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| Thirty
Year Service Anniversary by Rick Watson The moon setting on the western horizon was almost full this morning. It's easy to forget when you look at that little one dimensional pearl disk floating across the sky that it's about 1/4 the diameter of earth and is around a quarter million miles away. A big chunk of rock orbiting around the earth. I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen this before, but the moon was on the horizon to the west at the exact same time as the sun was rising to the east. It probably happens frequently, but like I say I don't recall seeing it before. Thirty years ago today, I started to work for South Central Bell. I was fired from my newspaper job a year earlier on January 15th....my birthday. After almost a year of drawing my pennies (unemployment), bootlegging, shooting pictures, and other freelance work, I was hired by the phone company. Wisely, I didn't mention the bootlegging in my previous work history. It was cold that January morning. I started to work at 4 a.m. gassing up the trucks for the installer/repairmen. It didn't pay a lot starting out, but the checks came in regularly and I was thankful. After a short time as a garage man, I got an opportunity to be an installer/repairman and it paid a lot better. The phone company had excellent benefits one of which was a tuition assistance program. So they paid to complete my two year associates degree. A few years later, I got my bachelors and in 97 I completed my masters in business. I might still be in school, but the phone company outsourced my job to EDS. My desk remained the same but the color of my check changed. My years of service bridged which means as of today I have 30 years service.  Looking
back over the years, I've met some wonderful people. The nature of
my work allowed me to travel extensively and often Jilda went with
me. (Photo to the left taken in Mobile, Alabama in 1980)Even though I whine every now and then, this job has been a blessing for which I am grateful. The nature of work is changing now and the days of staying with a single company for 30 years is rare. I was lucky enough to find something that I enjoyed doing. For the younger folks who happen upon this blog, I encourage to take the advice of the motivational speaker Jim Rohn who says "work harder on you skills than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you'll make a living....work hard on yourself and you can make a fortune." I hope you all make a fortune. |