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                                                                    The Very Early Work Years

 

 

 

look from the first moment way back in gradeschool  when my friend Becky invited me to work at her dad small printing shop and I got my first paycheck with my name on it I was in love!!!In love with the power I felt as a kid that that was your money to spend or save!!!

I have been babysitting for 4 diff families so that I could quickly save for my 10 sp bike I wanted a gymnatics  camp I wanted to attend .  Plus I was in love with clothes and we were middle class but they did not go overboard for us kids on clothes.   

 I also worked at the for the rec dept as a gradeschool coach for 3 yrs 7th to 9th grd.

From 15-18 I was a waitress at the Lavender Inn...most of my friends worked there too so it was great training and a blast.  The owner of the Lavender  was the pickiest woman I would ever work for ...she had so many rules that you would spend months only serving salad to your customer until you were ready for the big time!!!My last months there would be me and a few of my co workers begging her to not change our uniforms...previously our were just white candy striper looking things and she was changing them to big frothy looking pepto balsom pinky things with big bows  in the back.  This was the first and only time I ever quit a job over  something as trivial as a uniform...but quit I did!!!

 As I said before  I loved working so it was a strange feeling to be looking for work...I found a job working as a cleaning lady in a cheap hotel and I lasted 2wks.  The next job I did much better I got a job at the movie theater with my 2 best friends jen and sandy.  It was pretty cool because  this was my last summer in this town that I  and my family called home for 7 yrs  It was so fun running the Drive in and letting all our buddies in free we would take turns partying with them so our boss would  not see.  All of my friends had dealt with little change in their lives so the last months we spent together  to them were I am sure nothing special ..But I being a seasoned travelor  knew that big change was coming and I was going to enjoy every last moment with these cherished friends.    I knew unlike them the odds of us all meeting again could be slim.  

 

                                                                        College work years 

 Growing up I had always enjoyed writing had written over 100 poems from 8th grade to 12th. To me I think that all that harried witting was my way to survive all the moving we did...It was my therapy and I am thankful for that.   I had been on our highschool news paper and had my own column my Sr. yr.  All my friends and family thought I was the next great undiscovered author or better yet a muck racker like news paper reporters who published The Watergate investigation  that brought down Nixon.  To this day this is my only regret in my life ...that I DID NOT BELIEVE enough  IN MYSELF  TO TRY.  

 

In college I was studying Mass Comm  I was attending Minnesota State in Mankato,  MN starting  in 1976  I came to MSU with my best friend Sandy to appease our parents who wanted us to do 2 yrst here where tuition was not too high.  Sandy and I had chosen Tempe Az  or some college in Boston so it was difficult as young girls to settle for MSU.   But during our Summer freshman oriention  we  would dicover that the Minn. VIKINGS trainined there each summer .  And we are lucky enough to be at our tour of the school when we run into them litterally while they are crossing the street to give autographs to kids .  Sandy who is just a beauty  and I had just finished playing tennis and we ran into  my idols Carl Eller and  Allen Page and they asked if we wanted to play them later!!   We did and that was just an amazing moment for me ...I had these guys on my wall at home ..Sandy was a normal girl and not into the Vikings.  Mankato and I have a love hate relationship thru my whole life  one of the few things I loved about Kato was the Vikngs. . .and this was the town I would meet and marry to love of my life.

  My  years in College I  always worked full time from Sept thru May .  My first job was at Carlson Craft printing in Editing and later photo type setting.  Each summer I came home to my folks in Clinton Ia to work.  My first job was at a hugh Coupon Clearing House that processed coup0ns from all over...their business was so big they had their own zip code ...Neilson clearing house was its name...I would work there each sumvmer for 3 summers and learn all about working on computers from them.  My very extensive training from Neilsen on computers was more valuable to me in my future jobs than any College Degree I would ever get!!! This is ironic since had I had so been angry that my parents moved during my Senior yr to this stinky industrial good for nothing  Town on the Mississippi River!!!  If my parents had done as I wanted they would still be in Faribault and probably the only job I could get would be at the DQ....Life is funny that way.  Another thing funny about the computer skills is having them would land me my dream job many years later.

  The thing I marvel most about now is how much power I gave my parents opinions because I was getting loans for school they we not helping me financially at all...Looking back my parents had never had the opportunity to go to college getting married so young so they made it clear our whole lives that Steve and I were expected to go.  Why just us and not my brother and sister I don’t know...Jeff and Dave were wise enough to not do great in school academically so all my parents hopes and pressure were on my me and Steve.   Steve being the oldest was used to the pressure but even he with his great history of pleasing my parents would never graduate  from  college.  And being the middle child the last thing I wanted was their attention I had been so used to flying under their radar that their attention was suffocating.  These are the years that Steve and I finally bonded ...I had such respect for  how well he survived all the pressure from my folks  all those years...and suddenly it was Steve  and not  my brother Dave I would call and rely on.   I would even go to live with him about a month while deciding whether to transfer to his college.   And he would be my first call when I knew I had done something that would piss my parents off...so we talked a lot in those days.  Anyway Steve has always been able to talk to my parents on my behalf and that is a much honored position in our home...In the past I had always talked to my folks for Jeff and Dave (secretly) I always felt honored when asked.  My college years also brought  my sister and I together something that even I a seasoned traveler would not have bet on...I  don’t know where we first go so off track as sisters, much of the time I was just petty and jealous of beauty... and  and I  blamed her for not understanding as a child that every time she cried about fouls real or imagined that  our brother Dave was the one who always paid .  I think there was a part of her that enjoyed the power!!!Anyways the college years for  my sister Jeff and I are just filled with memories it is as though we had to catch up on all those lost years between.  I think it helped that when I came home to my folks home to work each year it was just us two kids there  so we really got to know each other.  We even ended up dating two brothers my first summer there.  For the first time in our lives I was my sisters first call when she was afraid or happy!!! Pretty amazing turnaround for us and I am so happy we had those summers because  up until  then I had no idea what it was like to be close to your sister. 

