FIVE...Pent up

So you want pent up anxiety? I'll give you pent up anxiety! But where to start? Dallas? Kids? Bankruptcy? Divorce?

Ah, yes. Dallas. Isn't that where I left off to veer into unknown waters, anyway?

Left a good job in the city. Working for the man every night and day...

That was me. It was New Orleans in the mid-80's, and I'd been in the Meat Industry my whole career. As the top salesperson of Australian tenderloins and Angus ribeyes for a global purveyor of fine red meats, I was happy as a clam. But I was having a little too much fun with my customers at happy hour (in the interest of customer relations, of course). One martini isn't quite enough. But two can land you in the slammer, even in New Orleans. Not great for your marriage, either!

Pete was always a doll when he was at home, but trying to raise CC and Will while we were both on the road a couple of days a week wasn't making for good kids. Or a happy mama, either. I loved my job, but I loved my kids more, so one day I just up and quit. My intentions were to work for Pete in his Artist's Rep business, and go back to Meat when the kids were a little older and things settled down. Hah!

The economy cratered, jobs dried up, and I couldn't BUY a job in the Crescent City after 3 years out of the loop. So I challenged Pete's masculinity (See Chapter 2) once too often, he called my bluff, and next thing I know I'm in Dallas. I thought I was headed for adventure. But it turned out I was headed for Stepford! Bunky grocery shops in flip flops and cutoffs and a VW convertible; Dallas suburbanites grocery shop in matching Lauren tennis togs with "real" bling and Hummers. From the beginning I was a fish swimming upstream. And the worst part is that it was all MY idea! Careful what you ask for!

Before we left home, I had flown to Dallas and landed a job, back in Meat, without a problem. And Pete could basically work anywhere, just as long as he was willing to hit the road from Monday through Thursday every week.

This new Meat job turned into disaster in a hurry. I had worked for the biggest, most well-respected beef company in the world back then, and now was working for a small family owned business that hadn't changed a thing in 50 years...we actually used carbon paper to duplicate order tickets! I didn't know you could still BUY carbon paper, did you?

So in the interest of interest, let's just say I started a trend of "resume enhancement" over the next couple of years that would read like a novel. I could find a job easily enough, but Dallas wasn't New Orleans. Most of my new and/or would-be employers were quick to point out that "fun is the f-word" or "If you're having fun at work, you can't possibly be working hard enough." One guy actually TOLD ME THAT!

And once again, I was in the hunt.

So after a couple of short trials job-wise, I finally resorted to a head-hunter. None of their hi-tech corporate clients were looking for an almost middle-aged mother of 2 who could debone a hanging beef carcass in less than 30 minutes. That's a pretty narrow profile if I do say so myself.

The good news is that the head-hunter thought I might like what she did, so she offered me a commission-only job and the rest is (abbreviated) history! Now I was in the People business! Aren't People and Meat almost the same thing, anyway?