20101115 My First Day (1)

My First Day

I learned all kinds of things on the first day of my new job

I was very excited on my first day of working at a Fortune 500 company. All the new hires assembled in the lobby on a Monday morning. I was surprised to see forty something people there. We were taken to a conference room for a two-hour information session held by the HR, security and IT departments. The session was critical for me to learn how to survive in this new foreign land.

At noon all the hiring managers came to pick us up for lunch in the company cafeteria. After lunch my manager took me to my cubicle and introduced me to the team. He also gave me instructions on how to order office supplies.

The first week, all new hires attended all kinds of classes for work. Because I was coming from a small Chinese company, this was a new experience for me, and I felt nervous and insecure at first. Luckily, I had a good mentor to show me around and introduce me to the cross-functional teams. This would make my life a lot easier down the road. It's not about what you know but who you know - this is true no matter if you work for a Chinese or an American company.

assemble v. 聚集/集合

=> gather

eg: All the trainees need to assemble in the school gym at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

=> 所有受訓的人員明天早上六點要到學校的體育館集合

assemble v. 組合

eg: Josh assembled the difficult puzzle in two hours.

=> Josh兩個小時就把這很困難的拼圖拼起來了

cubic 立方體

cubicle 大空間隔出來的小隔間

eg: Lillian put a small fish tank in her office cubicle.

=> Lillian在她的辦公室小隔間放了小魚缸

eg: There are five shower cubicles in the changing room.

=> 更衣室裡有五個淋浴間

mentor n. 良師益友/導師

=> someone that gives you advice

eg: Coach Johnson has been Eric's mentor since high school. He taught Eric everything he knows about football.

=> Johnson從高中就是Eric的良師益友。他把自己所知道足球的一切都交給了他

HR 人力資源部門

=> human resource department

IT　資訊部門

= information technology department

critical n. 緊要的/關鍵性的/危急的

=> important

insecure adj. 無把握的

=> not confident in your ability

cross-functional team

=> different people with different skill who work together

//== Chat room ==//

The mentor show me around the office.

show someone around 帶某人去參觀一個地方，當他的導遊或是盡地主之誼帶著參觀

show someone the ropes 教導某人工作上的竅門

learn the ropes 學會工作的竅門/作法

=> understand how to do a particular job

show someone the door 委婉的請人離開

=> 指著門請人走路委婉的請人離開

=> ask the person to leave

It is a nice way to ask people leave.

//== Grammar on the go ==//

I was surprised to see forty something people there.

forty-something

=> "something" do not have exactly the number of the number, but you know about the number range, you may say "number-something"

eg: I think twenty-something quests are coming to the party.

eg: The winner ate sixty-something hot dogs.