Listening to Woman by John Lennon and thinking of one of those transformational moments in life.
Career life.
A total neophyte I was part of a district that supported Automotive OEMs and their supply chains.
After years of experience and education I became an international supply chain expert.
Regarding the OEM I was part of what became known as the GM C4 program.
This was back in the day of beepers.
As part of the effort to prove my mettle I was handed my very first beeper on a Friday afternoon and told there was a good chance it would go off in the middle of the night after which
I had to call the number
I probably had to follow instructions lest millions of dollars per hour would be lost – by our customer.
Oh – and if I had to go on-site? Bad part of town.
Leroy Brown anyone?
The irony – unlike my colleagues who tended to be 15 – 25 years older – I’d spent a good deal of my childhood in the “bad part of town.”
Wasn’t so bad “back then.” Those days came after Colman Young chased everyone – including the job providing corporations – to the suburbs – which happened when I was 4 – 6 years old. A witness.
My Heart – Detroit
Unlike my colleagues I wasn’t afraid to go to Detroit. Still – stupid to send me there at 2 – 3 in the morning to walk by myself to the parking lot GM reserved for “Vendors.”
Surprised they didn’t put us in the dumpster.
It was a 2 – 3 block walk in the dark.
In the “bad” part of town.
There’s a WRIF Drew and Mike go round about this that is insightful – about needing tennis shoes so you could run from your car to your office in a manner that gave you a chance to outrun the muggers.
Sure Enough
As the moon was dark.
My beeper went off at 2am.
I was 22.
I rolled from bed, called the number, confirmed the system was down.
They would lose – as I understood it – $100 million an hour for every hour they were down.
This is global supply chain.
I promised I would be on-site as soon as I got dressed – they knew I’d been asleep – confirmed with my colleague who would meet me at “the parking lot.”
Asphalt patch of space 2 – 3 blocks from GM HQ downtown Detroit.
It was raining.
Typical Michigan March.
The colleague who was to meet me beeped so I called – agreed to the location. He was adamant I understood the exact location which meant at 2:35 am I had to explain why I knew downtown Detroit better than any of my older suburbian coworkers.
Including him – who lived in Milford and had just cleared a bunch of trees from his newly purchased lot to build his McMansion.
Made It
Though I brought my own umbrella – it was pouring – he showed up on the asphalt with an umbrella – escorted me to the GM building.
The Elevator
We shut our umbrellas – checked in with the guard who seemed antsy – about me. When we got on the elevator my coworker instructed me to look up at the corner. Apparently there was a camera. He said, “It’s so if someone on the elevator assaults you…”
Oh just yay.
The Lab
He walks me to a chair – I’m … a mental confusion mess – asks if he can bring me coffee.
Coffee? I don’t drink coffee.
Not until after I became a sleep deprived parent decades later.
I only started to feel human once I recognized the “stuff” on the VJ290.
That’s a computer monitor from the past for those of you just joining us. Before WYZYWYG.
I don’t think the decision makers in terms of my career thought I had what it took before that night and they’ve moved on but I can be proud because I did good.
Elizabeth Maxim 