After a devasting divorce, a lupus flare-up that took me down to eighty pounds, and a two-month hospital visit, I went to work for real, even though I received alimony and child support.  I needed something to do.

The first job was part-time with a national accounting firm. I had nothing worthwhile to put on a resume, but this was in 1984, and they were willing to teach me word processing. I stayed there for about a year, and it was the dullest job I ever had. The bad thing was the woman I worked with in a very small room was very moody, and I never knew what her mood for the day would be. Also, any mistakes she made, she laid off on me, even accounts I wasn’t allowed to work on.

I went to an employment agency again, and they sent me to a job that turned out to be ideal. The company had just built an executive suites building, and needed a secretary. I jumped on that.

The position was meant to have three women working, but I was the first one in the new building, and no tenants had moved in yet. I was to be secretary to all twenty-eight businesses, and do all their work and answer their phones. When the building was full, I had thirty-seven phones to answer, all with a different name. I’m proud to say I never lost or dropped a call. I need to mention that before I married, I’d worked on an answering service with one hundred clients to answer for.  I’m sure that helped get me this job.

We grew to be like a little family.  We had potluck lunches fairly often, and I was always sure to invite the spouses, went for birthday lunches, and almost any holiday, we had a huge spread in the conference room.

Once, we kept trying to take one of the tenants out for his birthday, and after several attempts, we finally went without him.  We told him we’d had a great time at his birthday lunch, and he thought it was funny.

One tenant worked for some company (I forgot what it was), that everyone teased her about being connected to the Genovese family (Mafia).  One day, a man we didn’t know came in and set a black boxy briefcase down and hurried off.  Immediately, everyone in the building was alarmed.  Turned out, he was simply going back to his car for a forgotten item.

Well, they never hired those other two secretaries. As I said, since I was there first, I was able to grow and keep up as the building filled up.  I had the perfect system worked out. There was a variety of businesses, including an industrial engineer, a company that dealt with housing for railroad crews, a former FBI agent turned private investigator, just to name a few.

After fifteen years with us all together, the company replaced me while I was in the hospital. When the tenants were told I wasn’t coming back, they all moved out of the building and brought their work to me to do from home. They paid me very well, and kept me going until everyone retired. I’ll be forever grateful to these friends. We still stay in touch frequently with lunches and phone calls.

When I went to the EEOC in complaint of unfair termination, I was told I could bring only my attorney with me. The company brought everyone they knew, apparently, plus their attorney was a childhood friend of the mediator. I had lost before I got there. The mediator wouldn't even look at the glowing letters I had from my former tenants. I still want to meet that wonderful woman in those letters. Bless their hearts. I had some triumph, though. It was the first time in the company’s history they had to sell a building. That was even in the Arkansas Business newspaper.

I knew these people were my friends, but losing that job was a blessing in disguise.  It showed me how wonderful these people were.

After everyone retired, I went to work as a funeral director, and that’s a story for next time.  Thanks for reading.