 

                                                               BRETT’S DEPARTMENT STORE   

 

 In 78  I got a full time job in data entry with BRETTS DEPT STORES.  Brett’s had been the premier store for the Mankato area for 100 yrs and had a powerful interest in all things retail . They JCPenny and Sears Robuck would together  have the deciding interest  about when certain sales ran and what what other new retail stores they would allow.  They had branch stores in Faribault ,Owatonna,New Ulm  and Hutchinson.   I was still trying to finish college so the first 3 yrs I would work a split  shift from 8-12 and 4-8 and had my classes in between.  Brett’s is the place I will work the longest 10 yrs...Is my favorite place for so many reasons starting with this is when I meet my future husband Jim and both my sister in law Mary works in the office with my me and my mother will one day work at Brett’s too.  The place felt like home to me you were surrounded by college age people like me with such energy and uniqueness and each one was blossoming in their own way...you could watch some one hired one year as a shoe salesperson and 3 yrs later they are the Manager of an area and 3 yrs later if she was good she was a Buyer ...the dream job of all there of us  with trips to exotic cities for your buying trips!!!For the first time in my life I knew exactly what I wanted to do, be a buyer...and sitting at a computer key board I was so remarkable invisible!!! 

 

In 1981 Brett’s had decided to change to a new company that would help better process all the information  we were inputing.  They began the change in Aug to give plenty time to get the glitches out before the holiday season.  But everything that could go wrong would go wrong, starting with the 2 women in charge of the computer area were both pregnant at the same time one would leave in Nov. for 4 weeks and the other Dec for the same time.  At this time I am still just a temp worker for Brett’s even though I have been there a  long time.  Carol my boss had always thought that more people should know how to do her job than just her assistant Judy so she had been really helpful teaching me about  how to do her job so I had done it before a few times before.  But this situation was harder because she and Judy were not there and we had temp people doing all the data entry and they are just slower than people who do it daily!!!So here I am in charge of this mess and we are going into the holiday season and if things were going fine with the changing to the new computer processing comp. that would be one thing but this was going bad...very bad!!!And our busy time of the year was coming and I had 3 temps and me running the show...these were college kids like me and after the first few checks with over time on them I was running out of ways to get them to show up!!!One week I noticed that when the company president came in with candy and a big thank you card that seemed to help get them back that weekend so I went banging on his door and said you guys have got to come up with some thing incentive wise cuz these temps have no incentive to come back!!!I went up there time and again and I am sure before that day he did not recognize my face even though I had sat almost daily a few feet away at an extra desk we had near the executive offices !!!Through my exhaustion in those months I had little regard for the high ups and in the end Bret authorized incentives for the temps only because I threatened to quit first.  In the end all my runs up to do battle with Brett got me the attention of my first mentor in my business life Elaine.    Soon both my co workers from the computer area were back and I was beyond relieved !!!  I had  thought things went so bad while they were gone that when Brett called me up stairs to talk they were about to fire me...It seems in that crisis I  the lowly invisible  computer  girl  had found a way to be seen!!!I got congratulations from all the executives for getting them through the difficult time...but my biggest reward was sitting down with  Elaine Schoenberger a vp in charge of buyers and her saying the words what the hell are you doing in the office behind a keyboard?!! Deb,  you belong on a path that leads to being a buyer...let me help you with that!!!  I felt like cinderella like someone had really seen me at last but seen me in a way that even I never had!!!             

  

                                                               The Path to Becoming a Buyer

One of the only unpleasant parts about becoming a buyer is I had to start by being a salesperson first and that meant a big pay cut...I had no idea the computer area was one of the higher paid areas in the store so this cut was a shock plus I had no desire to be a sales person!!!To me of all the people I had watched over the years the sales people seemed so stuck up.    So I was happy at least that my first sales area was one I would love!!!  Back then I just loved dresses so I was happy to be in the Coat and Dress dept. an area managed by someone I could not stand.  This woman was related by marriage to the owners and she just had the weirdest way of managing and expressing her ideas.   Suddenly I from  this moment on I am on other people’s radar for good or bad and lots of floor Managers  and salespeople can get very  worried about what this new strange person means to their future plans in the company!!!

