The Sweetest Thing...

Way, way back in the day I remember distinctly saying "I would never work at a large impersonal corporate job!!!" This was due to the fact that my Dad had a similar job and I missed him because he had to travel all the time. Plus it just didn't jive with me playing rock n roll out on the road...

Well a perfect case my friends for never saying never.

After I got off of my 10 year stint on the road as a musician I worked for a short time at an Ad Agency...this was technically my first "Real Job" ever...from a creative standpoint it wasn't bad and I got to do some truly amazing stuff like do interactive kiosks and do the very first interactive program for P&G. After I left due to the fact they much preferred folks with the single lifestyle, who could basically work around the clock (What do you mean you have to leave at 5:30 to pick up your daughter?) I left to do freelance work and worked quite a bit for P&G. There I worked for a Director named Robin Jowaisis. He knew why I had left the ad agency and he really liked the work I was doing for P&G.

So then the question started..."Hey Beth why don't you apply at P&G?" Well seriously the first time he asked me (and every subsequent time really...) I just fell out laughing. Me? Miss RocknRoller? Miss "I have purple hair and carry a lunchbox for a purse"? Me Miss "Death to Corporations" Work for "The Man"?...NO WAY...Ha Ha Ha!!! "Oh no thank you" I would tell Robin...pretty much daily...this man would not let up...the more I thought about it the funnier it seemed. This is when "proctoids" the not-so-very-nice term for P&G folks was still around and very true. Automatons in suits who looked alike, dressed alike and thought alike...

I could not picture myself there NO WAY, NO HOW.

So after about the 56th time he asked me when I was applying (I am not exaggerating on that one)I did it. Yep I did it, just to shut him up.

And OH MY GOD they offered me a job...

Now what?? Well I rationalized, I could use the benefits and I could just do it for a year to have something awesome on my resume...and so I told myself I would do it...for a year, and if at any moment I was bored or didn't like it I could leave.
And it was so weird I honestly thought it was some kind of mistake that they hired me...as much as I couldn't picture myself there...my intuition told me to take it.

And I did it...I accepted the job. And this year was my 12th anniversary there.
Yes my friends hard to believe. 12 years later.

And here's what I learned....I actually had something to offer..my experience my marketing and IT savvy and I honestly felt the longer I was there I also had a spiritual mission to help the company move forward from automatons to being able to accept working with folks like me. A lot of things have changed in the last 12 years...no suits, cell phones, working from home, testing and using new tools...I worked to be at the front of it all and now P&G is a very different place...and hopefully a little bit because of me. :-)

It's been an amazing experience, I learned to be a good project manager, a good manager, I learned to trust my rock and roll intuition, I learned how to develop applications, I got to network with some of the smartest minds in the world and meet some incredible people...

Now flash forward to today or more accurately a week ago...it was time for our section meeting and I was looking forward to it...because I hadn't seen my team since I had to break my bad news and I missed them and I also wanted to let them know I was really doing OK.

Now at P&G it's such a big company it's a lot like life itself...you have good situations and not-so-good. This time around I have been blessed with a FABULOUS team of folks I work with..the BEST hands down since I started at the company. these are folks I not only enjoy working with, but without exception would truly enjoy hanging out with them outside of work. They are all brilliant and funny and just "Good People".

They (to my surprise!) didn't bat an eyelash to my "Team Fuck off' arrangement..in fact they embraced it whole heartedly as "TFO - P&G Contingent" and at least once a week I get something from them just to cheer me up...I got my awesome hair hat with changeable colors of hair I can velcro in and out at will , funny cartoons you name it...always made me laugh...

But the biggest surprise..the sweetest thing was at our section meeting out came the tee shirts!!!

"TFO P&G Contingent - Kicking butt cancer's ass!"

Ha Ha!! My anarchy is complete...!!
Except for one thing...they handed me a package and in it was an iPad...an iPad...an IPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I then did the appropriate business response and burst into tears.

They said "we know things might get worse before they get better...so now you have something to stay in touch and keep occupied"

I have never had something touch me like that did.

So right now this update is for my uber supportive wonderful friends and coworkers at P&G, Sam, Delaine, Gina, Pete, Sharon, Curt, Jim, Terry and Joe and guess what guys? I am doing it on my iPad...from the bathroom!!
(Naw, not really just kidding about being in the bathroom :-))

Proctoids? What Proctoids?

Glad I followed my intuition...