So at work I have pretty much gotten used to not really having much to do, and being ok with it. In the beginning I was always looking for work from my coworkers – seeing if there was something I could do to help them out, as I felt a bit guilty about not having every minute filled with work-related stuff. But after a while I realized my boss is happy with me, and that if I ask for more work for her for example, it will be shitty, boring things I really dislike doing, if she can think of anything at all, and so my days are ok just as they are.
My days basically consist of me sitting at my desk, and when the phone rings (my boss) I go over to take down her thoughts regarding an email and draft it for her, go through an email she’s drafted or I’ve drafted, go over a powerpoint presentation I’ve edited that someone else has drafted and she needs to present at the Board meeting, or take down notes/go over powerpoint presentations I’ve made for her for various reasons.
Then there are going over the email drafts from three of my other coworkers, going over internal monthly reports from accounting, and doing some translation work now and then translating business-legal Chinese to English (and sometimes Danish to English)…where I usually don’t understand squat and have to use the very helpful and accurate google translate (hah!) to slowly wade through it. And the one thing I do enjoy is related to setting up some reports in Excel for the Danish subsidiary we have.
Sometimes I get called in to meetings so I understand whatever is being discussed and can better edit the slides or create them myself, or just so I am informed as I sometimes have to be involved with correspondence etc., but I never know why I’m there at the start, and am always a bit lost. Yes, I have considered asking or bringing this point up, but really I don’t mind as my time here is short-term.
This happened today. It took me a little while to figure out what we were discussing, and then I knew I was there to be ‘informed’ as I’ve been helping my boss edit and draft emails regarding this particularly messy issue. Now, one thing that kept going through my mind while I was sitting there hearing my co-worker machine-gun off where we stood now and the steps necessary going forward, was that I actually understood like 80% of what was being said! Not only is it finance, banking, kind of legal stuff, but it’s in Chinese. The other thing that kept running through my mind was how amazed I was in respect to my coworker…that he understands all this intricate stuff. Made me feel like a high school student sitting in on a PhD lecture and discussion.
Most of the time, however, is spent reading blogs, researching stuff regarding pregnancy, birth and parenting, looking at my calendar, and waiting for end-of-day (lately I have had a lull in the researching department leading to this influx in blog posts...all or almost all pictureless, boooo~~).
Generally I don’t enjoy this job due to my tasks and responsibilities, and through being here I have learned another valuable lesson in terms of what I want in a job and the importance of clear communication up front. Seems it is we (I) often learn most when things are not as we wish they would be, otherwise we don’t know how good we have it. Or perhaps we learn from both, and have things confirmed about likes and dislikes when they aren’t to our likes~~.
However, I am very grateful for the job! If it wasn't for this job, I would still be teaching English, and this is waaaay better than that (for me), and has been perfect to tide me over until I take a month off (give or take) before giving birth and then staying home and taking care of baby-girl. Yay!
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