Learning Curve

Sitting here at L.T. a few minutes before I begin a shift. Yesterday I completed my first shift at the Hotel W., from 10am to 6pm. All I can say is: Oh. My. God. I never thought it would be this complicated, never thought there would be so much to learn. A whole new computer system. Of course every new job there is a learning curve. The people behind the desk have been there 5 or 6 years, but it is just overwhelming to consider all the stuff I have to learn. I was training during the busiest time, with about 30 check-ins and 30 check-outs, but the phone is always ringing, and there's a checklist of like 30 or 40 things to do on every shift. So my enthusiasm and relief at finally getting a full-time job is going to be seriously tempered by the stress and pressure I am feeling to get at least the nuts and bolts of the job down by a certain time. The good thing is the 11pm-7am shift is never going to be as busy as the period I will be training in. I return tomorrow and Friday to continue training.

Of course, now that I am busy with the Hotel, all the proofreading jobs are calling A. asking for my services. The agency even used the word "beg" -- as in J. from S.Communications is begging for me to show up and edit an important job. I feel really bad that I had to sort of blow off Select, my favorite of all the proofreading jobs, yesterday, because they have been so nice to me and seem so appreciative of my work. Maybe I should have chosen them instead of L.T. today, although L.T. did call first. So while it's nice to be wanted, it is still impossible to be in two places at once. However, I am having doubts about my ability to catch on with all the stuff I need to learn at the Hotel. I am going to stick it out but I hope that by the end of this week I can gain confidence in my ability to master at least the rudiments of the position. I can't tell you how stressed I am. But I remember the same stress when I started the market survey job as well as when I got promoted to production editor at the Transcript. The difference is the people at the hotel are unfailingly polite and understanding, so all the pressure is coming from me. But that's of little relief, because stress is stress, and I can hardly breathe, at the risk of sound overly melodramatic.