An Ego Boost

One of the side lights of the job at U.I.H.C. was meeting so many interesting people; docs, interns, nurses, support personnel, a prof who taught American Sign language and worked with Social Services. the head of campus security and the campus fire chief.





The fire chief stopped by the communictions center pretty often - enough so that the telephone operators teased me about him. He was nice looking and pleasant.





We had lunch several times. When I discovered he was 16 years younger than I, the idea of dating him was really an ego boost. Ladies do enjoy an ego boost - and I did enjoy the attention. However, for me, sixteen years was just too great an age difference. So that was the end of that. May and December relationships didn't interest me - especially when I was the "December" part!

Fallout from Divorce

This photo was taken by a friend I worked with in the early 80s. It is one of my favorites.

I discovered early on in the divorce proceedings that I had no credit rating and it was a real shock. While I paid the bills and signed the checks, my spouse got the credit rating and I got zilch!

I decided to remedy the situation. I got an Armstrongs credit card. Armstrongs was a wonderful four-story deparment store where I loved to shop.

I didn't shop there much when I was married because I made 90% of my clothes. I decided after the divorce that I would no longer make my clothes - I would buy them!

It took just over a year for the divorce to become final. During that time I received a monthly check from my not-soon-enough-to-be-ex. I used those checks to buy myself a new wardrobe.

And a wonderful wardrobe it was!

There was a neat lady at Armstrongs who became my personal saleslady. She would call me when something "interesting" came into the store. Then I would go in and try on clothes. She would ask me to try on something that no one had tried on up to that time and she and the other ladies wanted to see how it looked. I would try the item on and very often someone would buy the same item because she saw me "modeling" it.

I loved Susan Hutton blouses, Kaspar suits, Levi BendOver slacks and jackets. There were other brands that I liked, too, but these were my very favorites. The jacket and blouse in the above photo came from Armstrongs.

Patti and I sometimes shopped together. Later, after Jessica was born, we took her in the stroller and we all three "shopped til we dropped!"

I did learn that, when buying clothes, it was either "yes" or "no" because a "maybe" was usually a mistake. I can think of one particular jacket that was a mistake and it had been a "maybe." So I really did learn that lesson - and the hard way!

Newest Earrings

I am still trying to learn how to take good photos of the jewelry I make. Sometimes I have better luck than others. The photo of three pairs of earrings is made from a design by Alice Kharon in Beadwork Magazine. The center large beads are vintage crystals. The central stone in the two blue pairs of earrings came from a crystal choker I wore in the 70s. The other is from a yard sale buy that my jewelry teacher came upon.

The earrings made with the silver heart and various Swarovski crystals were gifts for the kitchen crew for Food Court at our church on Wednesday evenings. We always give them beaded gifts (usually earrings) at Christmastime.

Jobs Part 4

Looking for a job became a big part of my life after being fired. When I had a job there were other places that would have hired me. No one was interested when I was without a job. Life is funny tht way.

A friend suggested I chould get a job selling cars since I really liked cars. So I checked it out and ended up with a job with the Chevy dealer. Selling cars is not a 40-hour work week. It's more like between 60 and 80 hours! And working that many hours is hard work for anyone!
There was one other woman working as a salesman. She took me under her wing and so did my cubicle mate.

I learned a lot about the different models, about how car salesmen had to deal with people. I sold some cars but I am not now, nor was I then, a "closer." I didn't last very long at the job. One of the perks was being able to drive all those jazzy new vehicles!

I applied with a temp agency. My idea of a temp worker wasn't very complimentary - until I became one myself. I discovered most temp workers did the job well and were dedicated to doing that.

I am good with telephones and worked several places as the first voice the customer heard when calling. Those places usually wanted me back in any capacity and, especially on the phones.

Later I went to work at Rockwell as a temp in Human Resources doing a variety of things. This eventually ended up with another temp job that, if it worked out, would lead to becoming a permanent Rockwell employee. I was there as a temp for about a year and then full-time for a couple years.