                                                          Coat and Dress Department  

The thing that was most surrprising about becoming a salesperson was how much I instantly I feel in love with selling.  I guess it totally slipped my mind that this is what my Dad is so great at and I may have some of that love and natural ability when it comes to sales!!! I was lucky to have women in my area that were nice and helped train me and more importantly that Mary Cassem was the buyer for my area and from day one she seemed to see the same potential Elaine had seen.  I had all this energy and did all kinds of changes on the floor to draw attention to new arrivals and even did the wall behind our desk which had not been done in a long time.  I did that by secretly sneaking out and running to the display area and stealing things I thought would work.  On the day I did that display Brett came by it nearly imediately and commented about how great it looked and he would later to that to the girl in charge of the displays and boy was she mad at me!!!I learned not to cross Deb that day...All my years in sales I would just love using my creative side to do floor design and wall display!!!Working with Mary my buyer she taught me so much about buying about set up of a store and even more importantly the politics of surviving however long you have to deal with being whatever level you are on the floor  a  so you can move on as quickly as you can to the next level.   And her training helped in a record three months I became a Dept.Manager of my favorite area Dress and Coats and  the area I feared most and liked least Lingere !!!That was life at Brett’s Department Store in a nutshell the  experience of time and time again  very good news combined with fear of new challenges  you are sure you will fail at!!! 

                                                          

                                                                                     The Managing Years  

 As I look back at these years at Brett’s my experiences and skills learned while there were the best training I would recieve  in my life for all that would be demanded of me in my future jobs .  I don’t think there is one thing I learned in my 3 and a half years in  college that I will ever use in my future.  So this is so ironic because most people who hear how long I had made it through college assume that I regret not finishing ...The truth is I regret I wasted so much of my time and at  such  expense ...when out in the Retail World the education was better and I was paid  while getting it !!!

  I was  working for a woman we in the office called the black widow because she would marry so many times and her husbands all die on her.  Pat Winkleman was the most unique person I would meet at Brett’s .  She has this scattered way about her even getting through a simple conversation with her would wind so many ways when you were done you had no idea where you were...But she would be the best manager I will work under and the most dedicated to the success of all of her Wonderful girls as she would lovingly call all of us.    Years later the only thing that I will hate about finally becoming a buyer was that I would have to say good bye to Pat.  

During my Management  years I would manage several different areas each I would manage for 2 Years  starting with Coats and Dress and Lingere , then Mens Department  and last would be  Childrens Dept.  I was lucky they had started me managing in my old area I had been as a salesperson because all my co-workers were elderly and not angry that I was promoted. It was so nice that they were my biggest cheerleaders for years to come...being a Manager now you understand how few of your past underlings would be happy for you...so I was so grateful to them.        

 Of all the areas I managed the Dept I found the most rewarding and challenging would be The Men’s Department.  First I was sent there to solve a problem they had with the current manager who had become more  of a  buddy than a boss.  Sandy was just this very cool woman that all her employs  loved and rightly so since if she had been out with them the night before and  if they were going to be late she would punch them in.  Turns out the only people who did not love Sandy were a couple of older women over there ....one a very tough cancer survivor and one of the best salespeople in the store.  Now when Pat asked me to handle this I was so honored to be asked as well as  totally sure she had picked the wrong manager for this job...   That was the joy of working for Pat she knew your ability so much better than you!!!

 Managing the Mens Department the first few months were like being  dropped into the middle of some board game that I had never played before and no idea of the rules...and the people playing the game with me no incentive to help me at all!!!So what I learned or did not learn  from managing that Dept. was all on me!!!The Mens Department had a very good buyer in Deb Shock but it would take a while for us to get the bond and trust rythem  that my first buyer Mary and I had.  That rythem is so important because it eases with the stress of  setting up for upcoming promotions, correct sign age and the floor plans that must be set  for each special event... once you and your buyer get more comfortable the less you are double checked by higher ups.  And given that I am coming in to an area that needed a different  kind of management than it had before  the higher ups were giving me a lot of time to get this done right.  My Dept. had 15 sales people and this is the largest number  of people I would manage in my life.   I was very new to managing so I make plenty of mistakes  running Men’s...and I always try to learn quickly from.  The floor set up etc and sale prep we would get down to a science eventually with the help of Kane who had been there a long time. The drawing up the schedules  of so many people with varied ages, varied health issues and varied sales skills from brand employee  to  legendary veterans  will be my biggest challenge and constant headache until the day I would blissfully leave for another area to manage.  Never was I surrounded by so many people with such strong reactions to literally everything I do as the manager!!!It was exhausting and I dreaded running into any one who worked for me ...I literally hid out in my office.  The most puzzling thing about managing these people was that they were the best sales people in the store and in many ways their demanding nature was proper in light of the years they had performed at such a high level ...But I as someone with no such record would have to work hard to earn even a modest level of respect from the people who are my employees!!!

The last  Department I manage at Brett’s is  The Children Dept. and I remember nearly nothing of importance from that time.  This could be because I had at this point applied twice to be a buyer and been denied twice and being young and impatient I start taking it personally.  I become  increasingly annoyed at how long this path to being a buyer is taking and did all those Exec forget how special I am...So to show  them what a mistake not making me a buyer back then I started looking in earnest for another job...and where I ended up surprised me the most!!!

 

                                                 Investors Diversified Services IDS

 IDS is the company my father had found his dream job at and the man who had hired my dad Joe was still in Charge of the Mankato Office .  Over the last couple of years I had talked to Joe on and off about working for him.  I know that IDS does not require a degree to work there and I knew from watching my dad career that there was money to be made if you worked hard.  So after talking with my husband about giving this a try he said ...what is there to lose?  But for me there was a lot to lose I may be giving up my only chance to be a buyer the job I had dreamed of so long...If I left Brett’s would they take me back some day?  I never researched a decision more than I did that one ...I interviewed buyers in mpls and asked about buying and interviewed financial planners and learned from their experience ...in the end I do what I always do and went with my Gut..and chose IDS.

