Out of the fire, into what?

“Yeah, you should be more than happy as you have done too many cycle in the past few years.”

This is the reply I got from Ming, one of our Regional Management Accountants when I told him that I am very excited about my new job.

I suppose this is the politically correct way of saying “You have stayed long enough in your current job. “ or worse, “How can you stay too long in your current job?” I chuckled.
About an hour prior to this email, I had a brief chat with the group manager of the new team that I will be closely working with. I know I will be writing a lot about her going forward so let me call her, Jovy.

She wanted to speak with me because of some, believe it or not, admin matters. It appears that someone wants to share in the room that I will be occupying. The manager wanted my take on that. “Is it okay to have two desks in a room made for one?” , I thought to myself.

Apparently, this person has been complaining about her work area and bugging Jovy for a more private space. I quite understand her situation so what should someone like me, barely joining the team, do?

This lady’s reputation precedes her, actually. I have heard stories from some colleagues about her. They tell me she has an attitude. But having no first hand encounters, I choose to keep an open mind.

Finally, we meet. Let me call her Mia.

First impression: Very strong willed , quite confident. It ends there. As I said, I choose to keep an open mind. Besides, if we will be sharing that corner, I must aim to like her.

Colin, the one who gave me a heads up on the job vacancy says the people in my “new” division are quite possessive of their “turf”. They take pride in knowing that they “deliver” the products and liaise with the clients. I am the considered an “outsider”, coming from the support group, working ONLY with internal clients. Hmmm.

I will take my colleagues’ unsolicited advise (well-meaning or otherwise) with a grain of salt. Meantime, after this painfully slow handover process with my replacement, I must begin my paradigm shift and brace myself for the bumps that come with change. Buckle up!