At work, I have a new coworker, hired earlier this week. She spent most of my shift at the office with me, going over what we do (not much) and how we do it. Parking permits, filing, answering basic questions about RHA...the usual. You would think that by now, I'd be so used to training coworkers that I'd have the routine down (this would be the fifth one) but I'm still very scatterbrained when I train people. I can't help it! For example, I might be explaining how each homeowner file is organized, and someone will come in to make a tennis reservation. I'll take care of them, and then the trainee will naturally want to know what I just did. By the time I finish with that, the file organization is forgotten. Ooops.

Oh well. This is why I make my cell phone number freely available to newbies; as problems show up they can call and I'll explain things. This seems to be the best way; the random things that come up are often scenarios I never would have predicted, anyway.

Since we're out in the trailer while the office is being remodeled, it was hard to know what to train Newbie #5 on. (I'll give her a real name if she lasts more than three months or if we become mejores amigos) For example, part of our job is to monitor parties, but obviously if the Clubhouse is under construction there aren't any parties to monitor. Do I tell her about it? I decided that I'll take care of that tomorrow. Today, I just focused on the extreme basics. She asked me to go over the opening and closing procedures several times, and each time I answered, "Unlock the doors, turn on the lights...turn on the computer?" she gave me a look like, "No, really, what else?" Sorry, but now that I can't make coffee and the front gate unlocks tennis court, that is all we need to do each morning.

Newbie #5 seems like she'll be a lot of fun. She likes to laugh and chat, lives in Los Gatos, and has really cute shoes. I approve!