Apr 5, 2019
Power In All Forms
The manager of the local Power company would have hired me without any formal procedure. I had a good standing in town, and we had been friends for years, but the company required an interview with a person-in-power for anyone to work there. I showed up for the interview a bit nervous. Not only was I not sure what job I was actually applying for, but was having to sell the idea of me working in this local office of a coastline power company with no experience. I was good with money, people, and typing so figured that was the only point I would have to 'sell' about myself.
The Manager met me at the door and quietly said: "You will talk to the area supervisor. Keep it short, friendly, and to the point. He is suffering from painful hemorrhoids and will sit funny. Just imagine him naked." Then he dashed away. I stood in the waiting room chuckling, not feeling nervous anymore. A few minutes later the Manager came back and formally said: "Hello, Anita, come on in!" I walked into his office and said hello to a very large man sitting in a chair sideways supporting himself with an arm on the desk looking very annoyed. I could not help but grin. Didn't need the naked application. I kept the answers brief and correct and in about 5 minutes the Big Boss said okay, you look okay to me, then he got up and waddle out of the office grunting and groaning. The manager winked and grinned and said see you next Wednesday at 8 A.M. Another job in the pocket, but still no idea what it was!
The following Wednesday I found out. The first job was cleaning out the safe! I know that sounds impressive but the safe was a huge storage room with a thick safe door used to store just about anything such as files, rules, money, someone's coat from who knows when. It was a large storage room that rarely had the door shut let alone locked. No one had the nerve to go through that 'safe' since it was full of client and company records for about 70 years! I, on the other hand, had no attachment to any of it, and loved 'going through things', plus had a good local reputation as a former Police Matron.
The manager said: "I don't want to know what you are throwing out, I have to be able tp claim innocence. I trust you!" I loved that day. I had my hands on things no one had touched for 50 years! I decided what was historic, important, interesting and...what was not. I filled up several garbage cans full of paper, I filed the historic documents in a cabinet meant only for that, and organized all the other cabinets with self explaining labels. I made sure all the garbage cans were well packed and sealed and placed outside where the manager could honestly say he did not know where they were. Job done. It looked great. The manager said: "I don't want to know anything! I will see you next week!" He still did not say what my job would be, but I figured if I could organize a company safe, I could do just about anything.
The manager of that office was one of the best I have ever known. He never did tell me what would be expected of me, never really named it. Everything started out like any other office job, typing things, filling out documents, making copies, answering the phone, and taking money from people paying their Electric bills. But on Wednesdays I was given a list of names of people who had not paid their bills. I was required to type and send official documents as registered mail, call the people and make nice, see what was going on, and let them know what we needed from them, and keep track of everything I had done. It all seemed very logical to me, but when one Wednesday the line crew workers walked in and said: "Oh no! The Shut off Lady is here! Crap!"
I knew what my new job was. I was the shut-off lady. I had to admire the manager. He never once defined the reason I had been hired, and he had edged me into it so expertly I didn't even know! There were many houses that had to have the power shut off at the pole that connected power to their house! When Anita-the-Power-Lady came to work I was the one on the radio telling the line crew where to go and who to shut off. They were the ones who had to put up with the yelling and anger of the customer. They would stay up the pole and holler down: " Call the Office!" In moments I would get very angry calls by the customer at which time I would tell them they had been notified several times and all they had to do is come down and we would arrange a payment plan! They would agree, I would get back on the radio and tell the lineman to turn them back on. And I have to say I managed to get every power bill paid I had ever been put in charge of.
One lady I knew personally came in one day and was yelling and crying! "You shut off my power! I paid my bill!" I said: "Sally, we never got a check. I called you, I wrote you, I sent a registered letter." She said: "Look at my check book! it shows I did write you the check!" I told her I would be upset too, that it was apparent she had, indeed, written a check. I suggested maybe the post office and the bank would be a good place to start, but in the meantime I needed the power bill paid. She wrote the check and threw it at me and stomped out. About 4 days later she came back in to the office.. She said: "Anita, I came here to apologize. Look at this". She opened her purse, turned it upside down on the counter and dumped out an amazing amount of junk on the counter The last thing that fell out was a power bill in a wrinkly, stamped, sealed envelope with a check in it. Everyone in the office cracked up. She HAD paid the bill!
This job taught me many things and one of them is a successful business has a routine that values and benefits everyone involved. If a person feels they are valued, they are much more inclined to hold up their end of the deal. The attitude and actions of this shut-off lady managed to get every client up to date during my entire employment. Attitude is everything.
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Image: www.depositphotos.com/# 133466182 Date: Nov 30, 2018
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