Buyout

 

 

In reading Buyout by Ray Green, I think I've found a new genre: Corporate Lit. It is different from all the other genres I read in fiction and non-fiction.

It reminds me of my years working corporate. I wanted to teach English/history, but I didn't take the education courses that would have meant certification. I wanted to learn what I would teach and didn't want to waste a minute on learning how to. That would come. Except it didn't.

As a result I needed a job. I saw an ad, answered it, got it, making me think that all I had to do to find a job was to apply somewhere and the job would be mine. Silly me.

The job was to write four newsletters a month about new business in four geographic areas.

In those pre-internet  days, I scoured newspapers from my areas, found what I was looking for, did more research in business directories, then wrote short articles on my IBM Selectric with proportional spacing. They had to be typo free before they went to the printer in the basement.

The owner, a former salesman, started the business from his home. In the beginning he had his family working around the dining room table, stapling the newsletters together. When I joined, there were three other editors, an administrative staff of four and a printer. All equipment was state of the art at the time.

He was a Republican who thought the kids killed at Kent State got what they deserved. On his good side, he did allow the women to wear pant suits, didn't fire me when I got pregnant and on top of our two weeks vacation annually gave us two days off each quarter when the calendar meant no newsletters were being printed.

He also believed that during snowstorms, each person should decide their own safety. Thus, I did miss bad snow days because I lived 11 miles away and Route 128 could be treacherous. The printer lived across the street and made sure all was well in the building.

He gave the words pompous and the phrase Male Chauvinist Pig new depth. Years later we were at a business dinner. Everyone stood up to introduce themselves. He had brought his wife but when she started to stand, he put his hand on her shoulder to stop her and said, "This is my wife."

One time he had a call from a subscriber asking for more information. He said, "I'll ask my research department and get back to you." He rushed down the hall grabbed a directory, talked to the editor for a couple of minutes, and ran back to his office and calmly said, "My research department has told me..."

I can only imagine how different it would be today with internet research capacity. I would have loved spellcheck. The printing and mailing departments would be non-existent. Maybe AI would be used at some level. 

The company was eventually sold and has morphed into a sales training and consultant company. I'm sure my boss would have been thrilled.

In all my later jobs there were degrees of idiocy. Only a couple were good.

When I was hired, along with my then current management team to start a credit union for a major tech company, I tried to not duplicate the idiocies. I tried to build an environment that served the clients (members) and staff. Fortunately my co-managers were of the same mind. The credit union is now over $1 billion. I have no idea what it is like to work there. I know I'm still a member and despite a couple of glitches feel they are better than any bank.

I didn't find much improvement in working for two companies overseas. The greatest thing about retirement, is I don't have to deal with corporate other than as a client. However, I'd love to see other fiction books based on corporate life the same way there are spy novels, mystery novels, chic lit, etc.