I was called to my first day of work at an extremely inconvenient time, but they had already made up my contract (without asking!) so I rushed off to work. It took half of the day just to take care of the paperwork involved. The ladies of HR were extremely kind though, and encouraging. I think they were hired because they had that personality. I had lunch with them, and afterwards my flustered and nervous boss stomped into the office to pick me up. She angrily mentioned that she hadn't been informed that I was coming on that day, and already feeling loyal to the ladies of HR, I didn't mention that I hadn't known either.
My new owner tugged my leash through the halls of her organization department, introducing me one by one to my new coworkers. They had no interest in me whatsoever. I asked a few questions which were readily dismissed as something I would get used to, and in a few minutes I was left to my devices to vegetate for the rest of the day.
Two days later I got a computer, and by that time I was in a quasi friendly relationship with one heavily pregnant coworker. She helped me call the help desk and set up my email, and explained to me what different offices were responsible. She was really invaluable, because in those days I hadn't seen my boss even once, and I was getting a pretty obvious silent treatment from the coworkers in my office. Occasionally they would return my 'hello's, but I had given up on 'goodbye'.
In the office, I was getting used to my four silent coworkers, and in the absence of banter and things to do, I had plenty of time to observe them.
There was one very fashionable and stick thin girl, 'T' with an asymmetrical haircut and large sad eyes, and she came to work consistently five minutes late. She and I went to lunch exactly two times, once when she asked, and once when I asked. She asked a lot of questions about the US, and never once failed to mention some pseudoscience about the mass engineered poisons we're all forced to eat there.
Then there was a young but balding man, 'M' who whistled contentedly as he strolled back and forth from the office. He had an artificially slow and Ljubljana drawl (clearly cultivated that way, since he also made the typical Nova Gorica mistakes). His ringtone was set to a wolf howl for his wife, which was amusing to me, since often he would stand with his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth, as I imagine a wolf does.
Then there was a completely bald and not so young man 'S', startlingly handsome and always elegantly dressed, who never said an unnecessary word. Even when he talked he was completely silent.
Did I say silent? Well, silent with one exception... one middle aged and heavyset woman, 'V' with a voice as soothing as a barrel of cats was constantly rasping her way through calls which clearly annoyed her. When she wasn't talking, she was saying 'aha.. aha... aha.. aha..' so rhythmically that it made me want to bite her telephone cord in half. But she brought candy to the office, so I suppose it was alright.
In addition to the permanent members of our merry band of misfits, there were a couple regulars. A gentle and soft voiced woman 'L' was constantly coming for advice and support. Another woman was coming for gossip. Another blustery moustached man came to joke with 'V', and told me many times that I didn't have to minimize my screen when he came in.
Then, every once in a while, my boss would come in. She always asked me how I was doing, I always said I was a bit bored, and she always said that I would get something to do soon.
In short, I spent an entire month coming to work int he morning, leaving work in the evening, and doing absolutely nothing for the company. Not a single task, not even data entry, was given to me for an entire month. I wasn't bored, I worked on my thesis.
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