My First Day in the Legal Department (Part 2)

Meeting the Legal Team

When entering I was let into the offices by a younger lady a year or two older than myself, rather nice. Asking if she could take me to Jana I was on my way and once there she introduced me to most of the people in the Legal department before I made my way to my station. Being introduced to a couple of people in that section (And noticing a pretty good looking secretary working just across from me with her blonde hair) I was introduced to Tarni whom would be training me and the two temps, both with Scottish accents.

Tarni and I started on work as we chatted away with each other through it all. I found the two temps (Especially the guy, well mainly him) to be crack-ups. The guy just was erratic and out there with his comments. He let loose his personality and didn’t do much work either. Letting loose of my personality is what I should be doing but I was a little bit boxed up when people talked to me despite my getting into conversations.

Through the day I learnt of the three main solicitors in which one of them is David, the big boss came and asked if I was settling in well and I met most of the secretaries, something I might become one day. Basically, like any law firm, there was one solicitor and two secretaries to each solicitor, one junior and one senior. Thalia was moving on to be a Secretary so she was there to teach me the basics of the job in which I found interesting and comfortable.

Lunch Break Shopping

When lunch arrived I headed straight down to ‘Blue’ in the QVB without much hesitation. Once there though I paused to try on the $70 pants because the guy didn’t come through with his promise of bringing in the size 34 pin stripe pants. However, the pants I bought were great, made of polyester, a little bit of a stretch, a little tight, black and they look good with my new light blue shirt.

The bag they gave me to carry my pants in was excellent also, stylish. It had a chord string in which you pulled it to tie up the polyester bag, weird shit. Anyway, I made my way through the population of lunchtime shoppers and powered my way to ‘Paul’s Mens wear shop’. It was here that I tried on the light blue shirt as well as a tie in which I got an older guy to show me how to do the harder tie knot where you have to continually twist and turn.

The shirt looked pretty good so without much ado I bought it. However, the man behind the counter kept trying to strike me deals, saying if I bought three good ties he would give me another couple of the lesser expensive for free. This of course was because they are closing down with massive bargains so I figure if I get this money from Centrelink that’s what I’ll be buying.

For the next ten minutes he also tried to have me give his card to a lady that works at Reception downstairs where I work. Fortunately he told me his sad story about how he hasn’t seen her for two years but somehow she’s a close friend, you figure it out. Finally I broke off from his words and made my way back to work, buying a Macdonald’s Fish Fillet on the way and feeling no shame or timidity in eating it within the public eye.

Sweating Through the Afternoon

Because I was in such a hurry to get back to work I sweated a fair bit but luckily it didn’t show a great deal through my clothes. However, my face was almost dripping with sweat so once I was into the office I excused myself to the toilets in which I relieved myself and then grabbing some paper towels I undone my shirt and wiped my sweating back dry. This was also added to my face, as I felt a little bit better, maybe except for the worsening smell of bad odor.

For the rest of the day I smelt and tried meticulously hard not to raise my arms, keeping them clenched. Also, when I sat in my seat too long the warmth after getting up would also cause an acquired smell in which I think it smells like a sweaty sweetness. Making a joke about my need to get deodorant for the next day and taking the hint when Tarni took out her deodorant and uttered “I guess I’d better spray some of this on”. The first half of the day was pretty smooth sailing as it was full of work and learning.

The second half I relaxed a little like most of the others (It is a relaxed environment), I got myself something to drink and filled out my forms for Jana. For the day I learnt to distribute the mail to each corresponding solicitor. Then, I learnt to stamp, frank and send out the outgoing mail as well as the hard task of filing and sorting out files both on the computer and in the cabinet. All in all it was a good day full of learning both work and of people.

Heading Home

The day ended at the ripe hour of 5:00 p.m. and as the four of us headed down the elevator together we parted our ways from there and headed home. Tarni herself lives at Wollongong, is going out with a Macedonian, has a bunch of Macedonian friends and she’s been to Campbelltown nightclubs often. These conversations we talked about to each other throughout the day, keeping ourselves occupied in discourse as well as work. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t like to think of my job as work because I have fun around all those different people and I enjoy being there.

