Responsible? Sarcastic? Dull? Fun?
What am I? Here I sit on the train from Provincetown (Boston) to New York (and then Highland Park).
I wonder what the world sees in Brian. I have been through for me a stressful weekend and realize for most this may not have been, or maybe didn't have to be. But, the question is what am I?
Responsible? I work hard, and always have. I remember being 14 and my brother and sister were working. I remember so clearly, feeling left out and that I wanted to work and the world said I was too young. I went and volunteered at the library. I remember the job, there was a periodical room and my job was to help readers. They would submit a list of periodicals they wanted and I would go find them through this room and then of course re-shelf them. A few funny anecdotes is that I am called Brian (middle name) but my first name is Aaron. For some reason, I realized there were so many more Brians in the world. And, I had a choice. So, when I went to volunteer at the Library Aaron Silverman made his debut. I didn't tell them and they would call Aaron. After the first few days, and having more than one librarian ask me if I were deaf, Aaron Silverman went into retirement and Brian came out. The other funny (interesting part) was I realized somewhere in this I was doing as good or better of a job than the people that were paid to do what I was doing. I didn't care.. I liked what I was doing and knew I was too young to be paid. But, because I was doing such a good job the adults felt pressured. I remember coming to the library to be told they wanted to move me to shelving books. I discovered later on in life, there is nothing more boring than shelving books. So, I told them they would have to pay me to shelve books and of course they could not.
My point.. is that I put my energy and desires behind this effort. I wanted to be good and recognized for it and I was.
My next job, was two very brief stints in fast food. The first was at a Krystal.. that lasted for one day. They asked me to clean the greasy screens above the grill. And as I am slipping and sliding on the counter the bright crew moved the chair I used to get on the counter. Then, I was told to clean the restrooms and the sign for "do not enter, cleaning in process" was terribly misspelled. As life would have it, I get home that night and Kentucky Fried chicken called, and Krystal was history. I was at Kentucky Fried Chicken two weeks. Lets say I was not made for frying chicken as a career, and once that was apparent we parted ways.
A few things happened at this time, my parents made it clear they couldn't afford to have my brother and I off at college at the same time. Basically, they wanted me to go to the local college until Walter was done with college. I couldn't accept that answer. I didn't argue, but I made up my mind I was going to go off to school, and so I had to work. I had to save money. My brother worked in high school, but he bought a car and did what the average teenager would do. I on the other hand, needed to save money and wanted to go off to school.
My next job, changed my work life. I was to be a bagger at the "M & M" grocery store as my brother was going off to college and I was to replace him. He was all the more happy to teach me how to bag groceries, and made quite a big deal about it. But, the day before I got a call from the "Red and White" grocery store. They paid more than "M & M" and I didn't have to listen to my brother any more.
The interesting thing about this job, was the first week didn't go well at all. I don't remember why, but was clear I wasn't dressed well and was finding it hard to get the hang of it. The manager at the time called me into his office and explained that the owners wanted to let me go, but he stood up for me that I could do the job. The thing that stuck in my mind all day was there were two baggers that would close. At the end of the day, each had to mop half the store. I thought this was so hard to do after a long day of work. I remember this fellow walking up to me one evening and saying "you do realize when you are done mopping you get to go home". I never saw it the same, and frankly I worked there for the next two years and 1 quarter in college. I enjoyed it, and became a leader of sorts. The owners were Baptist, and wanted to go to church on Sundays. There was always one family member in the store. But, they learned to trust me well enough that they would put the produce manager in charge on Sundays as long as I was there. They felt such trust that I would keep an eye on things.
I made $2.85 cents an hour plus tips. At M&M, they factored you would get tips to get to min. wage. The M&M would be busier, but I consistently made more than my brother. and remember, I was saving to go to school. The funny story was a lady came into the Red and White on day, and asked if I had a brother that worked at the M&M. I said yes, and we laughed, and I asked her who bagged better. She said he bagged lighter and I bagged more efficiently so were about even.
I also remember this lady who would tip 5 or 10 dollars every time. Usually the owner's son would rush to the front for her. And all the other baggers would moan, but I realized one day while he spent all that time with her I could bag for 4 or 5 people and was making more in tips than he was. So, I never rushed over to bag for her. She was not happy about that.. was quite interesting looking back on it. I took a different road work wise and came out a little further ahead than what was obvious.
My next job was during college. I had read about Co-Oping. Which is go to school one quarter, and work for a company for the other. So, I wanted to do this but wasn't sure how. I had taken in my first year two programming classes and had done quite well. So, I put a resume together and took it around Savannah. I found this company called software South I think. They had a software package running on a commodore, that was for car dealers. Basically (and in Basic) to fill out the loan forms. I said I could program in Basic (which I couldn't) but had picked up two programming languages quickly so what was one more. It turned out quite well. I learned a lot, learned basic which would pay dividends later, and learned I didn't want to be a programmer.
