In which I go from the frying pan into the fire

Did I tell you guys that I got a new job? I can't remember and I am too lazy to review old posts. But I did. I moved within my company to a new division that does not get the week between Christmas and New Years' off and I started there two days before Christmas, which is surely the worst timing ever.

My old boss was cranky that I resigned and asked if I would take a raise to stay. I said no, mostly because he still couldn't offer me what the new job is paying (which is still way less than I used to make but now at least I am not completely mortified to say the number out loud) but also because

1. if he thought I was so great, why didn't he raise my pay before? and
2. I didn't want to work for him. Nice guy but not a good boss for me.

And the irony of it all is that he announced his resignation the day before I started my new job.

So I walked into the new office the first day - it is a few blocks from my old office - and discovered that not only would I still be in a cubicle, even though all of my peers and one of the people at a lower level than me have an office, but I would be in a cubicle that has no walls.

That's right. A wall-less cubicle. Oh sure, there is a small wall between me and the person next to me, but not high enough to block anything. And there are no walls other than the one separating my desk from the one next to it. I am in the middle of the room, far away from the offices and the windows, and I am the closest person in the room to the radio.

Which was blaring.

Have I mentioned how I like it to be quiet when I work? No smacking chewing gum, no dry granola, no carrot sticks. Quiet. As in, no radio.

How can people work with noise? Do they have jobs that require no thought? Even if your job requires no thought, how can you stand nine hours of radio a day?

I tried putting in the earbuds from my mp3 player, but that didn't block the noise. I tried my skype headset. Nope.

Then I just took my computer and went into the conference room, which was actually a fine solution. Then my new boss found me there and asked me what was going on. I told him. He was completely unaware of the radio because he has the corner office and has the new BMW, i.e., a door, so does not have to hear noise.

He went outside and turned the radio off.

I returned to my desk only to have the woman next to me ask, "You don't like Christmas music?"

Subtext was, "What kind of monster are you?"

My answer of, "I don't really like any kind of music at work" did not do anything to improve her opinion of me.

She said, "The rest of us really like the radio. It's a nice distraction."

So what do you do? Be the office bitch on Day One? Or suck it up?

I have to find another new job.