Ami has a post up about what to wear to a
job interview.
Prior to selling cars (1986) I bounced
around the construction and related industries in management and sales. At one
point I was hired by a skylight manufacturer (great job, things were always
looking up). Walked into a bad situation as the general manager and the
production manager were stealing as much as they could. Sexual favors from the
female employees were demanded. They got caught and I was suddenly the big
cheese.
Back story. I always had a problem with
not being from the right background, right education, right social circles,
etc. and was often passed over or held back in favor of people who were less
talented and effective but were the “right sort”.
My criteria was to hire and promote those
who could do the job. Other than not stealing and being reliable, I didn’t care
about appearance (bathing was encouraged), race, age, or sex. Catching a couple of breaks, the business
rapidly expanded from about three production workers to twelve. One of my early
hires, a woman (as described in Ami’s blog remarks) became the production
foreman. We had a retired career Army 11B (no one would hire a Vietnam killer),
a laid off Boeing engineer (over qualified with many advanced degrees and too
old) , a burned out cop, and three other
women among others. They were a rowdy bunch with lots of joking around. I didn’t care because they worked their butts
off.
Summer came around. The factory was always
hot from the ovens heating sheets of acrylic and was hotter in the summer even
with lots of ventilation and fans. The clothing got scantier as the days went
by. Calling all the women into the break room, I explained they needed to cover
up a bit before some man stuck his hand into a saw. “Ladies, men can’t help
looking. Please keep that in mind as you dress for work”. My words seem to be
well received and I was rather pleased with myself. Little did I know.
Two days later the production foreman
said she and the other women wanted a meeting. Oh, shit! Gathering in the break
room, she asked me if I approved of their clothing? Seeing them all in
sweatshirts and T-shirts with sleeves I said, “Yes, that is perfect’.
“Good”, she said. “We wouldn’t want you
to be distracted”.
She gave a signal and all the women
raised their tops. All were braless. My
reaction, and shocked expression, must have had the desired effect judging from
the gales of laughter.
My blog title has been earned many times
over.