Labor is serious business but it sure can be fun.
After a 30-minute commute, I arrived in downtown Baltimore, parked my car in the garage and opened my trunk to retrieve my bags. “Meow,” said Kitty, sounding confused. I was able to grab her before she jumped from the trunk and got into real trouble, as I watched other commuters pull into the garage. I did the only thing I could do at that point. I put Kitty in the front seat with me and headed for home. Kitty was a little nervous, as I kept one eye on her jumping from back to front and one eye on the road. Eventually she calmed down a little and sat on the top of the driver’s seat, digging her sharp claws into my shoulders all the way home. I tried my very best to not increase her anxiety. We made it home together just fine.
We were told that our new office space located on the top floor of a 5-story rehabbed building was formerly a USO dance hall during World War II. We were also told that 3 women were murdered on that floor and that their spirits were there and active. And why wasn’t this spoken of prior to our signing a long-term lease? Well, a friend came to visit one day. She’s of a sensitive nature when it comes to the spirit world. She seemed a little uneasy during her visit and began to ask questions about the history of the building. As it turned out, her sensitivity was pretty accurate. Oh, my.
My company was hired to provide litigation support services back in the 1980s during a trial involving Admiral John Poindexter, a member of the Reagan Administration. I was supporting our court reporter. The judge told me that I was welcome to participate but the only room he had available for me to work in was the lockup. This is a secure holding room for prisoners and it is attached to the courtroom. That’s where I spent the next two weeks, although I was “let out” to go home in the evenings.
The best lawyers are noted for their professional attire. Starched shirts, cufflinks, conservative suits, crisp ties, European footwear. Their presentation is always impeccable. Courtroom staffers and even many spectators pay special attention to their own stylings when attending proceedings in the courthouse. Having grown up in a blue collar family who lived in a blue collar neighborhood in a blue collar town, I guess my early clothing faux pas was understandable. I had only been in a courthouse a few times before I was recruited away from the less formal world of deposition reporting into the dignity of a federal courthouse. I caught on quickly, however, when I noticed how bizarre I looked compared to the other professionals around the courtroom in my tri-colored plaid jacket and my troika of powder blue, tan, and burnt orange slacks. One can only imagine the conversations occurring in the courthouse during my first week on the job.
All of our unexpected, and sometimes embarrassing, experiences on the job make for wonderful stories later in life. It’s nice to have a holiday that enables us to relax and think back over those experiences. The Labor Day holiday is also a time to reflect back on the importance of work and what it means to have a job. I learned a lesson early in life about responsibility to my employer. It has stayed with me for 40 years. I write about it in my new e-book, Outfluence for Sales Professionals (find it in our store next week). It’s a true story. I hope its meaning resonates with you as it did, and does, for me.
“Breakage!” I was 16 years old and on my first job when I heard the term. A few other employees and I were taking our “morning constitutional” when a damaged box of doughnuts was placed on the table in the employee lounge. I enjoyed the treat and then went back to work. During the afternoon break, I saw a senior employee crack open a box of cookies and announce, “Breakage!” I looked around the room and noticed that a few people ignored the cookies and actually moved to a different table. The next morning, the same thing happened. I asked a co-employee whom I trusted what “breakage” meant. She explained to me that occasionally a package would accidentally be damaged during handling, and “breakage” is an accounting term used to report the loss of the item. She said that several people ignored the senior employee who was intentionally breaking open packages of food because what he was doing constituted an illegal act and fraud against the company.
I was a 16-year-old just learning about the working world, and I watched the silent actions and reactions that were occurring in the break room. When I began to question the silent communication that I was receiving, I asked someone I trusted to explain it to me. Because of her input, my relationship with that senior employee changed. It takes time to assess the integrity, or lack thereof, of a person. Eventually, the truth surfaces.
Work smart. Play smart.
