A Day in Training
I haven't talked very much about the department store job. I'm in
my second week of management training. We are in the process of absorbing
the corporate culture and learning the systems.
Most of the technical stuff that we are covering now is all new to me. This
is a very large wide area network and includes eight mainframes, all sorts
of midrange computers and all the network equipment in each type of store,
stockroom, etc. The hardware part is foreign to me.
Today, I learned how use some of the tools to check the status of network
devices. Also covered, how to use Netscape and e-mail, subjects I'm quite
familiar with . .then back to the hardware. The instructor really grilled
us this afternoon on this stuff. We actually had to think.
Most of last week, we toured the headquarters and soaked up the culture
and rules of the place. It is a tight shop -- so tight it is definitely
going to drive me nuts. We visited the department store museum,
went over the mission statement and studied the various departmental structures
and locations.
I have two other managers in training with me. Both of them have a good
solid communications background. It is interesting that we are getting
some basic training in each other's departments at this point. I guess
we'll split up after the first six weeks.
When I first came on I was told that I would be working a three day shift
with twelve hours each day. It is a 24 hour shop, so the shifts are 7AM to
7PM or 7PM to 7AM. That sounded really crappy until I thought about it,
then I got to really liking it. Even if I got the night shift, it was only
three days a week and I would have all those other days free.
Just my luck, though, they are starting a new thing with eight hour shifts
five days a week. It is just about certain that I will end up on a five
day shift. *sigh*
There are strange things on television. I don't turn it on very often, but
tonight, I put it on while I was doing my dinner preparation. There
is a show where people come on to set new Guiness records.
One guy put 900F lead in his mouth. The next balanced a washing machine and
a motorcycle on his teeth. Then, we saw a clip on some game where the
contestants all go through various forms of torture and lastly, a clip
about a family who suffers from werewolf syndrome. They have hairy faces
and bodies.
