new job poop.

so I went in this morning for my orientation type stuff. got a pile of paperwork and catalogues six inches thick to read through, and about twenty forms to sign and turn in on monday. also did my pee test, and am hoping the five pints of booze from the night before were out of my system. twelve hours should be adequate time to detox five pints, right?

I got introduced to most of the crew. for the most part, it's an older crowd. the girl I'm replacing looked about my age, and VERY pregnant. the purchasing guy looked about my age, and the new sales girl (I think they just hired her) looked to be in her early 20s. there were a few people I didn't meet. everyone else looked to be 40s or 50s.

the general feel I got from my introductions with everyone is that the position is the lynchpin for the entire company. seriously. all of the sales staff funnel their orders through me, I get with engineering to make sure it's possible, get with purchasing to get the parts in, and then coordinate with production to get shit built and shipped in a timely manner. it's a bit overwhelming to think there's gonna be 20+ people relying on me. I thought it was bad enoguht hat I'd have about eight production people answering directly to me. so I'm definitely movin' on up in the world, but I'm not sure if I'm george or wheezie...

the girl I'm replacing isn't due to pop for another two weeks. she joked that her mom predicted she'd go into labour this weekend. if that happens, I'm boned. I'm hoping to get at LEAST a week of training out of her, preferably two or even three. the more training I can get out of her firsthand, the beter off I'll be.

they've got some kickass benefits too. I guess I've just missed out on their open ended sick leave policy. before, you got as much sick leave as you needed. one guy missed eight weeks for open heart surgery, it was all paid. they're ending that december 31, but it's not totally bad. they're giving everyone an extra week of time off (that means I'll have three weeks of vacation to START with, four weeks after 7 years, five weeks after 15). unused time will roll over to a limited degree (six month grace period), and they do offer a disability insurance automatically, if you do end up out of work for a prolonged period. the 401k program is vastly better than my old one, it'll actually require me to do some research and make some decisions. the only downside is their dental plan sucks. I probably won't have dental insurance, and instead just pay for the work up front and hope I don't need more crowns. $800 a year in dental premiums kinda sucks of the ass, when you figure two checkups a year only costs $300.

anyway, looks like a sweet gig for me, I'm happy with it. my biggest concern right now is whether or not I should show up to work on my first day in costume. what do you do when you start a new job on hallowe'en? if I dress up, and no one else does, I'm some sort of immature freak that no one will take seriously... if I don't, and everyone else did, I'm some stick-up-the-arse lamer that no one will talk to. I figure I'll compromise and get some uber portable, half-ass costume, like alien antenna or something... or just show up dressed as "the new guy"...