Well. It would appear that the job is mine on a trial, temp-to-hire basis. I got a wakeup call from the temp agency this morning saying that they (the potential new job place, that is) wanted me to come in today to cover lunches and get the lay of the land. So I did. And after lunches, they kept me around for a couple hours of training. And then they asked me to come back tomorrow for more lunch coverage and training. And they kept introducing me to the tenants as the new receptionist. So I'm feeling fairly confident that I got the job. Nothing's official until they actually hire me away from the temp agency, though, so I'm not getting too confident. I hope they make a decision and for-real-hire me soon, though, because it would be really nice to have some health insurance.

What the job is, is a receptionist/secretary for a building management company, and also switchboard operator/ receptionist/ secretary-for-hire (meaning that if they ask me to, say, type a letter, they have to pay extra for my services) for the building's tenants. It's kind of a weird set-up. But nothing I can't handle. I looked over the job duties and I don't think they entail anything I didn't handle in some form or another in my old job. One thing I love about it is that it's in one of the historical downtown buildings, built in 1917, and it's just gorgeous inside, with a lot of the original fixtures. I think it even has the original elevator cars, which is actually kind of frightening. But it's nice working in a pretty place instead of just another cubicle rat's maze.

Other pros: they do have outside Internet access, and they don't care if I play around online when I have nothing better to do (thank God). They also don't care if I bring my novel and work on it when things are slow. For that matter, they don't care if I bring a book or a bunch of magazines to read. I wonder if they'd draw the line at bringing my knitting? Anyway. I don't anticipate things being very slow until I'm done with training and more settled into the job, but it'll get there eventually. Also, there's a Java Dave's a block or so down the street (or at least there used to be), so I can go there to write on my lunch hours, and one of my favorite indie coffee shops is about 15 blocks down the street, so I can go there either before or after work, also to get some writing done. This job might actually make me more productive, since for some reason I always focus better in coffee shops surrounded by people than I do at home alone with my pets vying for my attention and the siren call of the Internet just a few clicks away. Really, I don't think I could have invented a more writing-friendly job. So, yes, I'm feeling very good about it. And I think I'll be really sad if it doesn't work out for some reason.

And I can't wait to start getting paid. Yay!