Going to work with Daddy

[susandennis]

When I was little, there was hardly a treat more exciting than Going to Work with Daddy. Neither one of my siblings thought it was even moderately interesting. I thought it was magical. Daddy was the Vice President of Hanes Underwear. (Which morphed into Hanes Corp which then got eaten by Sarah Lee - today your tightie whities come from Sarah Lee... )

He worked in a big brick building that was attached to a huge manufacturing plant in downtown Winston-Salem, NC. This was in the 50's during the years I was about 8, 9 and 10ish. Every once in a while he'd go in on a Saturday and if I was very very good, I got to go with him.

Inside was grand and regal with dark burnished woods and dark green carpeting and big, high ceilings. Daddy's office was a two office suite. His secretary's desk filled the first room and you had to get by there to get to his office. His secretary wasn't there and I got to sit at her desk. I got to draw with her pencils and her tablets and type on her typewriter. I got to put on her earphones and transcribe dictation. I got to answer the phone every time I pretended that it rang. I was always so sorry when it was time to go home.

I do remember taking great care to ensure everything was put back just as I had found it because I had this great fear that his secretary would complain about my messing with her stuff and I'd never get to go back.

A lot of the people who worked for him were from out of town. When they came in to town they usually came to our house for drinks. Out of the couple of dozen men that paraded through in those years there was one woman. She lived in Chicago and she was bigger than life to me.

She had no children and no husband and made her own living and that example was so not lost on me. The first time I met her I was awestruck. She was very kind. I had a bazillion questions and she answered every one of them quite patiently. I remember asking her if she didn't have a wife, how did she get groceries? And I remember that she did not even laugh. She said that sometimes she bought them herself but a lot of times she ate in restaurants. Ok, there was a critical piece of information...

I'm sure she had no idea what a profound impact she had on me and I was always sorry that I never got to tell her.

One of the developers brought his kid in to work today. The boy is about 10 and very quiet. He's got a laptop and his playing games in the cubicle next to his dad. His Dad said that the kid had asked him what work was like so he thought he'd just bring him in and show him. I just heard the kid say 'this is kind of fun - is this like every day?'...

Comments

[hlee.livejournal.com]

I've always been ambivalent about kids in a work enviornment. Thanks for showing me the other side.

[susandennis]

And, oddly, before I wrote that I would have said that I heartily disapprove of kids in the workplace. I convinced even myself!

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

My partner Woody always talks about how valuable it was that his parents would talk to him about their work (his Dad was a publishing exec, his Mom a nurse) and that he occasionally got to see their work places. I got similar benefits from going to my Mom's and Dad's jobs now and then.

Woody's of the generation where he got to meet people in his parents' circle who were "career women" like the woman you met. He's always said it was great to learn at such a young age that women had fulfilling lives that weren't just about nuclear families.

By the time I was growing up, it was all different, I saw a LOT of women in jobs and careers. Still a good thing to be exposed to young. This post brought back some fond memories of my own.

[susandennis]

Thanks. My Mom never worked outside our house and neither did any of my friends' Moms. (And, I didn't know anyone who had divorced parents - it was a different time, for sure.)

I spent several pre-teen years planning my adult life in Chicago because I figured that was THE only place where women did cool stuff like that.

To this day, Chicago is the only place I have never lived that I always wanted to. I was going to do it after Seattle but I kind of fell in love with this place. OH well.

[melodysk.livejournal.com]

Off topic but ..FYI ..we have a new series of My Hero starting here on Friday ;)

[susandennis]

Oh that's excellent. We're now seeing the very first series. I know it's a silly silly show but I really do like it. Go figure!

[joyofmacs.livejournal.com]

I am such a creep. I can't STAND it when people bring their kids to work. Perhaps they were the few who can't behave because the parents did not think ahead to bring stuff in to keep them occupied or felt I (this was when I worked in an office) I would baby sit them.

And as you know I love kids! Your charming story has made me see the error of my crabby ways.

Around here when teachers bring in their kids they run wild through the halls, eventually one will fall then the crying starts. And they pee on the toilet seats.

I am going to hell for sure.