I Can Hear You Now
When I returned from Spain I had no money to my name, no car to get around and I really needed a job. I had planned on returning to work with the title company where I was employed before my two year mission abroad. I optimistically assumed that there would be a place for me when I came home. That wasn't the case. I wasn't picky and began networking before I even knew what networking was. I told everybody that I could think of that I was looking for work and I personally contacted anyone who held a hiring position.
I had an uncle and a cousin who each owned their own businesses and a neighborhood friend managed a branch of a large regional bank. My brother worked for a restaurant and he set up an interview for me with his boss. Good fortune was on my side. My cousin had a temporary job for a month and a half, through the Christmas season and I had a nearby friend who worked the same shift. That meant that even though I had no car, I had a ride. When I also got the job at the restaurant, they agreed to let me work shifts that didn't conflict with my day job. Fortunately I could take my mother's car to the restaurant.
My day job consisted of working as a computer disk duplicator. In 1987 people still used 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" disks for their computer games and programs. I managed two machines that copied data from a master disk to multiple disks very rapidly. One machine automatically fed the larger disks from a stack of several hundred at a time. With the smaller hard case disks, I had to insert eight disks into individual slots but then I could make multiple copies simultaneously. While one set of disks were copied I would take the just finished set and apply sticky labels to the finished product.
It was tedious and repetitive work but I was grateful for it every day. I worked with a woman near my age who was deaf. One of the first things that I noticed about my job was how loud it was in the duplication room. Obviously that never bothered Brenda. Although she couldn't hear, she excelled at her job and quickly taught me several tricks to efficiently get the work done and meet our production goals on time. Once I learned that she could read lips, I simply mouthed my words to her when we would talk. One time my supervisor came into the room and was surprised to see me because he only heard Brenda talking. When he saw me talking without making a sound, he laughed and said, "Brenda's worked here for years and everyone yells when they talk to her. Thanks for teaching me something new."
That job only last six weeks but it left me with lasting impressions about the capabilities of people we tend to consider disabled.
I had an uncle and a cousin who each owned their own businesses and a neighborhood friend managed a branch of a large regional bank. My brother worked for a restaurant and he set up an interview for me with his boss. Good fortune was on my side. My cousin had a temporary job for a month and a half, through the Christmas season and I had a nearby friend who worked the same shift. That meant that even though I had no car, I had a ride. When I also got the job at the restaurant, they agreed to let me work shifts that didn't conflict with my day job. Fortunately I could take my mother's car to the restaurant.
My day job consisted of working as a computer disk duplicator. In 1987 people still used 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" disks for their computer games and programs. I managed two machines that copied data from a master disk to multiple disks very rapidly. One machine automatically fed the larger disks from a stack of several hundred at a time. With the smaller hard case disks, I had to insert eight disks into individual slots but then I could make multiple copies simultaneously. While one set of disks were copied I would take the just finished set and apply sticky labels to the finished product.
It was tedious and repetitive work but I was grateful for it every day. I worked with a woman near my age who was deaf. One of the first things that I noticed about my job was how loud it was in the duplication room. Obviously that never bothered Brenda. Although she couldn't hear, she excelled at her job and quickly taught me several tricks to efficiently get the work done and meet our production goals on time. Once I learned that she could read lips, I simply mouthed my words to her when we would talk. One time my supervisor came into the room and was surprised to see me because he only heard Brenda talking. When he saw me talking without making a sound, he laughed and said, "Brenda's worked here for years and everyone yells when they talk to her. Thanks for teaching me something new."
That job only last six weeks but it left me with lasting impressions about the capabilities of people we tend to consider disabled.
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