more anniversaries...
i had my scheduled one-on-one meeting with my boss yesterday. so far, i've enjoyed these meetings more when my new boss than my previous boss. don't get me wrong - i loved my old boss. she was great and ready to stand alongside her subordinates if things got tough. our one-on-one meetings were rather lack-luster. they usually were no longer than 10 minutes. unless i had issues with my projects, it was really not a meeting at all. the thing is, i still work on supplements and few core textbooks and with my old manager not knowing a whole lot about supplements, it was difficult to talk about them if i was having any issues. she just didn't know how to solve those types of problems or offer advice. it's not her fault. they integrated ancillaries into the core book production about a year after i started here and everyone, myself included, believe it was a huge mistake. ancillaries are a completely different animal, compared to core books. they have much shorter production times and require really quick movement and turnaround to make up for delayed editorial time. being that i LOVE fast-paced work, ancillaries is where i feel more comfortable. as repetitive as they can be, i still love being able to ship off handfuls of projects at once and work on more than one project at a time. with a large core book, it's difficult for me to deal with such a slow-moving schedule.
in any case, these new one-on-one meetings are every other week and they last almost an hour. we do chit-chat, as well as talk about work-related things. apparently there were a few items that needed to be discussed at yesterday's meeting. one was my merit increase or raise. supposedly, our merit increases were to show up in tomorrow's paycheck, but managers and HR were slow to get things moving. they got us our bonus payout on time, but not our raise. in any case, my manager gave me the breakdown of my raise, showing me the percentage and then monetary increase, in relation to my overall salary, and finally the new total of my annual salary. it seems my old manager was able to get me 0.65% extra in my raise (the average is only 3%). that was quite nice, actually. i'm happy with my raise, even though it'll only be a change of about $30 per paycheck, but that's better than a stick in the eye.
then she pulled out a surprise. it seems we've changed companies who manage our service anniversaries. usually they celebrate anniversaries in increments of 5 years, but the new company apparently wants to celebrate 3 years (maybe due to high turnover?). so, i got something to celebrate my 3-yr anniversary with the company. it'll be exactly 3 years since my first day here on sept. 27. in commemoration of this small anniversary, i received a small certificate (stamped signed by our president/CEO) and a pen. the pen is what i like - nice and thick, although rather light (i like a good weighty pen). it has a twist, though - hidden inside the body of the pen is a 1GB thumb drive! the geek in my squee'ed for joy at the realization of a free 1GB thumb drive (i've been wanting a new one). :D
so, not too shabby. :)
if you're curious, here is my post talking about my first day at work here. it's short, but i totally remember it like it was yesterday.
in any case, these new one-on-one meetings are every other week and they last almost an hour. we do chit-chat, as well as talk about work-related things. apparently there were a few items that needed to be discussed at yesterday's meeting. one was my merit increase or raise. supposedly, our merit increases were to show up in tomorrow's paycheck, but managers and HR were slow to get things moving. they got us our bonus payout on time, but not our raise. in any case, my manager gave me the breakdown of my raise, showing me the percentage and then monetary increase, in relation to my overall salary, and finally the new total of my annual salary. it seems my old manager was able to get me 0.65% extra in my raise (the average is only 3%). that was quite nice, actually. i'm happy with my raise, even though it'll only be a change of about $30 per paycheck, but that's better than a stick in the eye.
then she pulled out a surprise. it seems we've changed companies who manage our service anniversaries. usually they celebrate anniversaries in increments of 5 years, but the new company apparently wants to celebrate 3 years (maybe due to high turnover?). so, i got something to celebrate my 3-yr anniversary with the company. it'll be exactly 3 years since my first day here on sept. 27. in commemoration of this small anniversary, i received a small certificate (stamped signed by our president/CEO) and a pen. the pen is what i like - nice and thick, although rather light (i like a good weighty pen). it has a twist, though - hidden inside the body of the pen is a 1GB thumb drive! the geek in my squee'ed for joy at the realization of a free 1GB thumb drive (i've been wanting a new one). :D
so, not too shabby. :)
if you're curious, here is my post talking about my first day at work here. it's short, but i totally remember it like it was yesterday.