Ma Bell: Group Details and Wine

Now you know who the disrupters were in the office.  The ones who created havoc ruled the roost, stuck their nose where it didn't belong, and kept stirring the stuff in the pot.  But you don't know the others.  There were a few who leaned that way, but they were not totally immersed in that group.  They still had some good in them.   And you haven't heard much about two of the "minorities" in our little group of four outcasts.  And then there was one stand-alone person who didn't hang with anyone.

Alma.  Alma was in the same young age group as the four of us.  She was a gorgeous African American young lady that let everyone know that she was only there until she was promoted to a supervisor through the EEO quota system.  She was the one who was called a "colored girl" by Peggenstein and filed a formal complaint.  They let her alone after that.  Occasionally, she might speak to one of us in passing, but that was about it.

Daphne.  Daphne was a country girl from east Texas.  She was in her own little world.  She was nice enough, she was about thirty and buddied up to a lady named Arte that she worked with.  Arte was an older lady with a horrific smoker's cough.  She was friendly to everyone but did, on occasion, hang with the bad group.

Leona was about thirty and a born again Christian.  She hung around whoever was available, but she wasn't prone to verbal attacks on us or starting trouble.  She was pretty much tied up with Jesus, and that kept her busy.

Shirley and Carolyn worked together.  They were pushing thirty, and Shirley was pretty much into the Jesus thing too.  Well, so was Carolyn.  But sometimes, they would forget that they were supposed to be good Christians and get involved with the trouble makers.  We didn't pay much attention to them.

Other than Mary and I, that leaves Loretta and Kent.  Loretta was in her 20's, married to a guy that had a lot of issues.  Sometimes those clouded her happiness, but mostly she was just like us.  She was also an African American girl.  In 1974 there were still many racial issues in the south, and older people such as some of the ones in our office had issues working in a mixed environment.  Sometimes there would be tension in the office-based on something that had happened in the real world.  The older crew, out of ignorance, would or could cause sparks to fly.  Loretta did not let them pass by without comment.  But basically, she was a fun girl that laughed and joked and hung around with us.

Kent was the baby of the office.  He was 19.  He had semi-long hair and liked rock music, sex, and weed.  That made him an instant target for the oldsters.  He was a nice young man; he never defended himself against them.  Mary, Loretta, or I would have to do that for him.  He was the most targeted person in the office because he worked in what had traditionally been a woman's job.  Those old broads didn't want any men in their henhouse, not any young ones.  He was very well behaved until we got him laughing about something.  And we would call each other on the office phone lines and say things that would crack him up or just make him turn bright red.  He called me Zelda.

The four of us watched out for each other.  After my 3 months of probation were up, I turned into a different person.  Between that and Mary telling me to stand up for myself, I can admit that I could be a dangerous foe when poked.

My target of revenge was Plain Jane.  I would be keypunching or transmitting orders, and Mary would be back there as well.  I would say very quietly, "Jump Jane."  And she wasn't sure she heard anything, so she would look at us and say, "Did you say something?"  We would have our heads down, working our butts off, and look at each other and then at her and give her a look like she was crazy and deny it.  Then I would wait for a while and whisper, "Jane." And she would do the same thing as would we.  And the finale would be after letting a period of time pass, "Jump Jane, Jump."  Then her head would almost spin around in circles, and we would still be working.  We could see what she was doing in the window glass without lifting our heads up.  She could never catch us.  Was it mean?  Nah, she was a nosey old hag, she caused problems for us, and they would never do anything to her.  And if she went to Late Faye to tell her about this, she wouldn't be believed because she always talked to herself.  We all thought that she was at least a quart low in the sanity department.

I did finally tell a few people that I was divorced.  The department manager became flustered, he told Late Faye to talk me out of moving back to the Virginia area, or as they called it, "up North."
I never said I was moving back home.  The only thing I ever said was that I was getting out of there as soon as I could.

So, France heard the gossip and found out that I was single.  He came into our office and asked me to go to lunch.  I declined.  I don't think he had ever been turned down before.  Clearly, his feelings were hurt.  I called him and told him to wait a while and come to the backroom, and I would talk to him.  He showed up, and I told him I didn't want anyone to know anything, and that was why I would not go to lunch with him.  He was fine with that, so he asked me to go out on Friday night.  I told him that I couldn't because of my kids; I didn't have a sitter.  He asked if he could just come over to my place for a while, and I agreed to that.

I can't remember if my kids were up or asleep.  Knowing Jeff, the youngest, they were awake.  But we just sat and talked, and he asked me a lot of questions about "the children" and their dad.  One thing about France was that he was always very polite and well mannered, he never cussed, which is more than I can say for myself.  But he was older than me, he was 30 or 31.  I was still young.  His parents were pretty wealthy.  He had a pretty normal life.  He owned a race car, and Ma Bell made him sign an agreement when he was promoted to not drive it.  He didn't like that and was talking about finding another job. He stayed for a few hours and then left.  He gave me a kiss on the forehead and told me to find a babysitter for the following Saturday.  He was going to take me to dinner at a place called Old San Francisco.  He asked for my phone number and asked if he could call me during the week.  Silly guy, of course, he could call me!

He was going to be my first glass of wine.  Maybe he would be the whole bottle of wine.  He might even be champaign.