New Freelance Gig: Mercer HR

I recently started a new freelance gig at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. I interviewed with them on Tuesday and started yesterday. It’s for at least four weeks, but could last up to a couple months — it all depends on how much the client wants to have implemented for Phase 2 (the “four weeks” comes into play if they opt for nothing, which I’m told is unlikely).

Mercer’s office is downtown, so the drive isn’t too bad. They’re in the Bank One Center which is approximately at Main St. & St. Paul. For the moment, I’m parking in the lots behind Plaza of the Americas, primarily because one of the lots takes credit cards (that way, I don’t need a wad of one-dollar bills to last me through the week). However, that lot isn’t very close by to the Bank One Center, so I have about a twelve minute walk over to the Bank One Center (which, other than the time it takes, I don’t really mind).

I’ll probably check out the lots on the walk back to my car one evening. With any luck, one of the smaller lots will have a reasonably priced monthly plan — that way, I won’t have to to worry about having enough greenbacks every day. I’m open to suggestions on any lots around that area; in particular, I’m looking for one that doesn’t often fill to capacity since even a monthly pass couldn’t help me there.

So far, the job is working out well. I’m in a cubicle, but it’s at the corner of a grid, so at least it’s a little quieter since people aren’t walking past it all the time. And, the desks all have Aeron chairs, though I still haven’t figured out how to get mine to tilt back properly (it’s not locked, but the tilting action is fairly firm and only tilts back a few degrees).

An unexpected perk is the soda machines in the break rooms — they don’t require any money (you just press the button and soda comes out). I’ve been making good use of that, though there are only so many cans of Caffeine Free Diet Coke you can drink in a day ;). The other sodas are Coke & Diet Coke, Dr Pepper & Diet Dr Pepper, Country Time Lemonade, Mountain Dew and Fanta. I suppose Diet Fanta would have been the icing on the cake, but you can’t have everything <g>.