The Job From Hell
In 1991, at the age of 22, I moved from Stamford CT to Cincinnati, Ohio. Shortly after that, I landed a position as the executive assistant to the CFO of The United States Playing Card Company (USPC), David Sommerkamp. This position handled payroll for all hourly employees (handling other people’s money is still the most stressful thing to me)and interacted with everyone in the company from production to the art department. USPC was a big company but small enough for everyone to feel like family.
After working there for 6 or so years I decided I wanted to do something more than being an assistant. With my boss’ blessing, I applied for a sales position within the company. Sadly, they were dismissive of me moving into a sales role, but I was making a move.
USPC’s insurance was handled by a Cincinnati-based agency and their President (let’s call him Mike) made frequent visits to my boss’ office. Mike and I would chat about work and life, we got along well, and I respected him. Unbeknownst to me, my boss and Mike must have discussed the idea of me leaving USPC and going to work for Mike. The two of them approached me about a position at the insurance agency. Mike wanted me to be the assistant to the CFO, training under her to take the CFO position someday. This would be a step up, the salary was nice, and I would have healthcare. The things I considered when taking a job back them.
Leaving USPC was a lot harder than I thought it would ever be and my last day was filled with so many tears as I made the move from executive assistant to CFO in training at the agency.
On my first day, as I was shown the way to my desk, I noticed that there was a total separation of the genders in the agency. One that I had never encountered and honestly given what I knew of Mike, the president, I was truly floored by. The entrance to the agency was on the main floor where there were offices with glass walls, antique wood desks, vases, and paintings decorated the space, the floors were covered in oriental rugs. This floor was where the male agents/salesmen and officers of the company worked. Each had their own office; it was very nice.
Down the stairs, we found my desk, in one big room (except for the CFO’s office) along with the other 6 female employees.’ Along with the five of us who were in accounting or customer service, there was also the one and only female agent. She had started shortly before I did. Why was her desk on this floor not with the other male agents upstairs?
In stark contrast to the luxury upstairs, the carpet down here was a basic, low pile, gray, there were plain metal and laminate desks, no glass walls or even office dividers to separate any of us, we were all in one big room together.
Being in such a close quarter it quickly became apparent that along with the CFO, who was not happy with my arrival, two of the other ladies did not appreciate the fact that I had been brought in to someday replace their boss and friend. They were all too willing to express this sentiment daily, through their actions and attitudes. I was not welcome and learning my new role was not going to be made easy.
This was the early 1990’s and smoking indoors was being phased out (you may be surprised to know that Ohio did not pass an indoor smoking ban until 2006) in most places of employment. But not in this small company. The CFO was, to put it lightly, a chain smoker, and there was always either a cigarette in her fingers or burning in the large glass ashtray on her desk. Everything on our floor was cigarette smoke stained, from the walls to the fax machine.
In this alternate universe, there were also VERY strict lunch hours and absolutely no eating at our desks. As someone who has low blood sugar and all through my corporate career was accustomed to eating when I felt called to, this was a struggle. My lunch hour was much later than I was used to and on the one or two occasions I started to snack at my desk I was immediately told that was not allowed.
As someone who truly has no aptitude for accounting, I was doing my best to learn how to make entries into the accounting system. They would give me some training and then leave me on my own to try and get it right. They did not want me to succeed, and I know for a fact that I made a mess of everything I tried to enter.
Between trying and failing, the attitude I endured from the three ladies, not being able to eat when I needed to, and the cigarette smoke…..my stress levels were off the charts.
I found myself at the health food store buying everything from St. John Wort to the amino acid lysine to try and calm my nerves while at work. Nothing was going to help me in this situation, the only answer was to leave the company.
About 6 weeks into my employment, I had an open and honest talk with Mike, this was not working out and I do not think he was in the least bit surprised. Looking back, I believe that he knew all too well that I would not be well-received at the agency. He had inherited the CFO when he took the agency over from his father and he hoped that by bringing me in, the CFO would “take the hint” and retire.
A few weeks later I started as the executive assistant to the female CFO at Clopay Building Products. In this company, I flourished and held 5 different positions over 12 years. Until, as you may well know I was “downsized” in 2009.
The One Inspires’ tagline is Consciously Choose Your What Next…… what this means to me is that too often, maybe even always, we just take the next job out of the need for the money, the healthcare. I never stopped to decide what I wanted to do and honestly, I am not sure I truly knew until 2020 when the world changed and the lull the world went through gave me the chance to consider my “what next.”