Return of The Ball and Chain

Yes, that's right folks, tomorrow I am signing a contract. My first ever! Very exciting... and overwhelming. The contract will be effective Monday (1 August) through 31 March next year. I will be considered a full-time employee of my firm (Freehills), be eligible for all of the staff benefits (which I might add, are many, and quite interesting...), be quite nicely reimbursed for overtime, and, all in all, manage to save a lot of dosh.

And now for the cons. My standard hours are 8.30am to 6pm. *sigh* For those of you who know me quite well, you know I struggled to get to my old firm by 10am... and more often then not, I was there shortly thereafter, but nothing was ever said since I did a heap of overtime. And now the trend continues. I struggle to get to work by 9... I have been driving in of late to try and save time, but still, 9am has been elusive, and 9.05 and I have become close friends. Granted, 5 mins isn't that much later than 9am, but when everyone else in your team is a fully-fledged "real" employee and starts at 8.30, I kind of get the impression that it is slightly frowned upon...

So tonight I had a look at the train timetable in an attempt to make sure I get to work on time and save money in the process. It's a very scary thought... catching a 7.58 train. *shudder* Can you imagine?! And to think I used to catch a 7.40am train. That's what happens when it's your first job - then you kind of get over it. :D

So here I am, savouring my last two days as a "temp". My new "bosses" (even though I've been working for them for 6 - yes, 6! - weeks now, they're my *real* bosses now) are spotting me for lunch on Friday. Actually, they don't even know I'm signing the contract yet. :D They'll find out tomorrow after the fact - so you should feel priviledged!!

Spoke to my old boss today, too... and when I got off the phone I was nearly crying. She's lovely, and I do miss working for her, and loved working for her, but still... I dunno. It's hard to explain. I miss it all, and yet I don't. She was a bit upset that I'm working at the "rival"... :D I managed to console her, though, that I wasn't working in the dreaded department.