This is the last leg of my journey. I will post tomorrow about my last few weeks and my last day. My personal blog, containing my Journey to Retirement series and other stories, is still “under construction” but will be shared soon. Thank you to all who followed this posting and for all of the… Read More Endings and Beginnings
By 1999, the world in general seemed to be spinning out of control. The year Jon and I married there was an attempt to bomb the World Trade Center. The Oklahoma Federal Building bombing happened while I was carrying Katherine. Throughout the decade, reports of terrorist attacks overseas escalated in frequency. Violence in the workplace… Read More Madness and Memories
The work that Jon and I did for American Airlines pertained to Sabre, the reservation system owned by American but used by other travel entities. Jon’s contribution was of such significance that he received national recognition and became a target for headhunters hoping to lure him from American Airlines. One of these firms made him… Read More Best of Both Worlds
Windows 95 welcomed me back to work after maternity leave giving a very different feel to my work flow. I also started using something called Front Page for my web page work. Front page gave me the ability adopt themes and design tool bar placement. I learned new terms such as .jpg, .gif, “click-through” and… Read More Candid Camera and Year 2K
November and December of 1994 was a whirlwind of celebration and juggling work schedules. My mother-in-law enjoyed Thanksgiving with us and returned home, apparently a little warmer toward the “older woman with a bunch of kids” who snared her adored son. A particularly memorable day among this busy time was Sunday, December 10. I woke… Read More Dreams, Surprises, and Bifocals
American Airlines had a pesky little nepotism policy stating that husband and wife shall not work in the same department. This was a bit of concern with inter-company transfers on hold because the company was undergoing a “restructure.” This venture was orchestrated by an outside consulting firm. Perfect strangers with New York accents gathered 25… Read More Clouds and Bicycle Horns
The 90s brought a new set of common terms to the business world. There was “reorganization” and “downsizing” instead of “lay-offs.” There was also a new term for good office manners. “Politically correct” or “PC” for short (or should I say vertically challenged). PC became a major focus and many companies required PC training. American… Read More The Perils of New Terminology
The American Airlines compound was a conglomerate of buildings connected by underground tunnels. Headquarters, where I was summoned to get my work ID, was on the other side of the very busy Amon Carter Blvd. (I loved this name.) I decided to go through the tunnel. Once on the other side, I was faced with… Read More Something Good
The hunt for a job offering life after Eggs-on was short and sweet. A few weeks before my contract ended, I received two offers. The first offered a permanent, full time job with compensation of $35,000 per year. The employer was Lindcrest, a documentation firm specializing in writing and maintaining procedure manuals for small businesses.… Read More Answered Prayers
Over time, the position in the Documentation Department became more difficult to navigate. The major difficulty was maintaining boundaries with Cheryl as my boss from the platform of friendship. It is quite odd to get chewed out for the latest offense and giggle about the George Michael adventure all over the same cup of coffee.… Read More Exxon Etiquette