Walking Past Armed Guards Every Day

When I was supervising in a call center, our agents took calls for the local prisons. Some of them turned out to be socializing with prison inmates on the phones, making dates with them, and in at least one case, running off to marry one of the inmates in the penitentiary. Several employees were fired. Anonymous threats were made, and as a result of this situation, we ended up having armed guards in the middle of our workspace for several months.

Early Retirement

I worked for a major telecommunications company for 20 years, was offered an early retirement buyout and took it. So there I was, officially retired at 41. Yippee!

My goal was to never, ever take another soul-sucking corporate job for as long as I lived. Whether I could actually make that work was another question.

Trauma Story

In 2000 I was working at (name of company deleted). I was at the Reception desk in the main front lobby when an employee named Tony came out of the elevator and asked to see the CEO. Tony seemed angry and agitated. Tony had brain cancer and had been out on disability. I remember Tony saying loudly “I need to see the CEO, I need my medical benefits!” Some of the managers came out in the lobby and the next thing I remember is seeing security guards physically dragging Tony into the elevator while he was kicking, hitting, and screaming on the floor. The guards were literally dragging him by the arms and legs. I became faint and sick and went around the corner to my supervisor’s office, told her I had to use the restroom right away, and went in the restroom and threw up. I then asked if I could be excused for the rest of the day since I was nauseated and could not stop crying.