It was very hard to say good-bye to Brett’s a place that had become my home in many ways .  Pat had a lovely party for me and all the other managers gave me gifts and Pat’s was the best my first Briefcase with my initials on it...took me back to the days I played with my dad"s brief case at home on our dining room table pretending to be him...

The year I was hired by IDS was the first year you had to have a broker license or series 7,  before you could officially start...so I went to all the schools in the suburbs to get all the training they had to take the series 7.  Over the summer I would complete all the other tests you need in  MN for insurance license  and Blue sky but the 7 would hound me the whole summer!!!And I have to tell you  as a girl who is used to getting straight to my parents cabin the minute summer hits I hated wasting a minute of my  summer by studying for some damn test.  So I created flash cards that I walked with and took everywhere even the lake...so I could quiz myself over and over...It took me three times to pass the test.  

 Working at a company that your dad is a legend in is not easy.  When I first started there I half wished that dad had done only moderately good.  Or better that he had just stayed a sales person and not gone into management.  But no my dad was the guy they have 8 thousand amazing stories about anything from his ability to party to his ability to recruit the best people as well to his own  selling ability. In fact looking back now I am sure I would have loved working for IDS and had a nice long work history with them  if I had chosen another town to start my career in.  

Two years before I started with IDS my dad had retired from the amazing 18yr career he  had.  His career had ended early due to illness.  He and my Mother had moved to Mankato so it was so nice to please my father by taking this job...it seemed to me that I could not remember the last time he was pleased with me!!!My dad would meet me weekly to go over how I was doing and advise me.  It was nice to have his attention...and I must say doing the job he had done helped me understand better why he loved this company so. 

   During the years I was in Financial Planning Jim and I would make some of our best couple friends and some of our best times as a couple.  It was like every event was our first this and our first that.   I think I felt like  a grown up for the first time !!!  Here we are the young newlywed couple with our brand new town home all new furniture that you actually like .  We are constantly entertaining or going somewhere else to some event...I just love these years...Our lives filled with hope and such certenty that there was nothing but blue sky ahead!!!Looking back I am so glad I did not know of the gathering storm that I  alone will cause.  

 Some of our best friends would come out of tiny new neighborhood ...we had moved into a brand new addition on the edge of town and  there were maybe three houses out there before our town home was finished being built.  All of the rest maybe four sets of twin homes like ours...one right across the street so the people closest were our friends first Beth and Steve and their own bf who we meet thru them we are all just loving spending time together...It was so cool you would pull in to you driveway in the summer after a bad day and work and your neighbor would call over out the front window to get over there for a cock  tail or in the winter you help each other  dig each other out of the snow and have a hot coca rum drink after that...all in all a great place to start our life out.  

 

                                                                      BACK TO BRETTS  

Near the end of my second year at IDS I was offered a buying job...my dream job at last!!!The only problem in my mind was how much I will hate hurting my dad when I leave IDS.  That is so like life to take an amazing opportunity and turn in into a painful moment.

The phrase you can’t go home again is so apt for how it felt being back at Bretts.  It just took me  forever to get my bearings again.  I had no idea at the time but I was returning to a rapidly sinking ship!!! The retail world all through the 80’s was full of small chain stores that could not make changes quickly and adapt to a changing economy.  In every town across america your local large department stores that had survived all kinds of economic situaltions including the great depression were dying!!!This change was  so rapid and I am sure that most of the owners were in too much shock and denial  to react with any brilliant plan to save the day.  It was so ironic they were too big to make changes when needed, and too small to get buying discounts the larger stores get.  I had no idea my first day as a buyer that in 5yrs this store that had been my home as well as my school would be padlocked shut!!!

My Boss was Ron and I was always so dissappointed it was not Elaine!!Ron was smart enough to know what was happening and due to whatever you go through being in a Company as long as Ron had he just never spent one moment training me to be a buyer.  So I went to my friend Mary or Elaine when I needed help.  Within 2weeks of being hired I was in New York on a buying trip and they sent me with Nancy a buyer and the daughter of the owner.  My first day she took me to my buying apts but the second day she left me on some block told me a few instructions and I was on my own!!!Thank goodness I had been to New York before so I was not freaked out by being left to fend for myself...me figuring out that trip how to handle the ny apts was the only training I got from Brett’s!!!

I was the Junior Department that included jeans,  jeans jackets and vests and skirts and shorts. T shirts woven shirts sweaters and khaki pants and even the occasional dress.  In the mid 80’s brand names were important so disigner labels were big with kids and suddenly there were designer labels every where.  I got to be some of  the first buyers to see brand new lines like  Guess.  Of couse the other majors already in jean levi, Liz claighbornne zena tommy hillfiger and suddenly the name had to be seen on the exterior of everything from t shirts to denim.  I always told my boss in those days that if madonna would have worn something then I would buy it.  

  

As I did get settled into being a buyer I would  make some good friends of the buyers.  Nancy Taylor  would be the first of these friends as every year the Junior Dept would have a big fashion show.  Bretts had this amazing way of knowing what it took to be the place to be...whether a teen or woman looking for qualty at a good price.  They had been a powerhouse in Mankato for 150 already...so in Mankato every plan for any event went by us first.  It is amazing the power a small store like ours had.  the original owners were very savvy business people  and  adept bu to all the changes that would occur in the deft.  They were very proud to tell you they had the first elevator and the first escalator in our county...they also had this unique collunndor suckion thing that you put money in.  Bretts was like most stores that began in that erra they had began as a dry goods they had needles and fabric etc.

