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Intern in a strange land: the first day
It's 87 degrees out, and I'm sweating bullets in my black slacks and blazer.
By Nina Kim, Times Staff Writer
Published June 24, 2007
It's 87 degrees out, and I'm sweating bullets in my black slacks and blazer.
After driving 18 hours non-stop from Chicago to Gulfport (determined older sister), frolicking at the beach and eating a pound of crab legs (long live Florida!), and catching the flu (comatose all weekend), I finally arrived: my first day of work at the St. Petersburg Times.
I meet my supervisor, Bob. We go to his office and chat about payrolls, policies, hurricane safety - you know, the usual.
Wait, what? Hurricane safety?
Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Chicago anymore.
Bob then gives me a tour. I keep mental notes of the essentials: bathroom, supply closet, elevators. I'm directionally challenged, so tours are helpful. Plus, it makes me feel important. I get to meet anyone who's available.
People always apologize, but inevitably, the new person isn't going to remember names.
My housemate, who's also a Times intern, told me on her first day, everyone wore name tags. Brilliant! That would've helped when I was creepily studying ID badges for names. I'm not averting eye contact - I just want to know your name.
I find my desk and have time to "settle in." I can't log into my computer sans log-in information. Intern welcome folder? Nah. I'll get some coffee.
So I get to the third-floor kitchen. No coffee. Ha, funny. I check the other kitchens. No coffee. This is madness! No, this is Florida? At my previous internships, every kitchen had at least three coffee pots. No coffee in a newsroom - that's news to me.
Disheartened, I plop down at my desk again, then Bob calls me into his office. I've got the front page column of the Sunday Working section. Holy smokes. I think I can deal with no coffee.
I get logged into the computer but am still not in the network. "Hey, did you get ... ." "Did you see I sent you ... ." Nope. No network. A bit unnerving, but everyone around me is on it. As an intern, I've never felt so welcome
The second day, I am recovered from my illness. I get computer training, into the network and another assignment. Sweet!
My computer trainer looks at me warily when I say I live in Gulfport. It's an evacuation area, she tells me. Funny, I wasn't alarmed when Bob told me that yesterday. Somewhere between my caffeine deficit and my DayQuil bubblehead, I must have mistaken "area" for "center."
Ah, c'est la vie ... in Florida.
[Last modified June 24, 2007, 09:22:22]
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