Corporate Culture

I've decided to do kind of a theme here.  First I discussed the Counter Culture, next I will discuss Corporate Culture after that, who knows.   I have always liked learning about other Cultures; whether ethnic, spiritual or socio-economic, I've always felt it helps one become a truly tolerant and well rounded human being if you understand what makes your fellow humans tick. 

 

Corporate Culture is something I have experienced since I first entered the world of "Cube Land" back in 1983.  Yep, when I graduated from High School back then, I went directly to a Junior College (the College of San Mateo) and my parents basically told me I'd have to pay for some of it because they couldn't pay for it all.  We found a job in the paper working at an office Downtown in SB for United Artists Communications, Inc.  I was a part-time stock boy who worked from 12pm until 5pm.  It was perfect, I went to school during the day, got out by 11 then went to work.  I was very quick about stocking the shelves and cleaning up in the back which left me with ample time to study; yes this was authorized by the boss....it was nice to basically get paid to study.  This was my first introduction to Corporate Culture.  Back then, people were allowed to smoke at their desks as long as there was a fan above them.......thank God that's changed.  The main boss of the office, the VP, was the stereotype of the fat, corporate, white, businessman.  He was way overweight, smoked like a chimney, and insisted we call him Mr. Dysart.  He mumbled somewhat when he talked (the 200 or so extra pounds probably the cause of that) and he reminded me of the stereotype of the "old school" Corporate "Company Man".  My immediate Supervisor was the complete opposite.  A cute and bubbly young woman in her mid 20's, Joan wasn't quite the cold and calculating "Corporate Climber", she was actually nice.  She was also just working to put her Hubby through school (he was learning to be a Chiropractor) and when he graduated, she left to be his bookkeeper.  Here I was an 18 year old kid just out of High School and being thrust into the world of "Adults".  It was a great experience.  I learned much tolerance in that job.  When I first started working at UA Joan took me around to introduce me to my fellow Co-Workers.  Basically, "Hey meet the New Guy..", that kind of thing.  The most memorable introduction was when I met my first real Gay person.  No big deal in today's world, but remember this was 1983.  In 1981 we had the first Aids cases, but they were essentially ignored because the powers that be thought it was a disease that only struck Gay People.   They did this in the hopes they would all die or something I'm sure.  Let's just pause for a moment and let that sink in.  I guess the "Geniuses" running our Country actually thought there was something different, physically and genetically, about Gay People that made a virus attack only them and no one else.    Apparently Gay People must be a separate species or something.  Anyway, because of all of this, I was a huge homophobe in High School.  I mean come one, a guy who wants to voluntarily kiss other guys and have sexual relations with them.........it just didn't sit right with me.   To clarify how I feel towards this today; I don't understand how a man can be gay, I honestly don't, but that doesn't mean that a gay man isn't a human being.   Everyone is different, and whether or not you agree with their lifestyles, you have to let people have the right to live their lives....Hell it's in the Constitution for Christsake!!!  So with that background, imagine an 18 year old male who is a homophobe shaking hands with a "real" gay person for the first time.   Said gay person, Ray was his name, was "very" gay if you know what I mean.  The effeminate type of gay man.  Here he was shaking my hand saying "hello Stephen, nice to meet you.".  I was polite and responded in kind, but the whole time in my head I was screaming "OH MY GOD A GAY DUDE TOUCHED ME!!!!  I'M GOING TO CATCH HIS GAYNESS NOW!!!!!!"  Yes I was that stupid.  In the six years I spent at that Company, Ray and the multiple other people that worked there and I all got along.  Then the Company was sold for 865 million (back in the 80's a crap load of money.....nowadays a drop in the bucket for a Corporation).  Well the new company decided to go head hunting and purge the old Management and install their own.  Dysart didn't like this and wasn't all to cooperative when he left.  In walked the Consultants.  Now remember this is the early 80's......about 85-86....and computers were housed in a Computer Room.....literally a huge room with large machines.  Oh yeah....old school IBM 4331's.  You know the kind, large banks of disk drives; remember the big 33 1/3 sized stacks....tape drives.....and even...wait for it....punch cards!!!!  Yeah, apparently Dysart was still using punch cards!?!?!?!?!  The Consultants came in (probably at about 200 bucks an hour or so.....big money in the 80's) and worked round the clock.  They kept to themselves, and we the grunts started to grumble and complain.  It looked like there would be no paychecks and that didn't sit well with us.  A few of the Consultants were sitting in the lunchroom one time and we all started talking amongst ourselves but loud enough for them to hear us say "No paychecks, nothing gets done.....".  Well as it happened, they came through and we got paid.  We got a new Office Manager named Dave Schumacher.  What a great guy.  Very businesslike, but could joke around with the best of them.  My immediate Supervisor was a guy named Bob Weiss.  You couldn't ask for a cooler guy to work for.  This job, unfortunately, was not long for the Bay Area as the new Corporation decided to move all Operations to New Jersey, and there wasn't any jobs for us out there.  I spent the rest of my career there helping Bob close down that office.  I wasn't allowed to go according to him.  He needed me to stay and help him close that place down.   This involved 2-3 hour lunches at the Pizza Parlor complete with a pitcher of beer (I was 21 by then) and about 2 hours of actual work.  My reward for this was a full paycheck at my normal pay periods (bi-monthly) for about 6 months.  It was nice to walk out the door every other Friday and get a paycheck in the mail for doing nothing......it also makes one lazy....too lazy to look for a better job.....I ended up getting a crappy one.....I'll blog about that next.