DO YOU FIND MY CAPS LOCK BUTTON ANNOYING?

I'm so tired!

Right after I started my job at the new Starbucks, one of the jobs I had interviewed for called me (isn't that the way?) Initially, they said, they had hired someone else, but she didn't work out, and since I was such a strong canadite, would I consider coming in on a temp-to-perm basis. "Sure!" I said, and pushed around a few schedules to accommodate having both jobs.

The new job is in a dental office, but at the front desk, which is not where I'm used to working. The position used to be held by my mother, who, well, has a history of, um, "strong opinions". During my interview, he asked me, "Are you any relation to Donna Santos?"

"No. Well, yes." was my response. Dammit! I thought. "But I don't live with her." I added quickly.

When his wife called me back to hire me some weeks later, she said something along the lines of, "I really felt strongly and pushed for you to be judged on your own merit."

While I certainly appreciated that, my logical conclusion was that HE was worried I was going to be the equally sassy, younger, brunette version of my mother (with bigger boobs), who left on her lunch hour and called to say she wouldn't be back. (For the record, my mother says she is completely justified in doing so, and I am not agreeing or disagreeing with her about it, in public anyhow, because I'd be in trouble either way. If you really want to know how I feel about it, you can ask me.)

I'd tell you how the job is going, but I honestly don't know. My first week was rough, because it's a lot to learn and there's no one to sit and show me everything step-by-step as I write it down (which is really the only way I learn anything quickly). I've been taking notes as best I can. The assistant in the office is a good teacher, but she has patients that she has to deal with. The dentist is not a good teacher, but he thinks he is. Saturday after the last patient left (and I was supposed to be leaving to the rest of my life) he sat with me and "explained" a lot of things. He took the time to "show" me a lot of things that I'm just going to have to re-ask about on Monday. It was hard to sit there and respectfully try to follow along (especially since Rob was waiting outside for me to go to lunch... and then Dentist went on and on so long that I missed lunch with Rob altogether).

Grrrr!

I hope it works out because the money is pretty good, but this job, so far, gets a "D" on my lotto test.* The highlight of my "challenging week" was when he sat down at the computer I had been using, and started yelling at me. "I don't understand why you have the CAPS lock button down! When you type in all caps, it's like you're yelling at someone. Very annoying, very annoying."

I had nothing to say to that.

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*The Lotto Test
If you won the lotto would you say to your boss:

A. "Can I work here part-time so I'm not bored 'cause I really dig this place?"

B. "I'm out in 2 weeks."

C. "Take this job and shove it."

D. Nothing. You'd stop showing up and change your address and phone number.

It's indicative on how you really feel about your job (and it's dorky because I made it up when I was 16).