This Is Kiwi

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

Right after I blipped last night, I spoke to Ellie on the phone. We don't normally talk at night but she wanted to talk some things through with me, and I'm always happy to talk to Ellie.

Of course, you have to bear in mind that she is also a busy mum. So our chat was interrupted by bath-time for Aubrey.

"Who's this? WHO'S THIS??" said Ellie, holding up her phone for Aubrey, splashing about in her bath.

"Symon!" said Aubrey.

OH MY GOD SHE SAID MY NAME EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I am really very attached to Aubrey. More so than most babies. I think it's because I look at her and see Little Ellie. Either way, my heart melted.

She knows who I am....

Ellie and I continued chatting - mostly about a work situation and how to resolve it. She was a little bit stressed but I think I helped...

"OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??" said Ellie.

"Hee hee hee".

I could just hear Aubrey giggling in the background. 

What she had DONE was to get hold of mummy's foundation and tipped it into the bath. She was trying to apply make-up like mummy.

"Where did you put that?!?" gasped Ellie in semi-outrage.

"On my BUM," said Aubrey.

Well, maybe not EXACTLY like mummy...

So our conversation was brought to a premature end. Ellie went to scrub the bath (and her daughter) and I went to bed early to prepare for my first day at Kiwibank.

My first day was today and it was ok. The office itself is very nice. Their documentation and organisation looks AMAZING. You have to bear in mind that I've been working at places with no standards and no documentation ever since Tesco Bank in 2017. 

They showed me their data model. It was written on EA Sparxx. 

THIS IS WHAT I TRIED TO INTRODUCE TO MPI

They had USER STORIES. 

JUST LIKE I TRIED TO INTRODUCE TO KAINGA ORA.

And they do proper planning and EVERYTHING.

It was beautiful. 

So that was good. 

What was NOT so good was the team culture I'd heard so much about and how great it is. 

It turns out that nearly my whole team is in AUCKLAND. 

EFF'S SAKE.

So I felt a bit lonely today as I read document after document. I sent this picture to Briar and you can see her reaction above. 

I have to admit I was feeling sort of the same. 

I miss my people.

However, in the afternoon I went into a really boring meeting with another new contractor named Charlie A. Pike. He's an American from Minnesota who has been in Aotearoa since 2005. I kind of liked him and we had a good chat by turning the sound down on the boring meeting and talking to each other instead. 

He explained that the "A" in his name doesn't stand for anything. He is literally Charlie A. Pike. His parents put the "A" on his birth certificate but then couldn't think of anything. 

That made me laugh. 

So I ended the day on a "meh" note. Maybe me and Charlie can have some fun together. I hope so. And I hope I get to meet more fun people. But the atmosphere seemed a little quieter. A little straighter. A little more mundane. 

Maybe this is the price you pay for good documentation. 

However, I'm not too down about it. Firstly, because it didn't seem THAT bad. Secondly, I might be able to make something of this. Thirdly, I can always move on again next year, if needs be.

But fourthly - FOURTHLY - I set up a meeting with Ellie and Briar tomorrow. They are my people. They always make me smile. 

But more importantly... 

SHE KNOWS WHO I AM...!!

Yes, I'm still on that.

S.