As for
the typing, there were different kinds of machines I’d work on. First, for a
brief few years, on a typewriter like a large, clunky, loud IBM Selectric. Then
came the in-between choice, an electric typewriter with memory that they called
an early “word processor. . . “ the text showed up on a small screen above the
keyboard and you could backspace and erase before hitting the “print” button.
Once
actual personal computers with floppy disks did the work, using MultiMate or
WordPerfect, soon enough Microsoft Office Suite took over and it was MS Word,
Excel, PowerPoint. I’d say that was in the mid to late ‘90’s, though.
Right
around that time, one of my tempjobs took me to work for Hearst. A super
conglomerate communications corporation, Hearst at the time had several
successful magazines and cable television companies that ran under its
legendary umbrella.
(Hearst
was the company whose founder, William Randolph Hearst, the Orson Welles movie
classic, “Citizen Kane,” was based on. I used to walk the halls of the building
I worked in whispering, “Rosebud. . . “)
When
one of the Presidents of the Cable TV operations, Raymond Joslin, needed a temp
because one of his two assistants had to take a few weeks leave, I was called
to fill in. I was warned from the outset, “He’s a very demanding boss -- with a
very short temper.”
Optimistic
to a fault, and philosophical too (this was when I started reading Epictetus,
the stoic Greek philosopher, and carried a tiny book of his quotations around
with me for inspiration), I took the assignment, knowing it wouldn’t be a piece
of cake but probably incredibly interesting. . .
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