Friday, October 05, 2018

the list

Way back in '92 I was working for AT&T as a telephone operator. Good money and benefits. Not a bad job if you were thick-skinned and unconcerned with a stranger's opinion. I personally found the daily quota of assholes amusing, but at any time, up to 20% of the crew was out on stress disability. Did I have something missing, or something extra? I never figured it out.

Then AT&T dropped the bomb. Our office was closing. We could quit, retired (if eligible) or relocate - take "lateral" positions in Pleasanton, CA, Silver Spring MD, or Atlanta. I forget how much notice we had. Months.

They brought in outside soft skills coaches and counselors. The union helped some I recall. There was a career counselor. An Episcopal minister with a handful of degrees in something. I can only suppose he was qualified to put us through a battery of tests...the kind of thing all over FB these days. "What you should be when you grow up". That sort of thing. At some point, we were asked to write our top three job choices (?) on a blackboard. I wrote:

Phone Slut
Writer
Supreme Court Judge

Two out of three ain't bad, to quote Meat Loaf.

3 comments:

Joanne S said...

I missed this post--gosh, Good thing you stopped at writer. Thought you do look nice in black and white.

Deb Lacativa said...

You're right. I'd be the hangingest judge around.

Robbie said...

What a hoot!