Women and Work Job # 6 & 7

 Job # 6.  Telemarketer

Telemarketer for Olan Mills Studio.   A great sales opportunity.  Sell portrait packages.  They used deception to get people to apply for the job, then they tried to bully them into being deceptive to people they spoke with on the phones.

I didn't fit in with the other girls and was left go

 after the first week.

Job # 7 Customer Service in a Designer Blind Factory

There was a two week training period for this job.  I tried my best and the supervisor knew it.  That's why she broke it to me gently.  "You're not right for the job" instead of saying - "You're not smart enough for the job."  

To Be continued...

Women and Work. Job #5

Job #5  Sitting with the Elderly

There is nothing quite so rewarding as when you feel needed.

Venetta called me her girl.  On Saturday and Sunday mornings she'd wait for me, propped up in her hospital bed and always wearing the same white cotton gown and the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen, for me to unlock the front door and come in to help her out of bed.  For me, it was a learning experience.  For her, it was a journey back in time as she shared stories of vacations, Christmas's, and life on Ormand street of days gone by.  When she died, I dreamed about her often and I missed her as if she'd been my own mother.

Then there was Mary, who had Parkensins disease.  Before her morning meds she trembled terribly.  By noon she'd be much calmer and we'd watch television together, eat lunch, tell stories and laugh, or go for groceries.  Watching the Scarecrow and Mrs. King was mandatory and she made no bones about the fact that she was in love with Bruce Boxleitner.

Lilly was a writer.  I would clean her house and take her for groceries.  She was cantankerous...  but I did as I was told and stayed quiet.

The list goes on and on and the blessings were many.

To Be Continued...

Women and Work. Job #4

Job # 4  Cleaning Lady

How could we possibly make ends meet?  Three children and one working parent was not cutting it.  Then the bright idea.

Situations Wanted:

Cleaning lady available. Honest. Dependable. $7 an hour. Call 555-5555.

  I was not only my own boss, but I set my own hours and screened my jobs as well.  If someone was impossible to work for, I could just move on.  Before I knew it, I was turning down jobs.

One of the most meticulous of clients was a dentist and her podiatrist husband who considered me their maid even though I only worked for them one day out of the week.  I did everything for them.  I changed their bed linens, washed the dishes, did the laundry, scrubbed their floors on my hands and knees, and whipped their huge 9 room home into shape in just 6 hours time.  They very sweetly expected perfection , and they were not willing to let me go that easy when I revealed to them that I'd be leaving because I needed to once again be home with my baby.  They lured me into staying for a time, by adding a new playpen and baby accessories to their decor and it worked for a while, but soon  I had to graciously depart, but not before training another girl to be my clone. 

 About a year later, I was back with them but this time with a much larger salary.  Cleaning ladies were bringing in over $10 an hour.  I latched onto a few good paying jobs, sometimes dragging  kids, matchbox cars, books and cowboys and indians along.  

 

To Be Continued.....