So, I came back to college wanting to be a Co-Op. I went to the employment office and low and behold UGA was under great pressure from the federal gov't to have one. They had accepted funds to create a Co-Op program and had redirected the funds to other programs. So, it was either create one or send money back. So, they hired this jackpot recruiter to create a Co-Op program. I interviewed with IBM, AT&T and I think GE. AT&T paid more apparently, and I had never heard of IBM. Turned out AT&T was salary and IBM was by the hour. IBM started at I think $10 and hour. So, I interviewed for three jobs, one in engineering. One in presentation development for IBM. The third was for this new group focused on marketing software. I wanted the last the least, but that was the offer I got and frankly I took it.
IBM at the time was the most profitable company in the world. Was noted for having more revenue than Italy, and had just created the PC. Frankly, the PC is what caused IBM all the pain later on, but IBM was at the top of the computer industry. This was in Atlanta and IBM was the largest private land owner in Atlanta at the time. I remember the first week or two and this team wanted to promote the importance of software to the IBM account teams. IBM had just announced a new database called DB2 that was a relational database. So, IBM asked a luxury hotel near the building that was getting ready to open, to put off opening for two weeks and IBM took over and created a software college. I don't know much about what went on, but I remember they gave all the slides to the attendees. I was sitting in the big boss's office and the agency for the slides was there. She complained the slides were too dark, and the lady said that would be $75 a slide to redo them and my boss's boss said she didn't ask how much it cost. Would never happen that way again, I assure you.
So, for a modest kid from Savannah, this was the big time. But, IBM didn't know how to track software sales.. all the systems were focused on hardware. So, we had a PC based accounting system called PDS. Was a product from IBM, that generated Basic programs (told you this would come back), and generated reports. The senior co-op was from GA Tech and could not understand how they could hire this kid from UGA. So, we had a problem, the reports could not reflect a proper negative number. No matter what the people did, and the genius from GA tech they couldn't find why there was no way to reflect a negative number. I went down to the lab printed out the basic program generated and took it home. It turned out the program was always rounding up a 1/2 to round up to the nearest number. Which for a negative was causing it all to be wrong. I came in the next day, edited the program myself and fixed the problem. Didn't make the GA Tech guy very happy, but again I took the road less traveled. And, I don't remember him ever being hired full time by IBM.
The other career changer for me was this lady named Kim. She and I were the same age and coming from UGA. Her father ran the plant in Raleigh that was making cash registers. And, she had a very high GPA. Much higher than mine.. and she was quite flighty. But, I promised myself I would never come back to IBM and she would have the higher grades the previous quarter. I don't remember her ever having done better, and so all of a sudden I was making the Deans list every quarter. I think when I started at IBM my GPA might have been like a 3.4. But, I graduated with a 3.7 and with honors. I still smile about that.. thanks Kim.
I was a hard worker at IBM. I loved the job, and was working with some of the brightest people and looking back was at an industry inflection point with PCs and frankly the change of value for software. I wanted to work for IBM full time after school. Other Co-Op positions assured college students a job, not IBM. So, I went to take the IPAT, which as an IBM aptitude test. Most applicants don't know their score, but I was an employee so they reported the score to my manager. I got a 98 I think.. which was quite exciting. At IBM at the time, high fliers, would take a stint recruiting. I remember interviewing with this guy, and then things went quiet. I thought with great appraisals and the IPAT I would have an easy time.
But, turned out the guy that interviewed me was promoted. The new guy was busy, and I insisted he re-interview me. He said no he had the notes from my interview, but I was insistent. The funny thing is he never did, but the next day I got a call from Jacksonville for an interview. I am convinced my folder was on his desk and he knew this was one way to get me off his back. My boss told me they were lining up other interviews at the time, but Jacksonville was a top branch that year.
By the time I got to Jacksonville, my management as a Co-Op, had called all the managers. The branch manager interviewed me first, which was not normal. He said he let his managers do the first round, but the people calling were so positive he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He offered me a Systems Engineer job but had a marketing rep (sales person) slot so that is what I officially got. I interviewed with the managers, knew I had the job.. I remember driving back to Atlanta and wondering if I should stop by the office or not. I did, and there they all were sitting in an office waiting for me. They reassured me I had the job. Was amazing, and their attitude as nice as they were changed. I went from being a co-op to be an IBM employee, and felt top of the heap.