  Being a buyer meant you would have the crappiest office in the building...you are in an cramped office with some pc of plywood for your desk and you are probably crammed in there with at least one other person...and down the hall in some unviliated are another buyer chain smokes all day...

I did really enjoy the other buyers I traveled with ...Nancy, Karen and colleen we got very close  so like family and so there was bickering too.  I on my first buying trip with the girls was forced  to sleep with Karen as some kind of hazing for the new buyers...that woman can snore!!!In the middle of the night I would go to the other buyers room and sneak before a.m.  back cuz i did not want to hurt her feelings.  I was a Junior DEPT buyer so I had 2  markets Minneapolis and New York I  bought from.  I traveled to NY 6 times a yr and Minneapolis 4 times.  2 times each year the entire  group of buyers would meet together at some town in NJ with a large conference areas and ballrooms so we could see our  private Label  for the yr.  Every store out there has private labels ...I always liked  the trips to NJ it is the one time of the year all the buyers and upper manegment were  together.  And you were in a big party half the time..The  buying trips to NY were anything but a party!!!I would be at apt scheduled from 7AM to 7PM and most of my lunches I would eat with my vender during an apt.  Even though I was so exhausted at the end of the day I still just love the energy of NY...how on the first day there I would cross the crosswalk like an out of towner, slower than all around me, and yelled at left and right.  But by the second day you were at their amazing pace and quip at a few slow people yourself...I just loved the uniqueness of the city...how often you could turn a corner there and be enthralled with some beautiful building or hear the wonderful music  coming from a street musician  and if you dare to look at eye level all the variety ...the business people dressed to impress  striding by the homeless man laying near a bench...there was just such sad beauty everywhere !!!

When I first became a buyer they told me that the new buyer is always taken to TAV on the green right on the park during your first trip...but that never happened to me.  I did love the  NY restaurants though !!!I loved how safe I felt  walking there no matter the time...and loved all the strolls through the different neighborhoods especially little italy and chinatown ...just amazing the smell from and views and food was bliss to eat..And of course there was wonderful things to do that most sightseers do but I only got to do them my last trip there.  I went to Broadway Musical Dream Girls, went to the Statue of Liberty went to the  top of the empire state building and took a horse and buggy through central park and finally I got to eat a the Tavern on the Green...better late than never I guess!!!!

I think one of  the thing I liked most about being a buyer was going on the trips to our branch stores. I loved getting to know each manager and the salespeople as well.   I loved seeing what I bought on the floor and helping the manager of the area design the floor for the day.   But I also was becoming more and more aware how isolating being a buyer was and how much I missed selling and managing. And I was coming to the sad conclusions that maybe my dream job was not my dream job at all!!!All of my conclusions about buying could not have come at a better time...I had just become a new mother and  my work life seemed so unimportant!!!After my son was born I  had asked if I could be an ast. buyer like one of my buyer friends had done when she first had her child but they said no.  So I would say good-bye to Brett’s and watch so sadly from the sidelines when that wonderful store would close it’s doors forever.     

 

                                                                         Estate And Financial Services  

When my son was about 6mths old an old friend that I had worked with at IDS came to invite me to work at this new co he was working for.  It was nice situation because I would work part time and still keep my series 7 current.  I was part of a team that did seminars all over southern MN to show people what kind of INS  you need.  I would do the set up and alot of the writing as well and I was paid a certain percentage for my job...I will make almost nothing my first yr.  but from yr 2 on it was some of the best money I will make in my life.  And that good money brought out the bad side in everyone I worked with!!!From the secretary to the some of my new male co workers who somehow forgot the fact that I was not their secretary but an associate like them so them complaining that I never chat with them or smile at them was so sexist and crazy!!!  Even my boss who’s arrangement as to how to split the money we earned suddenly thought I should work full time to appease all the gripers and to make more money for him!!!It was like they all totally forgot that the whole reason I was there was  so I could work part  time and spend time with my son...a sentiment that they applauded when I came on board.  But  the truth was I was playing right into their evil plan!!!They had done this exact same thing to the woman who had my job before ...the day she left she told me to call her when they drove me out...thank god I saved her business card and did just that.  We and the male co workers who were my friends from IDS all joined in a class action suit that of course went badly...but at least we tried.  My bad experience with this company was the only one I would have through my years working commisian so I am lucky that way!!!And some of the smartest people I knew at that time were all dumn enough to fall for their act...   

                                             

                                                         Maiden Form Outlet Store

In the 90’s the retail world was changing fast.  Suddenly  Indoor Malls that had been such a savior to retail in the past decade were showing signs of failure all across the US.  The big shift was toward outlet malls.  They were always  comprised of strips of big names retailers like Liz claiborne and the outlet would have the last season stuff at incredible prices...And you did not have to walk through some mall to get to the store you want...you pulled up in front of the outlet you wanted to shop and walked right in.  These were very popular and cheap to build and Staff.  And easy for any age shopper to use like the elderly whom malls can be tiring to deal with.  Young parents love them too..and of course teenagers loved them...

