is probably the most pleased with myself I've been since I passed my driving test 3 years ago! Yet for the first time in my adult life, I'm happy to be doing work which is actually mentally challenging. When that was at stake, but I was given an opportunity to prove myself, I'm pleased to say I've grabbed it with both hands - I've worked harder than I would have liked this week (and indeed will have to again for the next few months to come!) but it's been well worth it
On top of that, my sister's home from Uni the weekend, my brother had a CT scan come back all clear, so this weekend's one for celebration and relaxation. Following the events of last Summer, I'm finally being discharged by the North Staffs wellbeing service on Thursday AND next weekend I get to see you lovely lot AND Dream Theater.
For the first time in a while, everything's just where I want it to be. Let's hope I can keep it that way!!!