career reflections

 Today is the 5th day of the 19th week, the 8th day of the 5th month, the 128th day of 2025, and:

• Free Trade Day -  not that the current regime believes in it and has reversed the trend of the past century in lowering barriers
• Iris Day
• Make-A-Book Day
• National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day
• National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day - something I am far more aware of then I ever was in the past as both of my kids are now in therapy as they struggle with the health issues caused by cancer, my grandson appears to be autistic, one grandchild suffers from anxiety-driven mutism, and my granddaughter contemplates suicide regularly 
• National Coconut Cream PIe Day
• National Cruelty Free Day
• National Give Someone a Cupcake Day
• National Have a Coke Day - this one has become harder to celebrate with my blood sugar issues
• National Student Nurses Day
• No Socks Day - easy to celebrate and I am.  Yay for clogs and dressing casually when in the office!
• Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost their Lives during the Second World War - every single American or Englishman who asked why the German people failed to stop Hitler owes Germany a humble apology
• Victory in Europe Day - AKA VE Day
• World Ovarian Cancer Day
• World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day - observed annually since 1948

Quote of the day

"If you do not think about your future, you cannot have one."

~ John Galsworthy, English author and playwright best known for The Forsyte Saga trilogy 

This picture drifted across my social media feeds and it caught my fancy.  It is from iStock with a credit to Mike Pellinni.  I believe it is a composite picture but there is no location information as to where it was taken.  

I started working part time when I was 15 years old at Gesina's Bakery.  I have driven a school bus, sold calculators, worked a steam table, sorted through WWII files at Fort Holabird, worked in a library, was a switchboard operator, became a receptionist, and sold children's shoes, before landing in banking back in 1985, where I have remained.  In all that time, there were only two jobs that I was actually fired from

The first was from the Teamsters in Alaska.  I had moved to Anchorage [with Tommy, who was an infant] and was living with my father as part of the separation [and divorce] from my first husband back in 1975.  I was the front desk receptionist for their main office in Anchorage, and seemed to get along well with the clientele and got rave performance reviews from my manager.  Unfortunately, I was not shy about expressing my opinions on being told that as part of my duties, I would "volunteer" my free time to stuff envelopes and help out political candidates the Teamsters had chosen.   This was America, I declared, and I would not do that - and I didn't.   Upper management waited until my manager was on vacation, and I was abruptly let go for "not being a team player".    When she returned, my manager was indignant and took care to give me a good recommendation, and I was able to get interviews afterwards, but one company executive told me I was unhirable.  Why?  because the Teamsters had a reputation for planting supposedly fired employees in non-union shops who then set about organizing them, and even though I was highly qualified, no company was going to take the chance that I might be just such a mole.  I gave up and moved back to the lower 48, not being willing to live with my father and his second family as a dependent without bringing in some income of my own

The second time happened on this day 16 years ago.   After leaving The Washington Savings Bank, and enjoying a three month paid hiatus [during which I prepared to move from Randallstown to the Enclave], I accepted a position with a small non-bank SBA lender to run their Loan Servicing in March 2007.  At first I was enthused - they company was new, it was an increase in pay, and I thought I would be able to grow the department, functioning as its manager.  I was surprised that the previous person had left them flat with only two weeks notice, but quickly learned I was not only dealing with a new loan accounting system, but I was the entire loan servicing department with a huge SBA portfolio and much documentation.  It was a small office, and I found the people I worked with likeable enough, but I wasn't quite as gungho as they all seemed to be, and after a couple of months, I started warning them that they were not allocating sufficient resources to the loan servicing area.  Eventually they listened to me and hired an loan admin [and she was very good at fitting in socially] and a collections person.  In February of 2009 I had issues with the 1502 wire going to Colson Services, and the company was assessed a $5K late charge for the report showing up one day late.  Three months later,  I was pulled into the conference room and told I was either going to be fired with cause because of that, or I could resign and be paid for the next six weeks. 

To say I was blindsided is an understatement and I was also terrified.  The financial services sector in the Baltimore/Washington area was in turmoil and there were a plethora of people job hunting.  I was living alone, had a very thin savings account, and the lease for my apartment was coming up for renewal.   I spent two days crying and stewing, and started job hunting.  It was hard to even get an interview.  I worked with a recruiter that I had used as a manager when I needed help, and he generated a couple of leads for me, but I was very worried about landing a position and went ahead and started the process of applying for unemployment.  MSL objected on the grounds that I had resigned in lieu of being fired for the $5K error back in February [and therefore in Maryland was not eligible for unemployment compensation] , and a three-way conversation was set up between the unemployment official, MSL's HR, and myself.  I didn't say much, other than to confirm that I had accepted the six week's pay, but was startled when the official inquired who was going to fill my position.  HR answered no one, the duties had been assigned to another person in the company.  The official repeated - you do not intend to replace the employee?  HR hesitated, then rather quietly admitted my position had been eliminated and would not be filled.   The official informed both of us that I was eligible for unemployment and that was that.  I had not been fired, I had been laid off without any warning.  It came out later that MSL was for sale, and indeed, they were purchased by CapitalSource before the year was out.  As it turns out, I never collected that unemployment, which means MSL never had to pay, as I accepted the position that I currently fill. 

One ironic note:  when the HR person let me go, she made a comment that I obviously would do better working with a larger company and was unsuited for the exigencies of working for a smaller organization.  MSL had about 12 people working in the office where I was and about 40 overall.  When I started with Potomac Business Services, there were four of us.    

It continues to be a source of pride for me that the quality of my work has never been in question throughout the entire 55 years [there was a hiatus devoted to homemaker while the kids were little] I have been employed.