  Maiden Form was my favorite places to manage...Everything about my time with MAIDEN FORM I found enjoyable including that I was hired sight unseen for the first time ever...I had a great Phone interview and off I went!!! My training was in Indiana at one of the  outlet stores in South Bend.  I would be there shadowing their manager to learn all that is required.  South Bend was a pretty cool town and the girls I got to learn the job from were fun and patient and we would all be close through  my time as manager...I also became close to the division manager who worked out of that office.  We had almost instant report with each other!!!The other thing I love about Maiden form was I  had never in my work life been there at the beginning of something but in this case I was.  When I was hired our building was just getting done so every ship- ment that came in was checked in by me.  I unpacked box after box of everything from Bras to nightgowns to fixtures which I learned to build by myself and then I  tagged everything every piece of inventory.  Having all that control was exiting and exhausting I slept like crap in those months ...always riding on adrenilen I guess.  I was so thrilled when I finally got to hire people  because this meant we were near opening at last.  I had pushed our builders and interior designers hard because I wanted us to open when Liz Clairborne opened since it was considered the anchor store of the mall.  Those builders were amazing they got us open 2 weeks earlier than our schudled open and made me the hero of all at Maiden Form Headquarters.  I learned starting your year with 2 extra weeks of amazing sales numbers never hurts and will surely get your  on your superiors  radar!!!

It was so cool again I in the past never had the opportunity to hire my whole staff so this was quite a thrill!!!And I must say I did a good job of hiring the right women.  My asst mgr and my 3rd in line had wonderful report immediately and they were very hard workers which was good because the second we opened it was the fastest paced retail I would ever witness in my life...we called it retail on roller skates!!!The other great thing about the outlet is that a lot of my old friends and buyers from Bret’s days were the managers out there so I was right at home.  The final thing that made managing the outlet so interesting was it was in Medford which was 15 min from Faribault where I had graduated HS from and we had lived so long...I would run into people who knew me or my sisterJeff or my parents that was fun.  Being in Medford meant I had a bit of a commute to work but I loved my time in the car and loved finding different  and faster routes to work .  During the years I was manager we had one of the biggest ice storm followed by tons of snow that  started  as early as holloween and even in Minnesota that was early!!! And that snow would be added to again and again there were records set in every town in MN that winter.  Our outlet center was on Interstate 90 so the rule on closing the mall due to weather was that the highway must be closed for us to close...that winter the interstate would close a record 20 times.  Even when we opened that winter the traffic was so down I ran the store alone. ..that can make for a long and lonely day!!!I would manage the  Maiden Form outlet for 3 years right up until Benjamin my 2nd son was born...and I would get try something I never had before be a full time mom at home!!!

 

                                                                                    Working At Home                  

 I had been a bit of a work aholic in my younger years so I had never really allowed myself the leisure of time to think about what I want to do with my life.  Now that I had Jim and our level of  income was not in danger I could sit here for a year and decide what to do from this pont on.  I could stay home with the kids or   I could go back to school and finish my degree.  While I was at home making these decisions I would get to get involved in various things that interested me as a volunteer.  I was busy with helping to staff  the nursery at our church and teaching sunday school.  I worked for the YMCA Brother Siter Program designing brochures and helping recruit volunteers.  And last but not least I got involved in my first Politcal Presidential Campainege for Ross Perot.  Politics was like a drug for me...All the people you meet had the stands you take.  For me as a girl who had always tried to stay out of that spotlight this was amazing.  To publicly support someone to make an ass out of yourself for something like this.  I was proud of myself and a bit ashamed that it took me until I was 34 to stick my neck out!!!I was put in charge of volunteer recrutement and put in countless hours at the Perot Headquarters  on riverfront dr.  It was so amazing to travel all over the state and be in these big rallies to get the number of signitures you needed to put him on the ballot.  This was quite an impressive thing considering none of his supporters even were in the same room for these rallies...they would just have some tape of him to play or see him on Tv.  This movement we were part of was unique in our history and Pertot would get 36 per cent bigger that all the other indepents in the history of our country.  Going through this process we creeated a third party called UNITED WE STAND and it was amazing all the thought of  campaigne laws and what we as a party wanted to stand for how often we should meet and how do we choose canditates...it was shocking how few details were trivial so debates went on and on ...The next election we did had caucuses and choose candidates ...but since my first year in UNITED WE STAND I have  lost track and am not sure it they have combined with another IND party or not.  Through that experience I often thought back to how well our founding fathers handeled all these same issues with their lives and liberty and personal treasure on the line...I am glad we had them and that they were no quiters!!!  

                                      

                                                                                      Casual Corner

I think it was one year at home before my wrestless soul said enough I want to work even if it is part time.  So back to retail sales I went and I got to work at a store I just love and for a woman I knew from Brett’s depts store days.  It was quite nice to have selling your only job.  I loved everything about working there.  I loved my shift for the most part...Jim and I had always been able to not have to use day care cus I worked nights and weekends and he was always there with the boys.  I loved those years I could sell like crazy focus totally on my job when there and come home guilt free to Jim and the boys.  And Jim was better cook and housekeeper than me so I got fed well when I got home.  I really enjoyed the women I worked with and there were a good variety  too.  Joanne was the assitant manager  just a fire ball of energy older woman that I really liked working for and having drinks after.  Then some college age girls that I can not remember and a woman that would not be there long INGA who would work there so brief but we would bond so well that someday that woman would talk me into doing a job I had decided I never wanted to do again...Management!!!

