I got a job!

Honestly though, it isn't what I was expecting at all.

Basically I applied for the job on a Sunday, they called me at 10:00am on Monday wanting to interview me that afternoon! They essentially hired me on the spot. I was a bit overwhelmed. Not to mention they wanted me to start the next morning.

So, I did. My first day on the job, it was crazy how familiar yet not everything was. People give phone numbers over the phone differently. Treble 3 or double 8 anyone? All the different accents. Phones that feel familiar but don't work the same. They wanted me to print everything, which is so very hard for me. I just don't EVER print. (my printing looks like a 7 year olds...cause that's the year I learned how to write cursive)

By the end of the day, I just wanted to go home and cry. I thought I was okay, I thought that I was nice and settled into my life here. I realized that I had my little cocoon of just me and my hubby and all the places I was comfortable going. But I was not really assimilated in normal UK life.

My second morning getting ready for work, I was crying and dreading going in... It didn't help that our puppy was also upset because it was only the second day he was going to spend most of the day alone. I sat on the stairs and cried while he whined sitting next to me. I turned to him and said, "Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore." And then I got more upset, because he's from OZ! (aka the UK). I can look back on it and laugh today, but three weeks ago I was just feeling such culture shock. I can't even tell you.

I'm okay now. I'm a lot more comfortable, getting more settled into my job and able to chat more with my co-workers. I don't think this will be a job I'm going to stick with for too very long, but it'll pay the bills for now.

We'll done for finding a job!  You now have UK work experience for your resume/cv.  And it's soooo much easier to find a job when you have a job.   Hope it keeps improving for you.   

Thank you! I hope it does. I'm not exactly loving it...but it'll do for now. I'm just happy to be contributing to our household. *grins*

The owner did give me a nice compliment yesterday, so that puts my mind a bit more at ease. I kind of feel like I'm screwing up all the time since my brain is so hard wired for American thoughts and actions. It takes time to change how you do things.

Yay on the job! I have to chuckle at your description of your second day. I just started a job last week and felt the same way after the first day. I felt overwhelmed and didn't want to go back. There are positives to the job but I don't like it and it is driving me slowly insane. But you know, like you said it will pay the bills for now. I can't say I've ever felt this level of dread going to work in the US after the first day... maybe a few years down the road I'd have this feeling about a job in the US. I find it odd. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I am laughing at the phone numbers thing. The phone numbers drive me nuts. I don't know mine or DH's after three years. My brain won't learn after the 7th digit. I'm not really sure how you are suppose to read out a phone number so I read it out like you would in the US - 3 numbers, then 4... then whatever is left.  I confuse a lot of people like this.

Keep at it. Maybe figure out how many months you want to be there for your CV and keep looking for something else.

Thanks, expatX. Congrats on your job as well! Oh, I was laughing at it too. It's pretty funny, calling our whippet Toto.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's felt that way. I haven't wanted to go into work at all every work morning for the last 3 weeks. I've never dreaded going into work, I just didn't really want to go. But here... I feel physically sick. It's so weird.

What I've been doing to memorize my cell phone is I break it down like this
01-234-567-890, or 2, 3, 3, 3, it's kind of like 5, 3, 3. Since all cell phone numbers start with 07. it's pretty similar to how a lot of people give their numbers here as well.

I'll probably be there until I can find another job I like. On the plus side I do have one week day off, so I can go to interviews if need be.

First days are always awful.  But congratulations!

In the olden days, people here would always sing out their phone number when answering: 1234567. You would never just say "hello".  I always thought that was weird because they would garble it so fast that I could never catch whether that was the number I wanted.  But the plus side was that if you did the same you quickly learned your own number!  Of course the stupid numbers are twice as long now. 

If I have to learn a long number I try to do it in twos.  So, the above would be: twelve, thirty-four, fifty-six, seven.  But nobody would understand that.

It was a rough first few weeks, that's for sure. I've settled in okay, I think. Should work for the time being though.

Huh, that's an interesting thing to do. I only recently found out that if you're calling within your area code, which is the first 5 digits of landline, you only have to dial the last 6 digits of the number. No one had told me that... haha.

Phone numbers are always a pain. What's the point in memorizing them anymore. Isn't that what your cell phone does for you? *smiles*