My Very First and Probably Last Trip For Work
As a legal secretary, the furthest I ever travel for work is to the nearest courthouse. Attorneys travel for work. I stay behind and deal with everything they can't deal with while they're traveling. So to say I was excited that my law firm sent me to Los Angeles last week would be an understatement. But I was excited for two reasons:
1. The aforementioned traveling for work
2. Traveling to where my brother lives which meant I got to play with his dog (really, his girlfriend's dog, a cockapoo).
The trip to LA was for training now that my law firm has made me a permanent employee (health insurance, here I come!). I thought it would be a waste of time to be honest. Between all my learning disabilities and the fact that I'd already been working here for over a month, I figured I'd alternately be bored or confused throughout all of training.
I could not have been more wrong. It's not like they taught me so much that you'd wonder "How did she ever function before not knowing so much?" but more that I learned quicker ways of doing things, and can now do things on my own instead of relying on the WP Department like creating tables of contents.
Overall, I'm really impressed with my law firm. They provided breakfast in the conference room both mornings. They offered me a hotel room (which I declined so I could stay at my brother's and play with the dog) where they'd pay for room service, one call home per night, and one movie per stay. I was provided with a cab voucher (in LA) and a driver (in SF). The woman who did the training was FUCKING AWESOME at her job. Most firms just grab someone from their IT department and tell them they'll have to train new employees. This woman *KNOWS* how to teach (which is super important for someone with learning disabilities). She answered every single one of my questions. Even the ones that had nothing to do with what she was supposed to be teaching me. She struggled and persevered to understand my questions until she was able to answer them to my satisfaction. She waited while I scribbled notes. She asked once an hour if I wanted to take a break (I didn't). At the end of the first day, we both stayed late and talked for almost two hours. She validated a lot of my feelings regarding the issues with Loose Earlobe Lady.
Really, there is nothing I would suggest she do differently to make training better. I would just like whoever is in charge of such things to include office procedures in her curriculum. I will be sending her a thank you letter directly, but I also want to find out who her boss is and send them an e-mail letting them know just how great she was.
The worst part of the trip was that when I arrived in LA Monday night I was greeted by Crazy Girl telling me we'd just stop to pick my brother up at the hospital, as he'd been there since the ambulance had taken him around noon. The whole time I was in LA I was worrying that my brother would have a heart attack or have to go back in the hospital and I'd wind up having to make a decision about staying with him and risking losing my new job or leaving him. I'm fairly certain I'd have stayed if he'd needed me. We all know Crazy Girl is practically no help (she'll get her own post later; yes, it's that bad).
The absolute highlight of the trip was landing at Oakland Airport, and whipping out my cell phone to call our driver to say, "J_, I've landed. Would you please pull the car around?" And J_ did. He was right at the curb when I walked out. I could really get used to that sort of thing.
1. The aforementioned traveling for work
2. Traveling to where my brother lives which meant I got to play with his dog (really, his girlfriend's dog, a cockapoo).
The trip to LA was for training now that my law firm has made me a permanent employee (health insurance, here I come!). I thought it would be a waste of time to be honest. Between all my learning disabilities and the fact that I'd already been working here for over a month, I figured I'd alternately be bored or confused throughout all of training.
I could not have been more wrong. It's not like they taught me so much that you'd wonder "How did she ever function before not knowing so much?" but more that I learned quicker ways of doing things, and can now do things on my own instead of relying on the WP Department like creating tables of contents.
Overall, I'm really impressed with my law firm. They provided breakfast in the conference room both mornings. They offered me a hotel room (which I declined so I could stay at my brother's and play with the dog) where they'd pay for room service, one call home per night, and one movie per stay. I was provided with a cab voucher (in LA) and a driver (in SF). The woman who did the training was FUCKING AWESOME at her job. Most firms just grab someone from their IT department and tell them they'll have to train new employees. This woman *KNOWS* how to teach (which is super important for someone with learning disabilities). She answered every single one of my questions. Even the ones that had nothing to do with what she was supposed to be teaching me. She struggled and persevered to understand my questions until she was able to answer them to my satisfaction. She waited while I scribbled notes. She asked once an hour if I wanted to take a break (I didn't). At the end of the first day, we both stayed late and talked for almost two hours. She validated a lot of my feelings regarding the issues with Loose Earlobe Lady.
Really, there is nothing I would suggest she do differently to make training better. I would just like whoever is in charge of such things to include office procedures in her curriculum. I will be sending her a thank you letter directly, but I also want to find out who her boss is and send them an e-mail letting them know just how great she was.
The worst part of the trip was that when I arrived in LA Monday night I was greeted by Crazy Girl telling me we'd just stop to pick my brother up at the hospital, as he'd been there since the ambulance had taken him around noon. The whole time I was in LA I was worrying that my brother would have a heart attack or have to go back in the hospital and I'd wind up having to make a decision about staying with him and risking losing my new job or leaving him. I'm fairly certain I'd have stayed if he'd needed me. We all know Crazy Girl is practically no help (she'll get her own post later; yes, it's that bad).
The absolute highlight of the trip was landing at Oakland Airport, and whipping out my cell phone to call our driver to say, "J_, I've landed. Would you please pull the car around?" And J_ did. He was right at the curb when I walked out. I could really get used to that sort of thing.
posted by Green at 10/15/2005 07:58:00 PM
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