Solo Re-Defined

Actually, this transends solo and bridges into lonely.

I think I found a new way to do "solo" and one that would never have crossed my mind previous to this past week.

Last week, the job of my dreams landed right in my lap, for the most part. I know God was at work here. After all, everything in His timing. And, don't get me wrong, I AM grateful.

The job is through a temporary agency in my town. It is a job that I found through a job board that I subscribe to. Actually, I ran across the job listing accidentally and, on a whim decided to post to it because it was unlike any other job listing I had seen in my desired field of technical writing. It did not require any specific software work experience, of which I have none that is recent, and it did not require a slew of competencies and education. In other words, they really just wanted a warm body who knows how to write.

This is right up my alley. I had landed the job in less than a day. God-thing, definitely. The right job at the right time.

But, that said, it is temporary. And I have not worked in an office environment in about ten years. The company is in the cruxt of assembling a proposal, which they received almost by accident last minute and which has to be complete in about a week. They are barely out of information gathering phase as of today. Hmmmm..... Warm body, definitely.

My first day, the president walks me around and introduces me to everybody. Miraculously I remember everyone's name, except for two of the IT guys. That is about 15 people. He introduces me to the woman I will work with. She is very nice. And then, after about an hour of sitting at my "boss'" desk learning the RFP, they take me to my desk at a makeshift counter opposite a printer, which doesn't work, and the fax machine. On the other side of the office. Upside is that it appears to be on the side of the office that houses all the executives. WhhoooHoo.

Not so bad. Like I already mentioned, everyone is VERY nice. But, they are a small group and by definition are cohesive. I have worked in a small company before and that is the only way it can function.

My little cubby is not so bad. I try to write, to concentrate on this monstrous RFP, while listening to the din and echoes of three or four different conversations going on around me and a co-worker coughing incontrollably in an office on the other side of the wall. My ADD kicks in and I consequently cannot concentrate. I pretend to look absorbed in thought as various people walk by.

But, the worst part was the morning the office suddenly became quiet. The office manager and her cohort were gone and the din was silent. The silence was overwhelming. I had a question, or two, to ask my colleague, so I walked over to her side of the building. On the way, I passed the conference room (right on the golf course with sliding glass doors out to a deck. Can't beat that!)

Every single employee was in there.

How's that for solo...hmmmm lonely. I think I tried not to shrink back to my office. I continued walking in the direction I intended. After all, I didn't want anyone to know I was suprised by their beginning-of-the-week morning meeting. I am, after all, only a temp there. But that was the loneliest I have ever felt. To be a part of a group, putting together a project, but to not really be a part of that group. Like eavesdropping or interloping, you can be physically there, enough to hear what is going on or be mistaken as part of the group, but not close enough to truly experience it.

I have since had some engaging conversations with several of the employees. I truly hope that temporary turns permanent, and that I can be considered part of the group and not just some passing face that came in and left on the wings of some project.