I should be sleeping right now, so please excuse any ramblings or mis-spellings...like that one.
Today I realized something, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I'm pretty sure I'm a minority here in New York City. I always knew NYC was essentially the definition of a melting pot, but from what I've seen in the local businesses, on the sidewalks, on the subway, etc., as a white male I am a minority. The thing is...I don't feel like a minority, whatever that is supposed to mean. I'm pretty sure there's like a whole definition of what I'm experiencing that was learned in Student Development Theory...so...points for thinking so even though I don't remember precisely? I don't know that I have a point here - yet, maybe I will as the summer progresses - I just thought it was worth noting.
Minor rant; people were not kidding when they said everything in this city costs money. I'm having fun with AJ and his sister, but I will probably be spending very little money once they are gone until some other friends get here in a couple weeks. Yes, Broadway shows are expensive, but I think it's all the little things that add up here that will eventually get me down. Each time I take the subway I think it's like $2.25 or something (I'm not exactly sure, I just swipe the card I load money on to), so round trip that's almost five bucks. I have actually seen some pretty cheap mom n' pop stops around for food, so I'm thankful for those. Hopefully I can avoid the temptation of the Chipotle across the street a bit more successfully that I have so far. Anywho...
I really like the people I'm working with, they're very nice. As I'm getting into the meat of things, the littler part of me who thinks he is never wrong and knows how to do everything "perfectly" is just screaming to get out, but so far I've been good with keeping him at bay. There's a few things - checkouts in particular - that I think are much more complicated than they need to be, but I'm not ready to offer suggestions for improvement yet until I can clarify a few things, if at all. Today was spent getting the hall ready for our first check-ins on Sunday, and I did a bunch of various tasks to get ready for that. We reviewed some rosters, put welcome packets together, and the best part (oh boy!), placing linens in rooms. It all actually seemed to go pretty well minus one facilities related hiccup, which makes me rather optimistic about the summer process. Today was also the first time some of the supervisory responsibilities of my position came in to play, which makes me a bit nervous. The last time I was in role similar to this I made a few critical mistakes early on that I'm trying to avoid, and this is also a test run for my RHD role in the fall. I'm not the only supervisor to the summer assistants, but I am one of the people "in charge", and I don't take that role lightly. I'm trying to go out of my way to engage in coversation with the SAs, but I think it could be going better than it is so far. One thing I didn't get to do was to introduce myself and what I'm all about to this group all at once, which makes things interesting.
Currently my biggest internal struggle with the supervisory function is that when I get into my work, especially administrative-oriented type work I come off as very focused on my work and overly-serious. I think this happened today with linen distribution with one of the SAs. I need to be more intentional with being more relaxed when working with with the SAs. I'm sure it's going better than I think it is, I just again, need to relax. I'm rather tired at the moment, so I'll post more in detail about these struggles as work to find a good "managerial balance" within myself.
Final note: I saw The Addams Family musical tonight with AJ and Stephanie, and while I was skeptical at first, the show was so worth seeing. Hi-larious. Not the best thing ever, but so good for a laugh. May be revisited if I need some major stress relief...
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