Elvis has left the building

A retirement short story (that is a little too long)

Typically, when you celebrate someone’s retirement, it is from years of service at one company.  But I have never been what you call “typical” and I have not been at UPMC for years.  I worked there 3 years, just enough time to get vested. (Although admittedly 3 very interesting years) So what I’m celebrating is retirement from this lifestyle and this style of working. I have been working in this style of working (office jobs), primarily in this city (Pittsburgh, PA), for roughly 43 years, and in those 43 years I’ve seen a lot of changes.

Although my very first office job was at CMU in 1978, my first “city” job was 1981 at Union National Bank on 4^th Avenue.  In those days I had lunch at Hites Drug Store, shopped at Lerner’s on 5^th, window shopped at Roberts Jewelry store and checked out the cat that would hang out at Weldon’s Paper store. I worked in the city while the PPG Tower was being built and my then husband was an iron worker hired to install the glass in the Towers. My oldest son, Zachary’s, name or initials are carved up there in those spires.

I’ve worked several temp jobs through Marsetta Lane, from Marsetta Lane Temp Services throughout the years and interestingly she got me every single job in my entire career (in the Pittsburgh area) starting in 1981 except for this final job at UPMC. Prior to UPMC I had always started out as a temp. Marsetta and I talked recently and she shared that she’s placed women, their children, and now some of their grandchildren. Imagine that! 

Computers weren’t used when I started work, but I remember when they started appearing. One Christmas while working as a temp at Alcoa, when nobody was in the offices except me, I taught myself (on the phone with my friend Diane who already was using it at Wheelabrator Frye) the Four Phase computer system. (delete delete control delete). After that, I worked at a company called Schneider Enterprises (construction) on 7^th Avenue. We had a “sample” computer in the office and a big “main frame” computer room in the basement. So someone was using computers obviously that the big room was built for, just not me yet. After sitting at that sample computer for 6 months and learning the “Word Star” system I needed glasses for the first time in my life. Thank you, computers! My boss (Frank, Jr.) carried around a brief case that was a mobile phone. Schneider was a big company when I started with over 10,000 city employees and within a couple years after I got there it went bankrupt. I was one of the last ones there. I often wonder what happened to all those people I worked with and to this date frequently look for them when I’m out walking around the city. I was really young when I worked there. I wonder how many are still living? I know the owner is long gone (deceased) but some of my colleagues from there should be enjoying their retirement now too! One day, just a couple years ago I chased this guy down the street asking if he was Paul Cannon. Someone from my Schneider days. After we talked (and I calmed his fears that I wasn’t going to assault him) I realized he wasn’t even born when I worked at Schneider. I am always looking for my past colleagues at the age they were when I worked with them. I should have asked him if Paul was his father.

After Schneider closed I moved to Terra Enterprises (Commercial Real Estate) to another city location, the Gateway Towers, where I met the original Jimbo Lamanna. Jimbo taught me how to fill out my very first March Madness bracket, and I won the office pool my first time! Jimbo also introduced me to Froggy’s where I spent way too many Friday happy hours.  It was after knowing Jimbo that me and a few friends started calling each other “Bo” which has stuck to this day. We still call each other “Bo” (that company also went bankrupt).

Somewhere in my temp years I worked at PPG in the Tower (the same one my husband helped build) and remember my friend, Mary Jane Calder, coming over to my desk with her radio to listen to the news about the Challenger explosion. It was a strange day.

I used to smoke cigarettes at my desk and drink alcohol at lunch (but not too many of those cause it makes you really tired). I would talk on the phone (desk phone – there was no cell phones back then!) for seemed like hours to Diane (that actually went on for several years – still goes on.)  I parked at Three Rivers Stadium for 50 cents a day and walked over the bridge into the city.  I walked year-round, rain, snow, wind. That’s just what you did. The wind was the worst.  I never brought a lunch to work, always opting to eat out, and there were so many options. There was even the Gypsy Tea Room back in the early 80’s where you could have lunch and get your fortune told all at the same time!  I could not imagine getting up in time to make a lunch.  Or the idea that I would possibly know what I wanted to eat that day.  I mean how do you know?

