DREI  PERSONEN

In my decades as a Branch Chief or Staff Director at the Social Security Administration, lots of people came under my control.  As an "enlightened manager" I tried to treat everyone equally and help them make the most of their abilities.  

Many of my workers had personal problems that I tried to fix, without being intrusive. Some times I was successful, some times not, but always I hoped that they learned from my actions, because I always tried to learn something from my interactions with them.

For example, here are little stories about three special people with whom  I had special interaction:

Jane

Jane was a very attractive young lady who came to work for me. She was also an NCO in the Air Force Reserve.

She wrote a few computer programs before she was "activated" to serve 18 months in Italy.  While there, she mailed me Italian crossword puzzle books and scenic postcards.

When she became a civilian again, she began work in a different Branch.  However, from time to time she would visit me to talk about technical matters.

One day, she seemed very depressed and told me it was because she was getting "older" but still did not have a man in her life.

Later, to try to cheer her up, I sent her a humorous "Thinking of you" card that held a picture of a strikingly handsome man with the caption: "This is a picture of your future husband."  She thanked me and said: "Yeah, sure!"  

I forgot about our exchange until, a year later I received a letter from Jane with a picture of her new husband, who looked exactly like the man in my card!

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Nancy

Nancy was an "outside hire" who came to me as a programmer/analyst, grade 12.  She insisted that she should be at least a Grade 14.  

She was a pleasant looking  mother of a daughter and a pair of twins. She belonged to a "Twins Organization."  Her husband was a writer for a Government Department, where he was allowed to work towards a PhD.  Sounds like a nice little family group.

At work, Nancy did not like her assignments; she felt they were beneath her ability.  So, she filed for a different tech job in a neighboring Branch; that job wasn't a good fit, so she said, and she filed for, and got a different job, and so on and on.  She seemed never happy.

One day she didn't show up for work, and then disappeared for a week.  Her husband notified the police and a "hunt" was instituted. After another week went by, a tearful husband walked into a police station and confessed to strangling his wife because of family disputes.  He led them to a car in the BWI Airport parking lot.  Nancy's body was lying in the back seat, covered with a blanket.

I went to Nancy's funeral.  Lots of twins and their parents were there to pay their respects.  I stayed after the service to put in my "2 cents" that the twins would not stay under the control of their father.  Thankfully, the twins were put under the control of grandparents. 

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Harry Lawson (not his real name)

Harry went through the same computer programming classes that I did.  Eventually, he drifted into my Branch.

Just as he was about to do some programming for me, a fellow Branch Chief asked if Harry could write a program for him. I said: "OK."  Harry was handed the necessary information and told to have the program running in 3 months.

In between the pedicure sessions he did himself on the desk in his cubicle, he appeared to be hard at work.  Nobody checked until the 3 months period was up.

This was the conversation between the manager and Harry:

Manager:  "Did the program run ok?"

Harry:  "Well, I didn't quite make it that far."

Manager:  "Did your tests run well?"

Harry:  "I didn't make it that far."

Manager:  "Do your compiler results look good?"

Harry: "Don't have any."

Manager:  Have you submitted your punch cards?"

Harry:  "Don't have any."

Manager:  "Have you had your autocoder sheets punched up?"

Harry: "Not yet."

Manager: "Well then, can I see your flow charts?" 

Harry: "Don't have any yet."

Manager: "Argggghhh!!"

So, there it was.  A non-working programmer, whom I was still stuck with for a while.

As I said, I like to interact with my workers.  If I can't do that, I like to figure out what I can learn from all others.  For instance, some of my workers give me technical lessons; some teach me computer tricks; some tell me about favorite books or movies... my brain is like a towel soaking up information all the time.

I thought and thought about Harry and what he could possibly tell or teach me that would enrich my life.  Surely everyone must have some wisdom to impart.

After a few weeks it hit me.  Harry had something that would solve a problem for me and help my brain to expand:  His name!

All of my life, I have used the left-hand faucet to get cold water.  However, I kept getting hot scalding water instead. But now I knew and would never forget Harry and the initials of his name:  HL for Harry Lawson!  I could stop being scalded by the left-hand faucet because I would always remember Harry's initials:

                 Hot Left!

Thank you, Harry.

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