My first three weeks of work felt kind of like moving to England: the language is supposed to be the same but then all the sudden someone says "loo" or "lorrie" and you don't know what the heck they are talking about. And when you try to do something familiar like order a pizza you are shocked to find there is corn on it - something you have never even considered. I have been overwhelmed by the "culture shock" at work even though things aren't supposed to be that different from my residency.
I have met about a hundred new people and they have all mastered my name, but I seem to keep forgetting all of theirs. I didn't know the location of anything and so just to get a note across campus I had to ask where to get an envelope, to whom I needed to address the envelope and then where to drop it off. All the while the secretaries very politely answer my questions: "You put interdepartmental mail in this box here labeled "Interdepartmental Mail.'" One tech turned to me while I was doing a frozen section and asked, "Is this your first real job?" That obvious, huh?
The other big difference is the amount of support I have at work. There is someone to cut the specimens for me, to stain my slides for me, to clean up my frozen section mess, to put away the biopsy equipment - all the stuff I had to do as a resident. And the techs do this all while calling me "Dr. Smith" even though I repeatedly tell them to call me Pam. It is nice, but it also feels very weird.
Thursday night the office had a welcome dinner for me. I think this marked the end of my honeymoon period. Next week I have a full workload, same as everyone else, instead of the 3/4 load they have been easing me in with.
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