Lessons on Life

Posted On August 6, 2020

My First Job

On the Monday following our Saturday wedding, I set out to apply for jobs. I had completed a two-year secretarial program at Northeast Missouri State University and was looking forward to becoming a secretary, a job that has now become outdated. My first, and only stop, was at A. P. Green Refractories. I had very little knowledge of what the company was about, but I knew that they were one of the largest employers in our area. I don’t remember the application process other than they said there was an opening in the Print Shop and I could start immediately if I wanted it.

I was very naive when it came to applying for jobs and didn’t ask about better jobs available. I was just so excited to be able to get a job on my first try. So, I was hired as a Print Shop Clerk where the pay was $400 per month.

The duties primarily consisted of proofing, copying, trimming and binding printed company forms, brochures and booklets. It was super easy and I worked with some fun people. I was also given the responsibility of proofreading the company magazine. My first blunder was not seeing that the company president’s name was misspelled in the magazine! The print shop boss was a guy named Garland, from Garland, Texas. He went back home once and returned with two big tarantulas which he brought to the office. He would let them out of the jars and they would crawl around on the floor until our protests would convince him to return them to their containers!

The most challenging aspect of the job was when I had to fill in for the telephone switchboard operators. When I think about that switchboard, it makes me feel ancient! There were two operators and we were responsible for connecting incoming and outgoing calls. There were sixteen cords of one color and sixteen of another color. We had to connect two for each call; one on the top board of 400 lines and one on the desktop board to the outside lines. When one of the slots would light up, we’d plug in a cord, answer, and then connect to the requested party. It’s amazing how quickly a person can learn so many numbers, but when you do it for 8 hours a day, it happens. We had to watch for the lights to go out, indicating that they had ended their call and then we would pull the cords. Occasionally, we’d pull one cord from one call and another from a different call (not a good thing). After a few stints at the switchboard, sometimes I would answer the phone at home, “A. P. Green Refractories, how may I help you?”

Anyone within the company wanting to make a long distance call, would call the operator and ask to be placed on the Watts list. The Watts lines were two pre-paid long distance lines. We kept a written list of requests and whenever the line would become available, we’d call the next person on the list and let them place their long distance call.

Again, I made a blunder regarding the president of the company. The first day I worked the switchboard, he asked to be on the list. I had been told to put the president at the top of the list if he called. My problem was, I had failed to ask what his name was. An hour after his request, the other operator saw his name and made me call him immediately. He politely acted as if it wasn’t unusual to wait so long.

I quickly learned the importance of acquainting yourself with all the most important people wherever you work!

Moving on up

A print shop clerk position was about the lowest paying job there so I quickly applied for other open positions within the company. I became the private secretary to a gentleman but do not remember the department. In that day and age, it was quite common for the secretary to make coffee for her boss. I was quite brave and told him right off the bat that I would not be making coffee for him as the smell made me sick. It still does to this day. As I recall, he didn’t really have much need of a private secretary (they had a “steno pool” for typing routine paperwork) and he was at a loss of what he wanted me to do. So, he told me to read the Wall Street Journal each day and circle any article I thought he would be interested in! Here I was, a 19-year-old farm girl, with a two-year secretarial certificate, reading and circling business articles in the Wall Street Journal for a man I had just met! I always circled what I found interesting–the editorials and the Salt & Pepper section, and he never complained. I quickly bid on a better paying job–a secretary in the Marketing Department. I got that job because I was the only applicant who knew shorthand.

In this position, I worked for two men and a woman. The woman, Daisy, smoked unfiltered Camel cigarettes and had a sign behind her desk that said, “Bitching about my Smoking, Could be Hazardous to your Health!” She was quite the character. She had been promoted and I was taking over her former duties, which she never let me forget. She kept close watch over everything I did and said she was known as “Eagle Eyes” because a mistake never got by her. She always kept a window open, even if it was below freezing, because “fresh air does us good.” A request to shut it was always denied. (Now that I experience hot flashes, I sorta understand. Sorta!) Was I intimidated? YES.

I worked for them for awhile and then another man was added to the department and I became his personal secretary. I had talked to him many times when working the switchboard while he worked in our New Jersey office. He turned out to look absolutely nothing like what I envisioned from speaking to him on the phone. I loved working for him as he was very personable. One of my main duties was making his travel arrangements and typing his daily itineraries for the trips. It would include airline, hotel and dining reservations, scheduling conferences, etc. I really enjoyed that challenge. During his travels, he would dictate correspondence on a recorder and I would transcribe them when he returned.

Hoping to get a raise, I volunteered to take minutes at the monthly meetings where men from the department would meet with the president and vice presidents of the company. The minutes were taken in shorthand. There were usually ten or so present and I was expected to write down every word said. The president smoked a pipe and usually rubbed his face as he was talking, making it difficult to understand him and one of the vice presidents had a lit cigar burning the entire time. UGH!! It was an awful smell. I took shorthand at 120 words per minute but with several talking at a time and the meetings lasting up to four hours, it was a very challenging task and, sadly, never led to a raise.

As soon as the meetings were over, I had to type up my notes with Daisy looking over my shoulder because she wanted to know everything said. Sometimes, in the middle of the meetings, they would quickly look at me and say, “Don’t put that down” and I’d have to scratch through the notes. She hated not knowing what had been scratched out!

Being secretary to only one person did not keep me busy all the time. I offered to help the steno pool but was told no. I cleaned the offices, but was told I couldn’t do that anymore as it was a union job. My files were in tiptop shape and I often had to resort to working crossword puzzles from the St. Louis Post.

After consistently moving up through the ranks, I quit after ten years at the company because I was bored. It can be very tiring trying to appear busy and I had reached the point where I dreaded going to work. I did learn many things that helped me in my future endeavors and made some lasting friendships.

Changes in the workplace

Can you imagine a starting pay of $400/month for a 40-hour week? How about having to sign up to make a long distance work call and then waiting a couple of hours before you could make the call?

Who even knows what shorthand is? I demonstrated it several times for my high school students and they had never heard of it.

When I worked at A. P. Green from 1975 to 1985, there wasn’t much teamwork. If you were important, you had your own secretary who didn’t multi-task with others. Today, things are much more streamlined. Technological advances have really changed the workplace. When I worked there, you were well acquainted with the typewriter repairman, Ernie, and IBM selectric typewriters were the greatest invention around.

For the most part, women were clerks and secretaries and men were the supervisors. I probably could have won a harrassment suit because the company photographer was constantly popping up taking pictures of me. That’s how I have a picture of me walking in the parking lot. Letting tarantulas out to scare your staff would be on the national news today. Instead of complaining, I just took all these things in stride.

I learned many valuable things that helped me advance my career. I worked for, and with, wonderful and interesting people. Daisy and I eventually got along fairly well and I ended working for one of my favorite bosses ever. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work for this company. I am also happy that the office workplace has advanced to using cell phones and personal computers…and not needing carbon paper!

What memories do you have of your first full-time job? Please share them in your comments.