 

                                                                         Naturalizer Soes Store 

 I am not sure why I choose this particulular time in my life to go back to Managing.  It could be the obvious need for more money.  It could be that I missed being in charge of things. It could be that my marriage was on the fritz.  More than likely my dumb ego got he better of me and I fell for some line Ingrid gave me of how only I could save this slow Burnsville store!!!Looking back at my work history I think I had alot in common with my dad.  When I was young I always wanted the title Manager never understanding the freedom and better income the emplyees under me had.  I made this one last mistake but it would be the last time I would fall for that kind of  sweet talk.  

The Burnsville Store was about a 49min commute from my North Mankato home.  During the years I commuted I had created a science as to which cars to pull up behind.  I had it down to makes and models  and years of cars and of course what the driver looked like from behind...women in curlers is not a good sign.  The Burnville mall was dying a slow painful death.  They had the bad luck to be located next to the wonderful world renouned brand new  Mall of America.  In all my years of managing  different kinds of stores I had always avoided shoes stores, because they looked so dull to sell and I had no desire to crouch low and be looking up some old womans panties!  

When I inherited the store they were doing  only about a milion a year!  With that kind of numbers and the mall hrs  that we had to be open I realized that I would literally be living here,  as we could not afford to staff this place.  Working in a shoe dept is always commision so all my emplyees would likely earn more than me especially if someone walked in the store!!!But I could care less about that as this store was nearly impossible to staff due to a number of reasons.  It was a small store with little foot traffic and one week there and most employees understood that and left.  In the end the Asst mgr I recruited was great was a hard worker and I could trust her...and in a small store that is so important.  We had some college and high school kids that were pretty good workers.

The thing that I did not understand about shoes stores was how physically hard you work and that is if you work with others but 75% of the time I was alone.  It was so lonely working there the entire time I was there I never ate lunch with anyone.  It was hard to get a chance to even eat lunch and many times I would put a closed sign on the door and slip quick next door to  to grab a hot prettzel and drink...and pray that no one in the mall reports on you.  The thing I think I grew to hate most about working there was doing all the freight alone.  When you come from a back ground like I had where you don’t understand how much work handling freight completely alone is you are shocked that it never ends.  That was the most depressing part as well as the lonliness.  Looking back it is clear I hated this job from day one.  But I got in the best shape of my life working there and as I ran all over the mall trying to recruit new emplyees I was recruited myself to run other shoe stores and a disney store and my favorites Victoria’ Secret and Macy’s.  It was flattering to get this attention and looking back I probably should have accepted one ...because very suddenly I was out of a job.  I was so tired and hated this job so bad that I am not even sure what happened here.  I was called in by my boss and given some list of what I don’t even know I dont know if they thought I was stealing shoes or not dealing freight well...all I know is that I lleft and even I don’t know if I was fired or I quit.  That is how tired I always was.  But even my writing about my time at Naturalizer Shoes I can’t think of even one thing I learned by working there...except possibly to never fall for  some line about how wonderful being a manager is!!!

 

                                                                               SLUMBERLAND FURNITURE

Look being a single mother now that Jim and I have been seperated for a while would cause me to look at work so differently.  I had to be concerned with income but even more concerned with the work schedule.  Having Jim do the 7 to 5 mon-fri meant that most retail jobs with week ends and nights would work great...the kids would not go to a day care!!!In many ways I think I chose Slumberland because I had no idea what  selling furniture would be like.  And I am glad I had the guts to try something new because this was the beginning of a wonderful new chapter in my career life...

At Slumberland I would recieve some of the best training in my life.  It was at least a month before I hit the floor and began to sell and it was easy and fun.  Slumberland was a lazy boy dealership so we learned alot about recliners and we did some special orders where a client would choose their own fabric.  The big margins in the store is in the mattreses I got the best training on how to sell a mattress here that is not an easy task.  There is alot of positioning because you need the prospect to lay  down on the bed in a store that they are not comfortable in and all the stdies they had done on where you as the seller should be was amazing and accurate!!!The psycholgy used in selling is quite amazing.  I being a psych minor just loved it all.  We also had room groups which I loved selling the most probablybecause of the designer in me.  We also had some higher end groups in our leather area the brand was natuzi and it was from italy and the wait for that stuff was 6mths minimun if everything went right...We all did  the maintnence on the floor like vacuming and dusting and we all helped with big floor changes.  

This is the first store ever that I got a social life out of and it was about time!!!  The guys at slumberland were all adoreable young guys age 19 to 32.  When I was hired I was one of 2 Debs and the first women to be hired in yrs.  I guess the boss gave the guys a big lecture about language on the floor and how to behave around us...even all their beloved women calenders had to go if they were in the lunch area.  So with all this build up of how the boss thought we would be to work with.  I think the other Deb who truely looked like an ex hooker still coming off an acid high and me this normal woman.  My boss hiring me and this other deb was the only thing I found insulting about taking this job.  We would be in the middle of some training with our boss and and that other deb never had one normal relply...my favorite of hers was when he asked us both what we had done before...she had some ranbling answer about her personal life not work history like he had been asking.  Through the whole time I was at slumberland I wish I could just ask my boss what on earth he was thinking when he hired her...but the boys would say that is  so obvious!!!

I am glad that I had always preferred the company of men especially at work because for better or worse I was surrounded by them.  Having older brothers was a great gift growing up all their bullying toughened me for all the ups and downs of life.  The other thing I loved about this new line of work is how much fun sales people can be, and it did not hurt that suddenly I am single   The years I was at slumber land I was dating just an adorable guy who was quite the drinker but funner than heck.  Pat was transferring to the mpls branch near the end of our relationship and I always wonder if we could not have made it as a couple.  I know he did really well up there and now is a manager.  

