New jobs

Don't have any sage advice but I actually dislike starting a new job so much that I went for a job in a team I was temping in instead of trying to look for work elsewhere, which was what I really wanted to do, just because I didn't want to have to go through all the annoyance and crap. Ended up having lots of problems with payroll/vetting/logins/not knowing what I'm doing in the different job so I have to ask loads of questions and etc. anyway so I didn't really dodge the bullet at all.

I have no sage advice but did start my first real career-ish-type job six months ago. I wouldn't worry about asking questions - for a good while they won't expect you to be fully versed on every nuance of how the company works right? Depending on the company there's probably something to be said for keeping your head down a bit and just observing to figure out how shit gets done but I can't say this with much/any authority.

lol. i basically wrote da same fing.

also it's worth assuming that if they hired you, they probably like you and are therefore gonna want to help you settle in as well as possible. be not fearful.

First day's the worst. It gets better. If it doesn't, time to consider yet another new job.

I started a new job in October. It's fine, except for every time I think I have become accustomed, they hit me with another arcane old personnel policy and I see red. The first year at my job is basically indentured slavery, until you pass probation and become invincible. I've almost made it to 6 months.

Started a new job on Monday.

Instructions from my new boss to me: "See this? [Points to exposed machinery that is spinning really fast.] Don't go anywhere near it. If a limb or any of your clothing gets caught it will be goodbye for you [meaning death, not termination of employment]."

More instructions: "We sort the products by size on this table over here. Then we bag them, ten to a bag, and put the bags [randomly, thus creating only MUCH HEAVIER unsorted objects] on trolleys with a [usually crumpled] paper label. Then we put them in the truck and go deliver them to the client sites [meaning we dump the random assortment of bags out of the truck onto a warehouse floor and proceed to RE-SORT THEM FOR NO APPARENT REASON, EXCEPT AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION] and collect their depleted/soiled products to return to us for further sorting."

I have also been blowing black shit out of my nose. It's not too bad—not even as bad as a ride on the tube, say—but still. Sometimes my nose burns, so I breathe through my mouth, which then quickly fills up with sand, so I switch back to nose breathings.

The first month of a new job is the hardest. Then the next two months are the second hardest. Then the next three months are the third hardest. The next six months are peaceful enough. Then the levels of difficulty are unpredictable.

That's all I have to offer, Ronan.