Corporate Bundles of Joy
Recently, a friend and I went to a bar where another friend, Traci, is a bartender. She just started a new day job and told us how her company sends her to HR (Human Resource) classes, has her watch videos, and basically she finds it very hard to stay engaged.
Reminded me of my first days at AT&T, back in the eighties.
After general introductions, I was placed at a desk within a six-foot-tall-walled area filled with a dozen desks. Once seated, I was surrounded by strangers at the time who, all these years later (for those alive), are still my friends.
After reading a binder about Alexander Graham Bell, and the founding of the company, I was given my first real task.
Apparently, the organization I was in were about to convert an old online General Ledger to a new one. At this point, in the infancy of my finance career, as far as I knew, General Ledger was an officer in the army (he’s not).
In the morning, stacks of paper magically appeared by the side of my desk. My job was to identify, for each printed account, the old ledger code and corresponding code for the new ledger. It was all new territory for me, not only this finance arena I found myself, but this wear-a-tie-to-work-every-day place I landed.
Started to work.
I agonized over each transition I identified. In my mind, I felt that if I made a mistake, if I incorrectly matched one code with another, the entire process would fail.
This went on for days, maybe a week or more. I diligently marked one side of the ledger on the page to the other. After I created a bundle, of a hundred of pages or so, I tied them up, placed them in a file room as directed, and went back to work on the next pile.
When it was over, I appreciated a job well done, then moved on to a new project. I did not know what the next step in the ledger process was, but I assumed I helped them in some small way. In my new job, I was happy to be part of their future success.
Jump ahead several years, still worked in the group, but now I had a clear direction. Day-to-day, I knew what was expected of me. Small side projects always appeared, but I was on a defined path.
One day, a side task came up. It was simple, a few of us were to clear out a file room, throw out old, unneeded papers and boxes to make room for more current documents. This wasn’t anything new for me, being a big guy, I was often ask to move or lift heavier items.
I was also the guy that changed the water cooler bottle every time it was empty. Fun fact, that particular job I did right up until the day I retired.
Okay, back to the story.
Recycle dumpsters at the ready, we went through the room, and tossed one box after another. When one dumpster was filled, it was rolled away and replaced. Amazing how much paper we generate that ends up in the garbage. After a few days, we were almost done. The wall of boxes grew smaller and, once removed, it revealed something.
There, in the same corner I placed them a few years before, stood the bundles. They had not been moved, or touched. Back when my job was new, I agonized over each check mark, yet here they stood, never even been looked at.
“What do you want me to do with these?” I asked my co-worker as I gestured toward the bundles.
She took a quick glance over her should, then dismissively stated, “Oh, you can throw those away.”
What!
With great reluctance, I tossed each bundle, one by one, into the recycle bin.
I can’t tell you how many times, in the course of my career, that I worked on project, and never finished it. Either a new manager would take over, and want to put ‘their’ stamp on the project, or a budget changed, or simply what we planned on just didn’t work.
This was just the first.
So, welcome to corporate America, Traci.
Good luck.
