Good news, bad news--I'll be back in the boss's office, probably as of, er, today

The good news is that my boss shocked the heck out of me—after waiting nearly four years to hire me as a full-time permanent employee, he managed to get me a computer only weeks after I was officially hired. Once the IT people get my Internet connection functioning—I think they’re working on getting the firewall in place—I’m off of the public-access computers at the opposite end of the building and back in the boss’s office. The great thing about that is that I won't have to spend half an hour almost every day downloading my documents from my e-mail onto whichever computer is available before I can even get to work.

(Oh, yes, I may have forgotten to mention that the guy who finally hired me was Boss #1 , a.k.a. “the black-hat,” who will hereafter be described as “the boss,” plain and simple. When he lends me out to others for their special projects, I’ll describe them as “the party to whom I’m temporarily assigned on special project.”)

The bad news is that, once I go back to the boss’s office, I’ll be back to answering phones, again. !#$%$^&*!!!!!!!! I hate answering phones!!! I’m not a “people person”—just give me my work and leave me alone to get it done. Oh, well.

In addition, since there are now going to be three permanent administrative employees working in the boss’s office for the first time in many years, the seating arrangements are in the process of being completely reconfigured. The new gal is now sitting on the “front line,” so to speak—she’s in the outer office (where I used to be), and is the first person anyone sees when s/he walks in. I’ll be in the middle office now. The senior administrator is giving me her desk and moving to the back desk, which she’s been dying to do for years—she hates it when people hang around her desk, because she has confidential paperwork lying on it at all times, of necessity. So now that we’re sharing the middle office, I can’t play my music on any kind of speakers—she’d shoot me for distracting her, and I can’t say I blame her. Today, I invested in a pair of “bud”-style headphones. They’re not as comfy as “earmuff”-style headphones, but I can’t answer phones while wearing “earmuffs.” I hope the boss won’t object to me listening to music, as long as I keep only one “bud” in and leave the other ear free for hearing the telephone ring.