Yeah, it's pretty common I think. Takes about a week before I'm used to a new job, though I've only had a couple. I used to work in a secure area on an air force base so I had to get past guys with machine guns before I could get to the office, that was slightly more stressful at first since they sometimes looked at me like I did something wrong.
You're definitely not alone. The part that gets to me is meeting new people for the first time, and knowing that I'll actually be working with them.
I lucked out at my most recent/current job. I started on Halloween. Taking a Viking helmet into the office for your first day is a great way to figure out what the company is really like.
Only skimmed your wall of text but it's a pretty common problem, not just in work, but most people get nervous in unfamiliar situations. The best thing to do in the context of work though, is be yourself, be confident, but be humble, you're gonna make mistakes and you won't know everything. It's no big deal, as long as you show that you're willing to learn from those mistakes and correct them you'll be fine.
Since you asked: I step out of myself for the job, I am much more outgoing at work, because it pays dividends. The fact that I am actually very unsocial rarely comes up. Instances that come to mind are when coworkers mention facebook, because that is strictly for family and real friends and I will never add a current coworker, or when someone leaves, because I absolutely know I will not Keep In Touch.
After about 15 years of working in the same industry, I have a couple of observations of myself to offer:
Little of the social ease I express at work translates to home life; I am a gregarious and friendly coworker, yet I almost never speak with my neighbors (and fellow home owners) and when I do I am very nervous.
Social skills are invaluable. I don't mean being intrinsically social, I mean being able to turn it one when necessary. I supervise other employees (as in sign their timesheets, which means approving or rejecting their requests for schedule changes due to finals, dead grandmothers, etc), provide training for contractors, and do presentations when necessary. Never by choice, and not without some nerves before things get started, but once I am in the moment, it takes a life of its own and I am pretty good at it.
For the most part, people are in their own world's (as I am) and really don't give a shit about you on a personal level. I take this as a huge relief.
Don't take other poeple's word on who is or isn't difficult to work with. People generally aren't looking for fights, so go into every interaction with an open mind. It is entirely possible that the "friends" that warned you are the difficulty ones.
@ntm: Literally filled up my monitor, I'd call that fairly wall like. If you wanna say approximately how old are you? Trying to figure out some stuff, but don't want to say till I have a bit more to go on. Also get used to management checking up on things randomly. I've been management, unfortunately it has to be done, way too many people on their phones, chatting with coworkers in the break room, stealing, straight up sleeping, etc. I was always pretty laid back about it, but if there is a customer waiting while you finish your text I'm gonna lock your damn phone in the safe till your shift is over.
@ntm: Jeeze man don't take it so personally, it was a lot of writing and you even said in it that you rambled a bit, let it go.
Anyway the age matters because at 22 if you're getting homesick from being out of the house for a few hours a day you've got some issues you should start making steps towards dealing with before they become debilitating. Sounds like you've either lead an incredibly sheltered life or you've got a lot of anxiety issues, your writing and story leads me to believe it's probably a bit of both, if not something more severe. I'm not trying to make this an indictment of you or your new job or your family, you seem to have some difficulty accepting advice or constructive criticism but I hope you consider it, kinda doubt you will though. Either way I'm done in here, good luck on the job and all the rest.
I've been looking for a job lately, and it'll be my first one. I just graduated college, but I have no experience! I'm very nervous and uneasy, but at the same time I'm ready to go for whatever opportunity comes my way. Much like my new driver's license that I just got yesterday, a job for me is well overdue considering my age (24). Just like me, I believe that you'll be fine. We'll get over the jitters after a while. If something doesn't work out, dust yourself off and try again. That's what I'm going to do. The first week and sometimes month is the hardest, which is what I've been told, but things will get better.
I got a job really, really close to my house; literally five minutes away at most to walk, and while this isn't my first real job (I had worked at Sears for a year until I moved a few years ago), now that I know I have the job, which is basically two in one for me now, because initially my mom was going to do one as well on the side of her business, which we had intended to work together on, while I do another by myself which deals with heavy lifting in some small manner, but now that we figure out they can only pay one person to do the job, and I need the money, I'm the one that is getting it all (which is what my parents really wanted).
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