With all this free time, I've been getting kind of bored. I've been playing hide-and-seek with the permanent workers so they don't catch me on the Internet, something I don't know I can do. What I can do (even though I'll still go surfing because I'm an addict) is the fallback task of entering data (specifically names and amounts) to this database for ... uh, paying things, or something. I don't know what it is, I was just told to enter key in these things. That's all I need to know.
But here's the thing. I can only do this in a cubicle across the way from the one of the person who trained me and who I replaced. That cubicle (I consider it to be "my" cubicle because I was told to take it the first day I worked there) and that cubicle is assigned under my username; through that, I can access the program to which I do this data entry. However, for this invoicing I have to do it at her cubicle because the invoicing goes through programs that can only be accessed under her username. Furthermore, under her username I cannot get access to the software where I do all my keying of these names and amounts. It's weird and I can't explain it; I think it has to do with me only being a temp. The IT department has other things to do besides getting me able to use all the programs I need to use on one computer when I might not be here by the end of the month.
So, my plan was that once I was done with invoicing and answering e-mails for the day (the invoices are my main priority), I would fill up the rest of my time at work with keying in this information. It's low on the list of things that need to be done, but it has to be done nonetheless, so it's a perfect fit for when there's nothing else to do. And so what I had done ever since I started out on my own was to go from my predecessor's cube to do all this invoicing and then walk over to my cube to do data entry. I didn't mind it. In fact, I kind of like the idea that I have two cubicles. I put my coffee in cubicle I'm not currently working in so that I have an excuse to stretch my legs and back whenever I get bored.
However, there was a spanner in the works on Tuesday. I was invoicing in my other cube when another person came into "my" cubicle. She then came up to me with my insulated coffee mug in her hand. "Is this yours?" she said. "Yes," I replied, and then I couldn't help but look towards my cubicle because I didn't understand what was going on. "I need to take over that cubicle while they repaint my office," she said.
Oh. So starting from Tuesday afternoon she has been working from, well, "my" computer. I don't feel as if she's taken my spot, even though she has moved everything out of her office and into this space; please don't misconstrue. But the problem is is that she has taken over my computer -- the one that allows me access to this names-and-amounts software. So for the past three/two-plus days, once I got done with invoicing and answering e-mails and voicemails, I have had nothing to do. I literally have spent half of the past two or three days avoiding getting caught looking at the Internet. I guess I could raise a stink about it, but if I haven't gotten caught, why raise suspicions when I can just look at the Internet for four or five hours? Then again, I've been torn. Making sure I avoid getting caught slacking off is kind of stressing me out. I want to surf the Internet, but it's no fun when I'm continually doing so in fear.
---
However ... some time yesterday (Thursday) afternoon I opened up the web browser for the umpteenth time after closing it to make sure the coast was clear. The homepage is the company website, of course. And I was just looking around because at that point I had nothing else to look up. Down at the bottom was the name of the program where I enter all this data. I click on it ... and I get to the welcome page for the software. After I took an educated stab at what my username and password are, I got in! So from that point on I had the means to key in all these names and amounts. So yay, I got to be productive again! I took a lot of time out to go online anyway, but now I feel a lot less anxiety knowing I have something to actually work on and thus fall back on. I am free!
No comments:
Post a Comment