I finally started working on Monday. If I only knew what I was getting myself into! For those of you who don't know, I am starting out doing temp work. They placed me at an investment company as an administrative assistant. Supposedly if you don't have experience in the "finance world", then the best way to get a good job on the island is to go through a temp agency. If you can get your foot in the door, they will hire you on permanent for pretty good $$$. Now don't get me wrong the company they placed me with is very nice, but admin. work??? Do you all know that I can type about 4 words a minute? But typing isn't what's killing me. I have to file.

Finance companies keep every single piece of paper they receive. For example, I filed a Christmas card yesterday. The government makes them keep them to prove they aren't laundering money. Because inside that Christmas card could have been a secret code with a secret account. Give me a break! When a file is full, which happens 15 times a day, I make a new file and archive the old. By archive I mean I build a box and label it with a bar code, put the file in the box, record what box # that that file is in into the computer, and call someone to come pick it up when the box is filled. Then they take it to a storage place until the 3 years are up. Then they shred it. We have to pay a ton for storage and only 6 people work here! Our stack of mail is 2 foot tall everyday.

The work environment here is also very different from the States. On Tuesday, I went to the staff and told them they needed to give me more work or I was going to jump out our 4th floor window. I did this because on Monday I answered 7 phone calls all day (that is it for 8 hours). So one of my coworkers asked me to start a new filing project. I started working on it on Tuesday afternoon and was done with it on Wednesday around 2pm. I was sitting staring at the wall around 4pm and she asked me where all the paper went. I explained that I had completed the project. You should have seen her face. I thought I was going to have to call 911 (or whatever the # is here). She said she was hoping I could work on that project for the next 3 weeks! In general people here move extremely slow. If you move fast they are not impressed, because you make them look bad. So I really need to slow down. I am a little afraid that if I slow down too much, no one will hire me when we return to the States.

So, I am taking a break from labeling file folders to update you all with that exciting news about my new job. Really blogging was just an excuse for a break so I don't get too much work done today. On the bright side, I will start with a new company on February 5th. I will be working with two other temps on a project that does not involve filing or answering the phone! Whoopee! In the meantime, I should have plenty of time to update the blog so stop back soon!