I would sometimes meet my mom at lunch when we both worked downtown when she worked for Gulf Oil. She loved this neighborhood group we saw at Mellon Square called Rusted Root. I know, right? They started out at Mellon Park. My mom claims she discovered them.

Before becoming a regular of the 3rd floor Happy Hours at Froggy in the 80’s, many Friday night (and afternoon) Happy Hours were spent at the Grog Shop (in the Steel Building – now a Daycare Center), and I remember a few at the Rusty Scupper in bottom of the Bank Building on 4th Avenue. We had our favorites throughout the years.

I eventually left the city life (and bars) sobered up and ended up working in the suburbs. I had a boss, Jim Gleim at Thomson Newspapers, the best boss ever, who taught me how to operate this newfangled thing called a mouse that plugged into the computer. He would stand over my shoulder clenching his jaw saying “double click, double click”.  I finally caught on. Thomson Newspapers turned out to be the best job of my career. Jim pushed me to learn every computer program I could.  I kept up the learning but at some point (many years later) the programs got too far ahead of me.  I mean you just start to get it and the program becomes obsolete.  Thomson Newspapers was sold off and a few people from Thomson went on to be giants in their careers. I am proud to be able to say I worked for them. It was also at this job when the realization hit me that I was no longer the youngest one in the office. I was so used to being the young one but we had just hired “little” Gayle…she was 19, maybe younger than that. I just remember she was very young. She is now a Grandma. That was a turning point as well. I mean I literally remember where I was standing when I first had that thought of not being the youngest in the office anymore.

I worked for many people throughout the years that had trouble keeping assistants. Frank Jr (mentioned above) – went through them daily. Longest one before me was a week. When I interviewed at Schneider they said I wouldn’t last a week. I made it longer than Frank Jr. I worked for him about two years before Frank Jr. moved out west. Jim Gleim, also mentioned above, was not the office favorite (sorry Jim) when I started there. The other assistant said she wouldn’t work for him for any amount of money. He turned out to be my favorite boss of all time. Although I have liked a few other bosses for sure. Even one of my jobs in Florida 5 years ago at Stetson with Rosalie, she has trouble keeping people, but I liked her alot. I didn’t leave there because of her. I think that must have been my niche back in the day. Working with hard to work for people. But it hasn’t always worked that way. I have also quit on a few. I quit when my job at Schneider moved me from Frank Jr., to Frank Sr. I was like “nope.” One of my temp jobs, but only one, I walked out at lunch time. They were lawyers, they were mean, and I couldn’t figure out how to print on the computer. I mean, it was early days of computers and I just couldn’t figure it out. So I said eff it, and walked out. Marsetta kept placing me so I guess it worked out okay.

At another temp job, again with lawyers, I met a woman whose name I can’t remember but who was a huge inspiration to me. She was in her 50’s and had just graduated from law school. She shared that in her 40’s she thought “in three years I could be an attorney, or in 3 years I’ll be doing this same thing” so she went to law school. When I was in my late 40’s I finished my degree too. She was the inspiration for that. You just never know what you’ll say that will inspire someone. I always remember her (just not her name).

I ended up leaving the suburbs and ventured back into work in the city when I took on a part time job at Federated Investors on 10^th as a meeting planner (in addition to finishing my degree at Carlow full time and being a single mom). My first day at Federated was the first day they allowed women to wear pants. It was also while working there, pulling into the parking lot on Smallman, that I was listening to Shelly Duffy on B94 (John, Dave, Bubba, Shelly) when she announced the plane crashing into the Twin Towers. Air travel has never been the same but prior to that I traveled for work a lot as a meeting planner, traveling all over the country. After that, never again for work.

