Day 37: Temping!

Today was another day for learning!

I temped today for a weather information company based in New Zealand. The job itself was just a reception position, so that was pretty standard, but even a small glimpse of the company workings was illuminating. Have you ever considered what goes into creating the weather forecast? Or the daily operations behind weathermen? The administration manager gave me a brief, handwavey overview of what happens here, and I imagine it was only the tip of the meterological iceberg. Apparently this is where weather is monitored and modeled, and somewhere in this building that data is converted into a visual, and that visual is what we laypeople use to interpret their results.

I've always had a vague egocentric notion that weather forecasts were used by people who, like me, want to know if they should put on an extra layer or if they could forgo it, maybe ponder how the weather will be for a trip this weekend. Oh-so-surprisingly, this is not the weather service's sole focus. According to the website, there're three domains of primary interest: aviation, marine, and public (which is served mostly through the media.). Among many other contacts, there's a line for aviation forecasts, and two lines for marine forecasts, one intended specifically for the purpose of sea voyages. There's an entire department devoted to media enquiries about the weather, where people like sportscasters and reporters call in to check future conditions. There are also other miscellaneous meteorological resources. On my quick reference sheet, there's a mysterious "Possum Forecast," which costs 30 cents a minute to call. ("Today is going to be sunny with a 45% chance of possum"?) A few people called in with what seemed like bizarrely specific questions about the weather, like what was the rainfall in Taronga in the past ten years? What was the wind direction and speed in Auckland on August 23? I wish it were socially acceptable for me to ask what exactly they were working on such that they need answers to those questions, but, in lieu of that, I just forwarded them to historical weather data (date specific).

There's just so much here that I had no idea existed. I'm sure I'll get jaded eventually, but right now, it's interesting to see what makes our modern lives tick.

And now, in a change of tone, this is the part where I talk about something that was delightful at the time, but is now just a reminder that I still have many things to learn:

So, today at 10:15, the admin manager stopped by my desk and asked if I wanted to take morning tea. She was politely confused by my confusion and showed me the way to the tea room, where there was a wealth of teas, and people stood around and drank said tea. I was super charmed and took some time to do as the natives do and, yes, drank tea. I wasn't quite sure how long my lunch was supposed to be later, and she was sort of noncommital about it, so I just took as long a lunch break as she did. And then I skipped afternoon tea, because it just seemed silly.

All of that was fine and good and no one commented on anything, but I realized later that I went about my day at odds with the New Zealand break schedule. According to Libby, tea breaks are completely standard during a normal 9 to 5 job. You're expected to take a morning and afternoon tea break of fifteen minutes and then have a half hour lunch break. I... did not do that. I mean, it's not a big deal, but for some reason I was really crushed for about ten minutes after she explained it (incidentally, over toast with marmite). I had this overwhelming sense of getting things wrong. Once I got over myself, I identified the feeling as plain embarrassment for having gotten something so mundane so obviously incorrect (and for needing it spelled out for me. But I'm glad I asked, because otherwise I would have gone on in ignorance). In any case, life goes on, and I now know what I didn't know this morning.

Tomorrow I start work at another company. I'm pretty excited for the opportunity; they are based on Queens Wharf, which is a sweet location. As per usual, I'm not 100% on what I'll be doing, but I imagine it's going to be something rather menial. My agent/consultant/liaison has also said that they've got "quite a cool team," which intrigues me. If nothing else, I'll hopefully avoid strangely awkward conversations with people who don't realize that they'll likely never see me again (during my lunch break today, one gentleman literally ended our conversation with, "Er. So, right. I've gotta go back to my. You know," and backed away slowly. In my defense, I have no idea what drove him away.) I'll be working there for three weeks, maybe more if they decide to extend my contract. We will see how that goes! And I will be prepared for these tea breaks!

Also tomorrow: We are going to the Film Archive to watch some rockingsocks Japanese cinema for free. Stoked!