On the Road Again

So, after a month-long hiatus, I'm back to working, this time at a very big law firm you've probably heard of (unless you live in a fly-over state and know nothing about law firms). I'm working as a floater, which means I'm not assigned to specific attorneys, but instead cover for secretaries who are out. Yesterday I covered for someone who's out with a broken foot. Today it's a secretary who just decided to extend her already long weekend.

It's kind of fun, and kind of sucks. I don't deal well with change; it rattles my nerves. So constantly changing desks does not appeal to me. Also, having no home base is a bit of a pain - there are these huge binders full of training materials that I have to lug around from desk to desk. However, the good thing is that when you're floating, not much is expected of you (and I'm all for fulfilling low expectations). You won't get roped into some difficult and time-consuming project, since nobody can expect you to be there day after day. It's an easy way to meet lots of people. I get to see how other secretaries keep their desks - how they organize, what systems they use, etc. And did I mention the lotions and candles and fun office supplies?

Everyone keeps some sort of lotion at their desk. Today I tried Trader Joe's Refresh. It's a citrus flavored body lotion with vitamin C. Now I smell like an orange. I also helped myself to some exfoliating cuticle treatment by OPI, whose nail polish I use exclusively. This aspect of floating is great. I use a tiny enough amount that nobody will get upset, but enough that I can tell whether I like something enough to buy it for myself.

Next week I'll be at Broken Foot's desk all week. She likes bats. A LOT. Has them all over her desk. I think it's a bit obsessive. And I don't just say that because they're bats. It's the volume of bat things that's at issue here. I mean, I like green, but you don't see my entire room covered in green. Broken Foot has a bat mug, bat coaster, bat pens, an entire shelf of stuffed bats, bats on her bulliten board, pictures of bats, rubber bats on her pony wall, bats everywhere. It's simply too much.

There is a head secretary on each floor, and the one for this floor just came over and warned me that the lawyer I'm working for today is a bit difficult/demanding. Today will be fun.