New Boss

I am starting to learn about my new boss after working with him for a few days. He is a soft-spoken and kind gentleman with a tough edge. I think he is one of those who people call a good ole boy. I met with some of my neighbors and the guy beside my cubicle is an Indian who used to support the system that will be replaced by the application I am working on. He said that my hands will be full for the next 3 years at least. Looks like the new application lacks a lot of features needed by the customer. So my boss really needs help from everyone that can lend a hand.

I worked on the documentation needed by quality and started on a few tasks that he assigned to me. I think I am adding some value with this work because he is freed from doing some work which he could spend better time doing other things. I think he is more like me, a bit disorganized and doing a lot of things. I am spending a lot of time meeting people and getting to know them. I guess that's part of adapting to the people and local culture. It takes a lot of time and sometimes I feel awkward and that I might say the wrong thing. I think my boss and I had a few awkward moments but I think we are both mature enough to get over it.

He will be on leave next week and I am left minding the store so to speak. I am checking my access to the help desk tools which I need to get me going to support the application. There is still a long way to go before I get up to speed. I think I made some connections with the people I talked with this morning. It's a close community and I am surprised that most people know about my intimate details. I guess my record and history and family circumstances have been discussed around the coffee area. I guess this is what it means about living in a very close knit community.

It's really an entirely different world here and I did not realize how much different it is as compared to what I had imagined. There is no time for distraction because you have to focus on the job and get things done. For example, I was given Internet access but I discovered that it's extremely limited. I don't even have Internet mail access. So I have no time for procrastination and distraction. When I have nothing to do, I think I need to spend it networking or planning my work. I am getting to know more about the way things work here in the South. The images are known from movies and photographs but quite different living it here in actual reality.