I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. It's the new job. I have been there a few days, and I'm not sure how I fit into it.

I am in the transition phase adjusting to my new job and it is stressful. I thought this was a temp job walking in, with an option to become permanent- but everything might be different now.

As a new employee, I am not sure whats going on, but the company seems understaffed. My boss is taking over the work of 2 additional offices while they find replacements for the empty offices- and I am trying to keep up with the secretary work that comes with those new offices- until they find office managers for those locations- as well as handle the regular, local office. It was proposed that I was going to be traveling between 2 offices- but would work in the local office while the local manager is on vacation.

My local stint is finished and now I have been told the permanant local manager might be getting promoted and will not be returning back. So they need me to fill in during this adjustment time.

I now don't know if I might be in consideration for the local job, if I am still in the plans for the traveling job, or if they even want to keep me at all.

I dont have an email, I dont know about benefits/vacation time/commission/pay schedule, and I am actually not on the payroll yet. I have contacted HR twice to fax me paperwork, but the HR person was sick one day, and I have a suspicion our fax machine is broken. My boss hasn't looked at it- it's not a priority for him right now, but none of my faxes to clients have gone through, and we have never received a fax. (Though I don't know if anyone has tried to send us one- being an office I would assume faxes are coming in as often as I try to send them out.) -Anyways, the fax machine is not very important to this story.

I am a bit confused about the whole thing. I am confused about where I fit into the company, and how I am performing at the company. I don't know if I am doing well. I have not created any problems, but I kill myself at work to teach myself how the software runs, how the business is organized, and to figure out solutions to client complaints without bothering my boss.

Sometimes I spend 20 min trying to figure out something I either- have been shown how to do before, but have forgotten, or I have not been shown, but inherently know it is easy to figure out and I should know it. I finally give up and ask my boss about it. I get a hesitant blank "your kidding me right?" look and then I am shown how to do it, or I get the "I'll just do it later" response. (and then I STILL don't know how to do it!) So in those times, I am certain they will not keep me at the job, they will question their judgment in hiring me, and decide they are better off hiring someone else. But then occasionally, my boss will show me how to do something new. Completely new- not something I was doing wrong before. An added responcibility. In these cases I am relieved I am being prepared for the future, but I just don't feel secure.

I guess they are testing out me, I am testing out them, and that's why this is stressful.

When is it over? When do I get my self confidence back? When do I start getting a better idea of what I am expected to do? I thought this job would be easy as cake. And I think it will be easy in the future. But filling in for someone who already does it so well- I feel like I am just totally incompetent.