The Real World

Graduation came in May of 1982. Out in the real world, with a degree. Well, not actually. I had rented an apartment for my senior year and still had a few months left on my lease, so I stayed until August. During my post graduation 'vacation', I took additional accounting classes to help with my business degree. But the most exciting thing was learning to sky-dive. Of course when you are 22, you are invincible, and heal quickly. It was a fun summer, but it had to end and I moved back to Memphis in August.
Way back in 1982 we were in a small recession and entry level jobs were scarce, so a few more classes at night at Memphis State. Back in the day, there was no internet and job posting websites, just the Sunday paper, word of mouth and trips to Kinkos to get resumes printed and have matching envelopes. I usually went with a light smoke gray to stand out from all the ecru. Through diligence with the Sunday want ads I got an interview with an auto parts chain. Some things happened that day that should have warned me. I was driving my '69 VW to the interview, when at a light I shifted into 1st, and a BIG cloud of blue smoke enveloped the car and it made a strange noise. I pulled it into a parking lot and left it. So now it was 30 minutes til my interview, and I'm on foot. Luckily this all happened 2 blocks from my brother's house. I woke him up(he worked nights) and drove his car. After a brief interview and basic accounting test I got the position. YEAH!!!
The first Monday, my father wakes me up with.....only 55 more years of work.UGGHH! I was a staff accountant for the auto parts stores replacing a guy that was promoted to a new position that required LOTS of travel. He trained me on my duties and a few weeks later, he left. Within two weeks he was back. Maybe it was the fact he was still recently married and had a 3 month old child. His wife did not like him gone 3 or 4 nights a week. So now there are two of us with one job, with me being the 'newbie'. That meant I do all the work and he gets paid anyway.
This was not the best of situations. Add to it the accounting supervisor had been an English teacher, and the Controller did not go to college. Though the most interesting part of the office culture was the 5:00 Happy Hour. The old mail room was used as a liquor cabinet in the mail slots. This was possible since the accounting office was 5 miles from the headquarters and no one ever visited.
Needless to say, this job lasted about 6 months. I guess my old VW knew what was in-store and tried to warn me. At my exit interview the human resource representative came to our location. I gave standard answers to why I wanted to leave after only six months, too far to drive, etc. Then I told the person to go make a copy for me, and told them where the copier was in the mail room. It took quite awhile for them to get back after they noticed the bar set up in there. When he finally returned I was told to use him as a reference and not the accounting department staff. Was a stressful 6 moths, but it was a good learning experience