WORK MEMORIES

WORK MEMORIES

            Well work has kept me pre-occupied for the time being since they just increased my hours to 15 per week.  It doesn’t sound like a lot but when your juggling two kids in the same room as your work space (and under the age of five) you could say I’m working a small miracle.  I like having a little extra money.  I’m not a big spender but just knowing I don’t have to ask my hubby for grocery and diaper money is a little bit of a relief. 

I kind of feel bad because Max is stuck in front of the TV while I’m working and Jay is napping.  I would insist on him using his imagination and play with his toys, but he is kind of needy and never wants to play by himself.  Therefore he is “mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” all day long.  I’m kind of loosing my mind when I have to play toddler games all day.  I mean, how much coloring, memory, play doe and painting can a grown up do without getting bored to death.

         So my day is broken up by Max being in school three days a week, Jay getting therapy six sessions a week and I work a little in between.  It helps but my day still feels monotonous.  I guess everyone feels like that.  Especially when you’re behind a desk all day.  I’ve done that…clock watching.  I didn’t mind because the women I worked with were extremely interesting.  It was a soap opera office with cat fights, backstabbing, & competitive office contests to stimulate sales which triggered even more drama.  So it was pretty entertaining and the best part was all the women really loved each other.  I’ve worked in offices with the same kind of drama but when the women are cold and unfriendly, it changes the whole story line to awkward and no one wants to work and feel uncomfortable in their work environment. 

            That reminds me of the time I worked in a doctors office.  I started out as a file clerk, but I wanted more so I figured out the whole medical billing thing on my own and worked my way up.  The women hated it.  How dare a young twenty year old come in and grab a position that was only meant for them.  Long story short, not so nice words were said, feelings were hurt and I left with a bad taste in my mouth for medical staff in general.  After that, I found the world of advertising sales, which I loved and was pretty good at.  We were always busy, the phones rang constantly for ad placements and I was always up selling.  My boss loved me.  He would bring me in his office to tell me I was his “super star”.  I know it sounds cheesy but I liked it.  I’m a driven worker when there is an extra pat on my back.  So I ate up his compliments.  Sometimes I got the feeling he would like to do a little more than just pat me on the back, but that didn’t bother me because I’ve dealt with plenty of sexual references in the work place, even at a young age and he was nothing compared to the other stuff I’ve been subjected to.

            One day the phone rang and it was a very big account calling.  The man never asked for anyone by name so I handled it myself.  I gave the client a full page ad and everything ran smoothly even though I was new and inexperienced.  Well, the boss loved it!  I was happy to be getting a nice chunk of commission on the sale and the boss was happy that I was happy.  Everyone happy, right? Wrong! Bitch in the back room claimed the client as hers.  Instead of coming to me she went bitching to the boss.  And boy, did she bitch.  I could hear her from down the hall.  I also heard the boss defending my honor (more like letting her know I really did play fair and square regarding the account).  She was not having it, so she decided to play dirty. 

Next day the head honcho flew in to determine if her “sexual harassment” claim was valid.  All the supervisors were individually interrogated and then came me.  I am sorry to say…. I broke.  I am easily intimidated by authority, always have been.  So the words I over heard from the fight, came flying out of my mouth before I could catch them, “Don’t push yourself up against me!” said by the bitch to the boss  (my boss, my super star admirer). 

Till this day, I don’t know why I spilled the beans.  It was just easier to say the truth.  I immediately assured the head honcho that my eyes saw absolutely nothing during the spat.  And I believe that the bitch said whatever she had to, to get him fired, but whatever I said just confirmed her story and he was sent packing the next day.  Everything was very hush hush after that.  No one got the real story as to why he had to leave so abruptly.  My supervisors knew because I broke down crying the day he packed his box and she could see the regret in my tears. 

Still to this day its one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t lie for him , but I have a good feeling things worked out for him in the end because our company went under a year later and I heard he got a better job right after the termination.  I like to tell myself that If it hadn’t been for me, he himself wouldn’t have landed the head honcho position else where and I only saved him from a life of boring sales.  I mean, I’m not even sure if he got another job but I try not to think that I ruined his life.  He probably drank uncontrollably and jumped off the GW. No! No! No! It couldn’t be true.

 Meanwhile, I was left with the bitch.  She was outside sales, so I didn’t really have to see her but every time she called into the office, I would disconnect her calls.  She didn’t know about my hostility so she just thought I was lousy at the phones, but I was quietly taking my revenge. 

We had other bosses come in and take his place but no one ever lasted and then the lay offs came.  I was pretty much the first one to go because I was pregnant and the weirdest thing happened; I lost my voice.  It wasn’t as if I was horse.  I was out of breath as soon as I became pregnant.  I couldn’t carry on a sentence, let alone a sales call.  It was the strangest phenomenon.  Even the doctors didn’t get it.  They’ve heard of this happening in the last trimester, when the baby is big and squishing your diaphragm, but this started during my first month.  I just couldn’t get the words out as though someone was choking my vocal cords.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many tests, hospital visits, doctors appointments, and poking and prodding I went through.  No answers.  Just theories as to what was going on.  It could be hormone related, extra blood flow, asthma induced.  Nothing cured me, so I had to go on disability.  My office and my supervisors were ecstatic with this idea.  For weeks everyone’s jobs were threatened. 

We had so many meetings as to who was going to be let go, who should voluntarily leave and how it was only a matter of time for everyone.  A couple of weeks later…I was the pregnant staffer with some kind of health issue going on.  A little light went off in the supervisor’s heads, which didn’t happen to often.  They pulled me in their office and told me they would do everything they could to get me on full disability.  It would all be hush hush and I could go on my way with pay, throughout my whole pregnancy.  Little did I know I came to everyone’s rescue in the office and they’re jobs were saved, for the time being.  It was the most perfect layoff in history.                            

About a year later, the office was completely shut down, like many have due to this crummy economy.   I still struggle with my voice to this day. A voice specialist told me I hold a lot of stress in my vocal cords.  She said she has never seen someone’s larynx clench the way mine does and I could benefit from some speech therapy, but who has time for that?  My son’s therapy comes first and my weird ailments will just have to heal themselves.  After I had Max, my voice went back to normal…for the most part.  A year later, I got pregnant with Jay and you know how I found out I was pregnant before the pee stick? My voice went.  The mysterious aliment was back; full force.  So I’m just chalking this up to one of those strange things that can happen while you’re pregnant.

I never forgot my last job because the women were so passionate about work, our office relationships, sales, everything.  And come to think of it…they were all mothers.  No wonder!