Happy 6 Months To Me

Today marks 6 months since I first stepped into the offices at Bramley Grange, and I've been on one hell of a ride {a good ride}. My probation period is officially up, and I'm now a fully-fledged member of the digital marketing team, go me! *dances around the room* I still have mountains to climb when it comes to learning, but since starting there I have learnt some fascinating things about me, the industry and working life in general.

1. Don't ask me to make your hot drink if you want it within 2 minutes. {I wouldn't ask me to make coffees either unless you like it really strong or really milky}
2. Tape measures can provide endless hours of entertainment, but can end up annoying colleagues if over-played. 
3. Everyone has normally lost the plot by Friday afternoon.
4. I have limited self-control when it comes to any kind of office treat- I knew this anyway but work has just re affirmed that I can not resist a doughnut or two, or three.  
5. Organisation is the pinnacle to a stress-free day/week/life.
6. Clients don't always want to be on your team, strangely sometimes they'd rather be the opposition. 
7. Re-brands are stressful, especially when it comes to business cards.
8. A recent office shuffle round means I've got one of the best seats in the house- a radiator behind me and a window next to me #ballin.
9. It cab be super hard trying to explain to someone that what I (we) do isn't just try to get them to the top of Google. 
10. Just like school, I hate photo days.
11. The best part about filling a notebook is a trip to Home Sense to source a new one. 
12. Messy draws = messy mind
13. Sometimes clients just don't get it, and you have to be okay with that. 
14. Sleep is for the weak, the digital world doesn't stop.
15. When it comes to networking I either become mute or become the most boring person in the world- I'm working on it.

Diary of a Working Girl: A day outta the office

Tuesday 5th April was just one of those days. I had a day away from my desk to a day at another desk learning about email marketing with the other Beth of the office, otherwise known as B1- I'm B2 (Think Bananas in Pyjamas). Our main takeaway from the day was that we shouldn't be left to go out just the two of us, but it all makes great entertainment, and I couldn't not share our events from the day. 

6:05am- Alarm goes off. Snooze it for 10 minutes and end up getting up 10 minutes after that. Brush through tangles in my hair and jump in the shower. 

6:45am- Attempt one at putting in my contact lenses. Utter fail. Try again. Poke myself in my eye numerous times. Left eye is in, just the right to go. Poke myself in the eye some more. Drop it on a towel, finally it's in. 

7:48am- My lift pulls up. Jump in the car. Panic that I've forgotten my phone. It's okay, it's in my bag. The morning commute begins. Arrive at work approximately 8:21am. 

8:40am- Pick up Beth (B1) from the office along with the pool car. Start our journey to Leeds. Head to Tesco to fill up the car. Didn't check what side fuel cap was. Didn't check whether it's petrol or diesel. B1 makes an educated guess. B1 was right.

9:05am- Arrive at the multi-storey car park. Drive up to Level 5 before finding a space. Reverse into spot but neither of us can get out. Drive up to Level 7. Same happens again. Keep driving. Reach Level 13. Lots of free spaces. Successfully park the car. 

9:15am- Pay £6 at the pay and display machine. Position it on the dashboard when the wind pushes it down. Ticket is now half-stuck down between the dashboard and windscreen. Both attempt to stay calm. 

9:19am- Ticket is still stuck, this time we can only see the corner. We have 11 minutes till our course starts. Panic levels are rising. 

9:23am- Businessman pulls up next to us. Comes over to see what we're in a flap about. Heads back to his car to find something to help. Ends up sticking his gum to a paper door hanger in an attempt to retrieve the £6 ticket. 

9:25am- It fails. The ticket is gone. Thank the man and accept the fact we've got to pay for another. 

9:27am- Head back to the machine, buy another ticket and put it in the car. This time we place it on the other side of the dashboard and shut the door quickly. It worked, phew. Now we have 3 minutes to find the location of our course. Have to get to floor 5, we're on 13. We choose the stairs. B1 drops her phone. Nearly falls through the gap right to the bottom of the stairwell. It doesn't. Not even a scratch. Maybe our luck is changing. 

9:35am- Arrive a little late. Joke with the receptionist about our names both being Beth and the type of morning we'd had. Proceed to settle down at our desks after apologising for our lateness several times. Have to tell everyone who we are and what we do, sighs silently. Once finished the course can begin. 

10:30am- Tea break. So far, so good. Time to check work emails, nothing exciting. Head downstairs with B1 to get a cuppa. End up opting for a hot chocolate. What a good decision. Crack open the Galaxy Golden Eggs I brought along and reluctantly offer them round to the rest of the group. 

10:40am- Tea break over, back to learning. Make my own email campaign for Beth's BnB- what a cracking place to stay. 

