American Dreaming - 1982 / Part I

It was that summer that shaped my entry into the corporate world. The year was 1982. I was 23 years old; a college drop out with one drunk and disorderly charge to my credit. I had managed to destroy the only car I had access to which meant that I was about to become a patron of mass transit.

The first day after I got bailed out, I attempted to take the bus line out to the edge of the city where the shopping malls were. The idea was that I would attempt to find a job within a mall doing whatever I could convince someone that I was capable of doing.

During the bus ride, I met a faired haired young woman who was dressed rather sharply in business attire that was befitting a person who was twenty years her senior. We shared pleasantries while bouncing over the arterial highway. During a stop at a traffic light, the bus fell into the commuter’s silence. I told her that I was on my way out to the mall and that I was looking for gainful employment.

She mentioned that her firm (I instantly fell in love with the sound of her voice when she uttered the words “our firm”) was looking to hire someone in the mailroom. If I was at all interested, I should stop by that morning and put in my application. Not wanting to mess with karma, I did just that. When she rose to leave the bus, I quietly followed like a lost puppy dog.

We crossed one of the main thoroughfares and walked up to a crisp modern looking building incased in glass with a pretty neat element of exposed steel adding a touch of trim to the exterior. The cornerstone of the structure reported the building had been completed in 1981 (a year earlier) but no other external markings gave any indication of the corporate concerns that churned behind those walls.

I assumed that this was either some accounting firm or perhaps a law office given what appeared to be a very professional looking dress code that was adhered to all except the small contingent of security guards at the front desk. I craned my neck to try and catch a glimpse of the directory but, my new friend (and host) moved very quickly through the rotunda entrance and then guided me into a small alcove past the bank of elevators before I could truly get an inkling as to the nature of my surroundings.

“This is the Human Resources department. Just ask for Carol at the desk and tell her that you are interested in applying for the mailroom position.”

“Okay, thanks…. Hey what’s your name?”

“I’m Jody. I’ll see you around”

With that word, she spun on her heels and marched away leaving me with the task of quickly straightening my appearance before walking into a prospective employer’s HR department to apply for a position I had no idea existed 10 minutes prior.

I primped only slightly in the window before I shrugged my shoulders, steeling myself for the fray and walked in.

---Jim