 

During  the last months I was at slumberland my dad got very bad and was going to have brain sugery he and Mom and all my siblings exept Dave and I were living in Las Vegas.  I flew out to see my dad and he would cheat death for a few more yrs we would have him.  I  had been trying the whole time my folks live in LV to get out there to live some how.  It is ironic cuz Jim and I had looked over and over at moving out there but I could never get him to commit.  Jim really hated change...even little ones so moving 1700 miles to nv probably too much.  The funny thing is that The year we thought my dad was about to die I was smart about using the emotion of it all did not even give him a vote ...I was quite abrupty on a plane with one kid along and second kid flew out  later and with 6 boxes and 2 cats. 

I had to leave behind my entire life ...my wonderfull little house my wonderful belongings my wonderful friendships and my wonderful brother Dave 

This moment makes me like no other woman of the face of the earth.  That I always believe I will land on my feet no matter how far the leep.is something I got from dad and  I think I got even beterer at that leeping than dad did.  I think he and I both shared the belief that  if you are right about something that God would have your back.     

 

                                                                                      Walker Furniture

 This is an amazing high volumne store just hugh and busy especially the year I started 1999 as  Las vegas was in the middle of 20 perc growth.  I took awhile to get to know the other sales assoc as I was alone raising the guys for fhe first time ever so 6 mths I finally got a chance since the would be gone a whole mth seeing Jim  That month I starting Brian Lee who also worked at walker.  He worked the same shift as me so all our days off were the same.  Brian was super tall dark hair and from Mississippi I thought he looked like evlvis.  Brian had moved here about 3 yrs at that point we had the best time just doing nothing he had 2 dogs jake and max.  He adorred those dogs we would take them out to red rock to walk trails.  I got really into hiking at red rock being out there and forcing myself to try different hikes I concurred my fear of heights.  Brian did love to socialize with the friends from work too he was up for bar stuff casino to home party. After being with Jim so long it was fasinating to be with someone so social. 

Brian of course was not perfect...later on whenever we were out in public if he had been drinking the most bizzar stuff would come out of his mouth.  One night we were at our favorite cheap 21 table and I smiled at some 90 guys who had smiled at me from across the room and he said to me something like stop smiling at that guy you will make me kill him...keep it up.  I had so little experience in life with violent and jelous guys cuz  I never ever dated anyone like that.    Over the 3yrs we dated I never could trac when it was about to happen ...I think cuz I loved him my radar was down.  When we moved in together in this lovely home...the 1st day he got mad enough to punch in the door in our bedroom door...I was so embarrassed by all the violence in him.  That I had him near my kids that looking back at it all it is amazing no one would end up dead when we broke up.  And looking back I get why my family hated him so...especially mom cauuse I am sure that Adam confided in her.  The grossest thing about this whole history is that I will get  back with him long enough to make my last boy Casey.  The only thing good that ever came out that Brian is my son.  In the end I think seeing how selfish he was during my pregnancy and how he was to his own son helped cure my of my dilusions about Brian...He was like my mom said a narcicist .  And  I spent the first months of casey’s life just seeing how Brian was in this new role and just looked at it all like a cpa added the pluses and subtracted the minuess and when I was done it was clear   Now I really loved Vegas had spent my whole life it seemed trying to get out of Mankato.  But now that Brian was having Case over nite each week my big fear was all the time with Brian...he is the kind of guy that will not take some class to learn about anything I know the few times I had corrected him on anything he would just dismiss it.  As though I had not raised kids.  My goal was to get Casey old enough to fend for himself.  I decided to move to Mankato. 

 

                                                                  Bed Post Furniture 2002-2004 

I would work in furniture the entire 5 yrs I will work at the Bedpost for my Friend Mark Meyer.  I was astonished how much I hated working for those people.  I have tons more experience in furniture sales and they treated me the entire time I was there like I was some retarded girl.  I am amazed I lasted 2 yr I did alot of smoking that got me thru if I could have drank on the job I could have lasted longer.

            

                                                       ASHLEY FURNITURE HOMESTORE 2004-2007

 

 The minute I walked in the Ashly I knew I was home again...I love the furnitur i was used to the layout and I loved my co-workers!!  Now this time I was all business since I was back to raising the boys alone.  I had a great boss who used to run a clothing store back when I used to run bretts...it was such a relief to meet someone from that erra and gossip about where weverone ended up.  It is so weird when so much of your work history is about a store that does not exist.  I really bonded with her and her lovely college going daughter.  It is funny because my sister Jennifer ended up a close friends due to her boyfriends close ties with them.  I have to say looking back at all this I was a bit jeolous about how I was never asked to anything social.    

It was cool to be back in Mankato the first year was hard with going to family court since Brian had sued  for custody.  The only manly thing Brian ever did was do this one act to try to get case.  Thank god he lost and Jim helped alot by lying court saying that Jim and I had gotten back together.  

The irony we ended up back together cuz I was afraid Brian could win in court...we did end up back together and can not even remember for how long maybe 2-3 years at most.  We had always been just seperated for all the years that we were not together.  Jim and my marriage would finally end in divoorce and we will have lasted over 20yrs.  You can never say our marriage was anything other than unique!!!Jim is a wonderful father for casey he is extremely lucky to have him in his court.