Monday Memories - My First Job

I have missed this meme! So excited to get to share Monday Memories this time about our first job. You can have some fun recalling that fun experience and joining Retired Not Retired right here.

Having taken every business course my high school had to offer (knowing that college would not be in my near future), I was confident I was ready to begin the search for my first job upon graduation. Unfortunately, my excitement about the search quickly waned. Although I did have skills necessary and proved it by passing every test given with flying colors, I did not have experience which was one of the most important things potential employers wanted to see on my job application. After hearing the, "you're too young" statement a few times, I wondered just how a person could get experience if no one was willing to give a person a chance to get that experience. (Back in the '60's, something else I heard often from interviewers was, "are you engaged?" Or planning to be married soon?)

After hitting the pavement for a couple of weeks in search of that "dream job" we heard about in shorthand class, I was sent to an insurance company on the ninth floor of a big office building in greater downtown Tulsa. (My naïveté back then about a dream job is somewhat embarrassing to me now.) The interview with a very kind gentleman went well, but alas, he was sorry to tell me the job I was applying for had just been filled. Oh well, another day, another disappointment.

After arriving back home, the telephone rang. It was for me! And it was the man from the insurance company calling to tell me that I was hired!!! Oh joy, joy!! As it turned out, after I left the office that day, one of the Vice Presidents came down to chat with him, and after seeing my job application, his response was, "How could you let a girl with those skills get away?"

My first day on the job, I was told that since there was no actual position for me, I would be a "floater" and sent wherever needed each day. So ... I "floated" ... and hoped for a permanent place in the company.

This experience as the office floater gave me opportunities to work in different departments and gain experience needed until a couple of months down the road, lo and behold, a position opened up for me! I would be secretary for the man who had originally interviewed me. It was exciting to have this job and every day was an adventure working downtown, shopping on my lunch hour, and getting a paycheck every two weeks. Such a grown-up experience and I was now able to purchase my first car!

The man I worked for patiently trained me and I would sit in his office for hours taking dictation and learning about such things as the mortgage loans for which I would be responsible. Me??? ...the person who detested math would be working with something called "double entry" bookkeeping, escrows, insurance premiums and other such things.

I worked for this insurance company for almost three years until a nasty scandal involving insurance frauds (and other unsavory escapades involving top executives and young women) rocked the company (and our city as it made headlines every day). It became obvious to me that the smart thing for me to do would be to find another job. Having led a very sheltered life, I heard about activities and saw behaviors I had never witnessed before.

My skills, my experience there, and the high recommendations of the man I worked for were the means for securing my next job as assistant to the public relations man at another company.

My boss was the only one the insurance receiver trusted to stay to aid in cleaning up the "mess" the other executives had left behind. Having left the mess myself, I convinced him he needed to "get out of Dodge," too. So at the end of each of our working days, we pulled out the books with names and addresses of insurance companies (back in the days before Internet) and I began typing letters over and over and over and resumes for him. (At least we had a Xerox machine for the resumes.)  It wasn't long before he heard from a big company in San Antonio who wanted him to come work for them. Not too long after he left, we were married. And that, my friends, is how I came to be living in Texas!!