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| Mike, me, Kevin, Bill E., Anthony - at MAS 2010 |
After
Amanda started kindergarten, I was looking for a lab-related job with
flexible hours such that I could be home when the girls got out of
school in the afternoons. For months there were no leads. MAS had an
ad in the paper, and I sent my resume, but heard nothing from the
company.
One
day the phone rang and I ran to answer. It was someone from the
church we attended. My heart sank when I heard her voice – I was
thinking, “I'm looking for a job! Why is the church calling?” But
the woman was not only someone from church, but someone who had
worked for a few months in the lab my ex had been at when we first
moved to Georgia. And the ex was at church one Christmas Eve, and
they saw each other, and we were introduced. And since then she and I
would say hi when we happened to cross paths at church. And one time
I mentioned I was looking for a job at a lab.
That
was why she called on the phone! She was at that time working at MAS
and thought I should reapply for the position that was available, and
she would tell them to look at the resume and give me an interview! They were
having a tough time finding qualified candidates.
So,
after a rough start – the interview was scheduled during the March
snowstorm of 1993 – school was closed, and I packed up the girls,
and we attempted to drive to MAS. After a couple of miles I turned
around and went back home. I called and asked to reschedule, and the
receptionist said that no one was expecting me to show up that day –
heck! A couple of the folks who were going to interview me were not
even there!
But
finally I was able to meet with everyone, and things, at least to me,
looked very promising. The hours were flexible enough – part-time
that might work into full time. A few weeks went by without hearing
back from MAS, and I was beginning to lose all confidence in myself –
why did they not want me?
And
then the call came, and my first day was April 15th, 1993.
Part-time lasted, I think, all of one week – and then I was full
time but still with flexible hours, usually 5am to 2 or 3pm depending
on what Sarah or Amanda had going on after school on any given day,
such as piano lessons.
When
I started at MAS, Amanda was in kindergarten and Sarah was in third
grade. Today Amanda has a husband, a Masters degree in music pedagogy
and a piano studio. Sarah has a husband, a Masters in library science
and two children – one of whom will be in kindergarten this August.
I will always be grateful to MAS for giving me the opportunity to
spend the kind of time I wanted with my daughters.
It
was not too many years ago that I heard a different version of my
being hired at MAS. Here is a paragraph written in 2009 for my story-a-day letters -
Last
Thursday our department was sitting around the conference table, and
Mike was giving the new guy a brief history of each of us. When he
got to me, I added, "today, April 15th, just happens to be the
17th anniversary of the day I started work here at MAS."
Bill E., sitting next to me at the lab meeting, said, "I'm the
one who interviewed her, and she was not my first choice. I offered
the job to another woman who had some asbestos experience. Denise
didn't have any. But the first woman refused to take the obligatory
drug test in order to get hired. So Denise was offered the job by
default. Maybe drugs was the reason the first candidate was so
effervescent."
You
could say that I was hired at MAS because of my qualifications; and
you could say it was due to a case of who you know - very
clearly illustrated here with the woman I knew from church who my ex
knew from another lab. But when it comes right down to it, dang –
it really and truly was just dumb luck, pure and simple.
104
20150414 MAS at 22
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