| everybody is equal but some are more equal. try to identify people with ties to hr/ management and try not to step on their toes. no need to be overly friendly, just be careful around them two people you need to be always friendly with are the facility manager/ janitor and the reception person. they run the place. thats how you get a better chair or get your amazon packages accepted dont try to suppress your personality for too long, forget about stuff "yeah i would have liked to speak up about <issue> but im just here for a week, i better wait couple month then ill allow myself that" people notice changes in behaviour (mostly as negative), and in two month you will have an established position in the social hierarchy. if you are a loudmouth, be loudmouth from day one. "the new guy is a loudmouth" will get easier pass than "you noticed? bob is turning really arrogant lately/ since his promotion" some sitting places are vacant for a reason: smelly colleague or malfunctioning ventilation unit blowing cold air at you. choose wisely before you get stuck in there dont take shit from others, dont overwork yourself or you will be the "he works an hour more anyway" guy take your time to learn and read and research twice. take notes of everything you are shown and taught about the thing you work on. be it stuff like "you need to kick the server here to keep UPS from failing" or "dont change spaces to tabs in this file, it will break the build" passing remarks like this are the most valuable insider knowledge there is remember that you are a social animal and so are others. spending an extra half hour joking with colleagues after lunch is done, instead of leaving the table immediately, makes quite the difference |