After graduating from Carlow, I left Federated and worked 7 years at Point Park University, working back on 4^th and Wood near where it all started in 1981. So proud of my degree that I just received, but as it turned out, when you work in higher ed, a bachelor’s degree is about as equal to them as your graduation from elementary to middle school. Not a great career move on my part. But I made and kept many many friends from that era.

Currently I work (or as of yesterday) in the US Steel Building, the tallest most impressive building in Pittsburgh.  In my mind working in the Steel Building was the epitome of making it in your career. I had often claimed I wanted my last job before retirement to be as the assistant to the President of US Steel. Back in my day US Steel was the biggest company in Pittsburgh (thus the US Steel Tower) and I’ve always been in awe of the company.  These last 3 years I finally achieved this goal to work in the Steel Building on the 60^th floor, but not for US Steel.  However, last year I found out the President/CEO of US Steel’s office and private bathroom are directly over my desk on the 61st floor.  I found this out when his private shower leaked through the floor above onto my desk (not as bad as it sounds).  Although I never attained the goal to work for him, I’d say I got “close” to my final work wish.

Those days and that city fun life are just memories now that I can laugh about with my friend Diane who also worked in the city and hung out at the bars with me ever since our graduation from Bradford School (then on 5^th Avenue in the Park Building) in 1978. (she retired last year!) None of the Happy Hour bars exist, none of the many lunch places, i.e. Palmers, Smithfield Café, and none of the places where you would run in at lunch and buy a quick new whatever you needed at Kaufmanns, Horne’s or Saks. None of them are still in business.  I don’t feel old, but reminiscing and realizing most of the businesses and all the restaurants are closed makes me seem old. Time just gets away from you. One day you’re in Froggy’s fighting your way through the crowd to the bathroom and the next it’s boarded up as if it was never there at all, kept alive only by the fans watching This is Us (where it’s referenced frequently). Tramps, a restaurant/bar where we would meet before heading into Froggy’s is totally gone.  It’s an empty lot. So much in the city now is gone or just dark and boarded up.

I’ve never really given much thought to someone’s retirement before. Obviously because it wasn’t about me, but when you put it into perspective with everything that has happened before, no matter where you have worked whether it one job or in my case many, it’s the lifestyle that has come to an end.  A particular kind of life.  But that also means another kind of life is starting and that is very very exciting. (I can’t let Diane have all the retirement fun without me!) And this city is too depressing now. After seeing it through the years with so much going for it, it now just makes me sad with the homelessness the boarded up buildings and closed businesses. As much as I’m an advocate for working at home I would support a return to the office just to bring life back here and stores into these storefronts. I’d love to see this city return to life. Just not by me. 

I cry at most anything that ends. Movies, commercials, relationships, and today, my final work day, was no different. I actually felt like I was going to cry a couple times, I could feel it coming on, but when I dropped off my laptop to IT, and put my badge in interoffice mail (to return) I could not stop smiling. I got on the elevator and teared up while smiling. It’s not sad that I’m feeling. It’s something I’ve never felt before. Well that’s not entirely true. The last time I felt like this was when I walked across the stage at Carlow University and finally received that bachelor’s degree. 29 years after starting my college years I finally finished. It’s like that. Like I can’t believe I’ve finished this. And the only reason I’m really sad is because I’ll really miss these views from the 60th floor.

I went in early today to see the sunrise from the building. I had taken many sunset photos but never thought about sunrise. Here’s a couple of them from this morning:

Ya know how your phone makes those little videos for you? They made one for me of views from my desk. There are so many more but here is a sample. Views from my desk: here

When people ask me what I will do next in my retirement the answer lies somewhere between nothing and everything. I’m sitting here now finishing up this blog wondering what I’ll do next this very moment. There’s so much to do (massage at 3, dinner at 6:30). But in the big “what’s next” I just don’t know what to start with. I think I’ll start with whatever it is on Monday. Today is just a Good Friday in so many ways, a day to reflect.

The final photo from this building:

Can’t wait to report in next week

xoxoxo