Working Issues

So that building there is where I go to work 4 times per week. At first glance, it looks like your standard office building. However if you look at where the cars are parked...there are the administrative offices in there and then my company, Beckman & Associates, Inc. occupies the space above those cars...and the two windows around the corner. The rest of the building is completely empty.

It is hard to describe what I do exactly. Officially I am the assistant to the VP of Operations; so I basically take on whatever task she either needs help with, cannot finish, or gets an idea about. The bulk of my work involves writing and formatting documents into particular specifications. I also talk to nuclear engineers a lot regarding positions we need them for, work that they are available, problems they are having....etc., etc. Rarely are these conversations noteworthy. The hardest part is gleaning the key points from their 20 minute conversations (but I'm pretty good at it...I'm a decent listener).

At first, I was not too thrilled with the position in that it was not really in line with what I want to be doing eventually...which is accounting. However, it is starting to grow on me. Here I put in 30 hours per week (as opposed to 40), and they seem pretty respectful of my holiday schedule. The pay is not the greatest (what else is new) but it is worth my time and energy to drive the 17 miles (with no traffic) to Belle Vernon. As a full-time student, there are a lot worse positions I could have; namely one that comes up with surprise overtime and quirky schedules.

I work in an office with 5 other women; 3 of them who are connected or knew each other via outside activities. All of them live within 10-15 minutes of the office (I live the furthest away by far...it takes me 20-25 minutes to get there). This makes for an interesting corporate culture. The women with younger children discuss at length the myriad of activities their children are involved in...and all of the juicy details of the latest policies of the soccer team or little league or the dance studio. Many of them also are really into camping, and fishing, and going to lakes. It is safe to say that it sort of makes me feel like an urban jet setter; despite the fact that I do not even live in Pittsburgh; and Pittsburgh is not even known for being a major metropolis by most people's standards.

It's very different from the days where I worked in a 9th floor office that overlooked South Beach. Then again, that was also in a hospital which was more than half abandoned as well. In large cities, you feel like the world is your oyster. You can look out over a sea of people and encounter brand new opportunities [for whatever] every day. However in more...well...rural areas (although people in Belle Vernon don't consider themselves to be "rural") rally around a few companies or a few opportunities that spring up; with people lining up for the opportunity. For example, when Sony opened up their assembly plant in Mt. Pleasant, PA, they basically had a pool of thousands of workers who would be willing to do the work. Nevermind the fact that the pay was not great and the hours were even worse. Therefore, businesses have the "big man on campus" line of mentality in these areas it seems.

In regards to my job and my company...the jury is still out. The work environment is nice; I have a nice big desk and a pretty chilled workload. I have good hours and ok benefits. My boss has some communication issues...so that may become problematic. However I am not blameless either...in that I have a hard time putting up fronts, and sometimes I think I am being very transparent with the fact that I really desire to be doing something else for a paycheck. Hopefully, this will pan out at least until I [hopefully] graduate in May, 2009. Then I will take it from there.