The point is I worked hard my early adult years, and continued to work hard as an IBM employee to get to a lucky place in life.
I wonder what the world sees in Brian. I have been through for me a stressful weekend and realize for most this may not have been, or maybe didn't have to be. But, the question is what am I?
Responsible? I work hard, and always have. I remember being 14 and my brother and sister were working. I remember so clearly, feeling left out and that I wanted to work and the world said I was too young. I went and volunteered at the library. I remember the job, there was a periodical room and my job was to help readers. They would submit a list of periodicals they wanted and I would go find them through this room and then of course re-shelf them. A few funny anecdotes is that I am called Brian (middle name) but my first name is Aaron. For some reason, I realized there were so many more Brians in the world. And, I had a choice. So, when I went to volunteer at the Library Aaron Silverman made his debut. I didn't tell them and they would call Aaron. After the first few days, and having more than one librarian ask me if I were deaf, Aaron Silverman went into retirement and Brian came out. The other funny (interesting part) was I realized somewhere in this I was doing as good or better of a job than the people that were paid to do what I was doing. I didn't care.. I liked what I was doing and knew I was too young to be paid. But, because I was doing such a good job the adults felt pressured. I remember coming to the library to be told they wanted to move me to shelving books. I discovered later on in life, there is nothing more boring than shelving books. So, I told them they would have to pay me to shelve books and of course they could not.
My point.. is that I put my energy and desires behind this effort. I wanted to be good and recognized for it and I was.
My next job, was two very brief stints in fast food. The first was at a Krystal.. that lasted for one day. They asked me to clean the greasy screens above the grill. And as I am slipping and sliding on the counter the bright crew moved the chair I used to get on the counter. Then, I was told to clean the restrooms and the sign for "do not enter, cleaning in process" was terribly misspelled. As life would have it, I get home that night and Kentucky Fried chicken called, and Krystal was history. I was at Kentucky Fried Chicken two weeks. Lets say I was not made for frying chicken as a career, and once that was apparent we parted ways.
A few things happened at this time, my parents made it clear they couldn't afford to have my brother and I off at college at the same time. Basically, they wanted me to go to the local college until Walter was done with college. I couldn't accept that answer. I didn't argue, but I made up my mind I was going to go off to school, and so I had to work. I had to save money. My brother worked in high school, but he bought a car and did what the average teenager would do. I on the other hand, needed to save money and wanted to go off to school.
My next job, changed my work life. I was to be a bagger at the "M & M" grocery store as my brother was going off to college and I was to replace him. He was all the more happy to teach me how to bag groceries, and made quite a big deal about it. But, the day before I got a call from the "Red and White" grocery store. They paid more than "M & M" and I didn't have to listen to my brother any more.
The interesting thing about this job, was the first week didn't go well at all. I don't remember why, but was clear I wasn't dressed well and was finding it hard to get the hang of it. The manager at the time called me into his office and explained that the owners wanted to let me go, but he stood up for me that I could do the job. The thing that stuck in my mind all day was there were two baggers that would close. At the end of the day, each had to mop half the store. I thought this was so hard to do after a long day of work. I remember this fellow walking up to me one evening and saying "you do realize when you are done mopping you get to go home". I never saw it the same, and frankly I worked there for the next two years and 1 quarter in college. I enjoyed it, and became a leader of sorts. The owners were Baptist, and wanted to go to church on Sundays. There was always one family member in the store. But, they learned to trust me well enough that they would put the produce manager in charge on Sundays as long as I was there. They felt such trust that I would keep an eye on things.
I made $2.85 cents an hour plus tips. At M&M, they factored you would get tips to get to min. wage. The M&M would be busier, but I consistently made more than my brother. and remember, I was saving to go to school. The funny story was a lady came into the Red and White on day, and asked if I had a brother that worked at the M&M. I said yes, and we laughed, and I asked her who bagged better. She said he bagged lighter and I bagged more efficiently so were about even.
I also remember this lady who would tip 5 or 10 dollars every time. Usually the owner's son would rush to the front for her. And all the other baggers would moan, but I realized one day while he spent all that time with her I could bag for 4 or 5 people and was making more in tips than he was. So, I never rushed over to bag for her. She was not happy about that.. was quite interesting looking back on it. I took a different road work wise and came out a little further ahead than what was obvious.
My next job was during college. I had read about Co-Oping. Which is go to school one quarter, and work for a company for the other. So, I wanted to do this but wasn't sure how. I had taken in my first year two programming classes and had done quite well. So, I put a resume together and took it around Savannah. I found this company called software South I think. They had a software package running on a commodore, that was for car dealers. Basically (and in Basic) to fill out the loan forms. I said I could program in Basic (which I couldn't) but had picked up two programming languages quickly so what was one more. It turned out quite well. I learned a lot, learned basic which would pay dividends later, and learned I didn't want to be a programmer.
