10 Years and 5 Hours

Ten years ago today was my first day at American Insurance.  I'd answered a newspaper ad for a "document specialist" with excellent communication skills, survived a random interview process, and hesitantly accepted my first full time, grown up job.  I remember making the rounds and being introduced to my new co-workers, then walked into an office with a typewriter, a ginormous dictation machine, and a desktop in 80's mauve.  I wanted to run screaming out the door. 

Ten years later, I've moved out of "the pink office" and outgrown my Document Specialist title.  I sit in a comfortable office with dual monitors and a color laser printer I love, decorated with expensive artwork from a gallery in Park City and some of my favorite children's books.  I like my work, and that I'm good at it, and that I have skills that are depended on by others in the office.  I still threaten to run screaming out the door an average of once a week. 

The typewriter is gone now.  I may have thrown it in the downstairs dumpster in a fit of rage after I'd been passed over for a position I wanted.  Oh, the memories.  I bring my peanut butter bars in for birthdays.  I once lost my skirt in the parking lot.  I regularly answer the phone "Good afternoon, American Insurance" at 8:30 a.m. and hope the caller is from another time zone.  I earned my insurance license, my CISR and my Masters degree.  I no longer think of my job as that thing you do until you get married, and I make responsible decisions about health insurance and taxes.  I've learned to balance my emotions with my 401(k).  Sometimes.

I've learned that people who work on commission are cranky in high pressure situations.  They're nicer to their clients than they are to their co-workers, unless their co-workers learn to stay calm, cheerful and determined that they're not going to take any crap.  I'm Mormon in an office where it's easier to be neutral, and I'm ok with that.  I've learned to ask for raises and budgets with a solid list of reasons why these changes are justified and long overdue.  I weathered a recession, golfed at the company party, and learned you can just show up for dinner at the company party if you say you have fair skin and not that you don't like to golf.

Did I think I would work at American Insurance for 10 years?  No.  Will I be here 10 years from now?  I don't know.  But I'm here now and I work hard to contribute every day.  And I guess that's good enough.