Somehow the long hours there and short hours to myself here don’t bother me too much at all. Catching the next available train from Wynyard Station back home I was lucky to find myself a seat and found myself sitting next to two guys most of the way home. Finally, half way home my eyes started to get tired in which I closed them for a little while but I didn’t drift off. When nearing Campbelltown I walked from carriage to carriage until finally I got to the second last carriage and from there jumped off.

Having at least 15 minutes before the bus arrived I decided to walk up to the hot food shops and buy myself another two pieces of pumpkin. This could become a fad for me these days. Where I was a little hungry when in Campbelltown because of a little bit of lunch, I decided to have pumpkin and probably will tomorrow as I wait for the bus. Heading back to the station I waited patiently for ten minutes and then my bus arrived.

Concession worked for me again as I caught it to Bradbury Shops and while there I spent the remaining $7 in my savings account. Buying three bananas and some Lynx deodorant after trying it on my arm and some other guy’s arm (I ran out of space) I bought it and then headed home. My knees finally started to ache a tiny bit as I walked past the gym but as I looked towards it I knew it would only be a matter of time before I would be heading back there.

With this cool new bag that I attained from ‘Blue’ I might take it to work with me tomorrow so I can store a banana and a reading book on the way there and back. Also on those days where I want to head to the gym straight after work I can change in the city, eat in the city and head straight there. Regardless, after buying those items I headed home, had something to eat, found out that Jett called me and then relaxed in front of my television.

First Calls of the Night

With a little bit of my night to go and with a little more to speak of, let me be as hasty as I am depictive. My first phone call was to Lyssa in which I told her about my first day at work and she told me how she had missed our train by five minutes. This was due to her being so tired last night and not waking up until 6:30 a.m.

The conversation only lasted for around ten minutes as Lyssa was back to her old self, with her short recollection-span, asking if she could quickly call someone else because she had to talk to them about some exciting news. Therefore, I let her go and within five minutes she called me back. In this time we talked a little more but I either peeved off Lyssa from something I had said or she really wanted to watch ‘Friends’, probably a bit of both.

In this time Jett called me, wished me well with my job and then asked me to pass on a message to Shawn in which he can now have a chip inserted in his Playstation whenever he wanted. With this I called up Shawn and in my red-cordial hyped mood chatted away about shit until I finally told him what the deal was. Shawn didn’t sound too enthusiastic so we left it there and minutes later Lyssa called back.

Fooling Lyssa

Within our last conversation of the night we chatted about meeting each other on the 7:18 a.m. train in which I am pretty sure I will be there. If there is a slight chance that the blonde will be catching that train again, I not only want to see her but I want to know if Lyssa knows who she is and also, put to rest the fact whether or not it is that girl I’m thinking of.

Lyssa tried to fool me on the phone when she actually called because I had joked but acted serious when I told her that I had seen Johnny Depp in the City today. “Are you kidding,” she yelled and to sweeten my story all the more I added his bodyguard and the fact that he was at the Australian Fashion Week. Lyssa was choking on her own tongue at the fact that he could have been down here but I broke her visions with the truth.

When Lyssa called me I blurted out “Kesumek sharmoota how can I help you” in Lebanese and after the phone beeped it hung up. Seconds later Lyssa called me up trying to make me believe that it wasn’t her and she had me believing for a little bit but I was too smart for that. For one, I could hear the same background volume from the television although Lyssa turned it down on the second call and then back up again seconds later.

She can’t fool me, I know how she reacts. Our conversation ended at 10:15 p.m. because Lyssa wanted to get back to watching her taped version of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ before ‘Ally Mcbeal’ began. Therefore, we said our good-bye’s (despite our saying goodnight to each other before hanging up last night, she was half asleep, come one) and the both of us were off to our deeds.

Winding Down

Now I have written a fair amount of literature for tonight, which basically took me two or more hours in this diary. Tonight so far I have watched television, talked to people on the phone for more than half an hour, had a shower and something to eat. Now I am sitting here, relaxing with the heater on my back compelling these fingers to write. Tomorrow morning I will be getting up once again, eager to get back into the work set for me.

Despite the computer being slower than mine and using Word Pro on a 3.1 windows system, I find that I don’t use the computer that much yet. However, when I do get settled into my position I’ll be writing my diary entry and poetry in those hours where there is nothing to do or I am urged to write but there is constantly something to do at work so I’ll never be bored. With this thought I will now leave these pages for another day and be off, to sleep at 10:30 p.m.