So, I came back to college wanting to be a Co-Op. I went to the employment office and low and behold UGA was under great pressure from the federal gov't to have one. They had accepted funds to create a Co-Op program and had redirected the funds to other programs. So, it was either create one or send money back. So, they hired this jackpot recruiter to create a Co-Op program. I interviewed with IBM, AT&T and I think GE. AT&T paid more apparently, and I had never heard of IBM. Turned out AT&T was salary and IBM was by the hour. IBM started at I think $10 and hour. So, I interviewed for three jobs, one in engineering. One in presentation development for IBM. The third was for this new group focused on marketing software. I wanted the last the least, but that was the offer I got and frankly I took it.
IBM at the time was the most profitable company in the world. Was noted for having more revenue than Italy, and had just created the PC. Frankly, the PC is what caused IBM all the pain later on, but IBM was at the top of the computer industry. This was in Atlanta and IBM was the largest private land owner in Atlanta at the time. I remember the first week or two and this team wanted to promote the importance of software to the IBM account teams. IBM had just announced a new database called DB2 that was a relational database. So, IBM asked a luxury hotel near the building that was getting ready to open, to put off opening for two weeks and IBM took over and created a software college. I don't know much about what went on, but I remember they gave all the slides to the attendees. I was sitting in the big boss's office and the agency for the slides was there. She complained the slides were too dark, and the lady said that would be $75 a slide to redo them and my boss's boss said she didn't ask how much it cost. Would never happen that way again, I assure you.
So, for a modest kid from Savannah, this was the big time. But, IBM didn't know how to track software sales.. all the systems were focused on hardware. So, we had a PC based accounting system called PDS. Was a product from IBM, that generated Basic programs (told you this would come back), and generated reports. The senior co-op was from GA Tech and could not understand how they could hire this kid from UGA. So, we had a problem, the reports could not reflect a proper negative number. No matter what the people did, and the genius from GA tech they couldn't find why there was no way to reflect a negative number. I went down to the lab printed out the basic program generated and took it home. It turned out the program was always rounding up a 1/2 to round up to the nearest number. Which for a negative was causing it all to be wrong. I came in the next day, edited the program myself and fixed the problem. Didn't make the GA Tech guy very happy, but again I took the road less traveled. And, I don't remember him ever being hired full time by IBM.
The other career changer for me was this lady named Kim. She and I were the same age and coming from UGA. Her father ran the plant in Raleigh that was making cash registers. And, she had a very high GPA. Much higher than mine.. and she was quite flighty. But, I promised myself I would never come back to IBM and she would have the higher grades the previous quarter. I don't remember her ever having done better, and so all of a sudden I was making the Deans list every quarter. I think when I started at IBM my GPA might have been like a 3.4. But, I graduated with a 3.7 and with honors. I still smile about that.. thanks Kim.
I was a hard worker at IBM. I loved the job, and was working with some of the brightest people and looking back was at an industry inflection point with PCs and frankly the change of value for software. I wanted to work for IBM full time after school. Other Co-Op positions assured college students a job, not IBM. So, I went to take the IPAT, which as an IBM aptitude test. Most applicants don't know their score, but I was an employee so they reported the score to my manager. I got a 98 I think.. which was quite exciting. At IBM at the time, high fliers, would take a stint recruiting. I remember interviewing with this guy, and then things went quiet. I thought with great appraisals and the IPAT I would have an easy time.
But, turned out the guy that interviewed me was promoted. The new guy was busy, and I insisted he re-interview me. He said no he had the notes from my interview, but I was insistent. The funny thing is he never did, but the next day I got a call from Jacksonville for an interview. I am convinced my folder was on his desk and he knew this was one way to get me off his back. My boss told me they were lining up other interviews at the time, but Jacksonville was a top branch that year.
By the time I got to Jacksonville, my management as a Co-Op, had called all the managers. The branch manager interviewed me first, which was not normal. He said he let his managers do the first round, but the people calling were so positive he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He offered me a Systems Engineer job but had a marketing rep (sales person) slot so that is what I officially got. I interviewed with the managers, knew I had the job.. I remember driving back to Atlanta and wondering if I should stop by the office or not. I did, and there they all were sitting in an office waiting for me. They reassured me I had the job. Was amazing, and their attitude as nice as they were changed. I went from being a co-op to be an IBM employee, and felt top of the heap.
The point is I worked hard my early adult years, and continued to work hard as an IBM employee to get to a lucky place in life.
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