11:00am- We start to code an email. Mind blown. What does half of this even mean. It's just mashed up letters and symbols. B1 nails it. I copy. Turns out we took a short-cut, so we kinda, technically cheated.

11:40am- Still coding. Something about a table. Not too sure. Starting to understand it slightly, maybe. Mumble about how I could never be a developer. Start rewarding me and B1 with Galaxy Eggs every time we do something right. 

12:30pm- We stop for lunch. Hallelujah. My brain is fried and all I can think about is this buffet lunch. Get to the buffet lunch, not living up to my expectations. Sandwiches- 5/10, crisps- 7/10, caramel shortbread- 10/10. It's the pudding that's raising its rating. Better have an orange to even it out. Head back upstairs with B1, too quiet downstairs. Check Facebook, nothing interesting going down. Repeat on other social networks. 

1:30pm- It all starts again. Get your concentration game on Beth. Constantly repeat how I don't know how our developers do this all day long. 

2:50pm- Nailed it. Now I can start making it look pretty with pastel colours and nice alignments. Oh. That didn't go to plan. Why has that moved? What are you doing over there?

3:30pm- "That was the last coding part to the day." Yes! *Air grab* Move onto email strategy. Now, this is more like it. 

4:45pm- Call it a day. I am shattered. My brain hurts. Time to go catch a train home. 

4:52pm- Say goodbye to B1 and start heading off in the opposite direction. After 30 seconds realise I infact needed to be going the same way. Turn round and get back on track. Get some funny looks for using my iPhone as a sat-nav. Find the train station and see there's a train in 4 minutes.

5:17pm- Jump on the train. Managed to score a seat. 23 minutes till York. 

5:40pm- Arrive in York. Jay's there with Dudley. Manage to squeeze through rush hour traffic and get home super quickly. Change into PJs and slump on the sofa for the rest of the evening until bedtime, feeling content that tomorrow is Wednesday, the week is flying by. 

If you want an optimum day to go on a course, Tuesdays are a pretty good pick. 

Start of something new

I have just finished a High School Musical marathon so it was only fitting that I titled this post after Troy and Gabriella's first ever duet {If you have no idea what I'm talking about shame on you!} I am also starting something new, I'm not just dedicating a whole post to High School Musical as tempting as it is. This new thing is in fact a job. I'll say it again, I finally have a full-time, 9 to 5:30 job after 4 months of interviews, breakdowns and career questioning. 

Perseverance paid off, and I'm utterly thrilled (and super nervous) to be starting on Monday as a Junior Digital Marketing Executive, how suave. To many of you that title will mean nothing, so to put it simply, I'm going to be assisting with the digital marketing for a variety of different brands, which is crazily exciting. 

Not only this but I get to be a part of a pretty cool company in a beautiful location, and a welcoming team who share my love of Disney. Fun fact: My first question in my interview was "If you could be a Disney character who would you be?" I'll leave you guessing the answer for now, but I think I'm going to fit in pretty well. 

It does mean that this is my last week as an unemployed graduate so I'm making the most of it by sleeping in, staying in my PJs and soaking up the daytime TV. I'm also having great fun suiting and booting myself up for the occasion with a whole new work-wear-wardrobe and hunting for the perfect mug, you've gotta make an impression. So here's to my new adventure as a working girl, let's drink to that. 

What I learnt from work experience

Recently I spent some time at a small advertising agency in my hometown whilst I was back for Christmas and as cliche as it sounds, I learnt some valuable lessons as to the way they worked. Not only is it normal to speak to the same person ten times a day but also want to shout, scream, laugh and cry in the space of ten minutes. Hopefully this will direct me towards the road to success, but for now I will leave you with what I've learnt. 

1. Note to self: Wash out mugs from the staff room or else your tea will taste like fairy liquid.

2. Put on your sweetest voice when talking to the most difficult clients, it will keep them buttered up.

3. That difficult client will always be right, no matter what. So you just have to suck it up and get on with it. 

4. Everyone loves cake. Victoria, chocolate, fruit it doesn't matter. Clients will devour it. 

5. Having a desk next to a window will ultimately result in endless hours being spent people watching.

6. And staring at the street Christmas lights come 4 o'clock will distract you even more. 

5. Finance systems are the most boring thing, but probably the most important you will ever have to do. 

6. It's crazy how happy a freshly painted room and new blinds can make staff- they even come in on their day off to have a look at it. 

7. Join in on complimenting their freshly painted walls, they really like that. 

8. There's always that one person who doesn't want the heating on #myofficemyrules

9. Finishing work early is like finding that box of chocolates you hid away 3 months ago, everyone is a winner. 

I had a blast at trying my hand at adult life, something my 15 year old self would shudder at the thought of, but it's got me set up for when that 9 till 5 job does come around.