A Job Offer

I was in the middle of tackling my laundry after our two-week vacation. The phone rang.

It was Mr. Duffer, the head librarian at East Central.
"What are you doing this fall?" he asked me.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"Are you working this fall, Loretta?"
"It depends on the school system. If they have money for teacher's aid, then I will be at Hays School."
"I want you to come and work for me," Mr. Duffer said.
"In the Library?"
"Yes. I lost my secretary. Would you like to come and work for me? You will be doing some library work as well."
"I would love to. But I do need to discuss this with my family," I said. I did not ask for particulars - I was sure that I would be making more than sixty-five dollars a month. Remember that was the amount of money we needed for the additional monthly mortgage payment. Although we did rent out our garage apartment for sixty-five dollars a month.

Mr. Duffer had known that I had been a librarian.
He also knew enough about me that he did not even ask me for any references at all.

S.C. said, "Can you manage taking care of the children, running a household, and holding down a job?"

I told him that I would like to give it a try. If it does not work, I could always quit. 
He did not know that I usually don't like quitting.

I also discussed this with the girls. They were okay with the idea. 

So I asked Mr. Duffer when would he like for me to start.
"Yesterday!" he said.
"Give me till Monday, Mr. Duffer," I said.

So I joined the Work Force, as Secretary to Mr. Duffer.

He was the kindest and smartest Gentleman Scholar I had ever met, and he taught me a lot.
I was his secretary, 
        his circulation librarian, 
        his grant writer, 
        his purchasing agent,
 and, his sometime reference librarian, 
although I was only been paid as a secretary. 
I worked for him until he retired, which was way too soon.

I did a lot more for him than if I had a different boss. He had a way of making me feel that I should put out 110% effort for him. With a smile, he wold praise me, pat me on my back, and say to me, "Loretta, we don't have enough money, but we will do the best we can. Right?"
Now, how could I refuse him? 

People retired at the age of sixty-five those days. 
So Mr. Duffer retired after we gave him a Big birthday party when lot of people including the Governor of Oklahoma showed up. 

My new boss came.
Well, that was a different story.

I soon decided that I still had a few years of Working life left in me and I did not want to Rot in my clerical position. 
My new boss did not recognize anyone who did not have a Library Science Degree. Since I did not, he did not think I should even answer simple questions such as: Where is a particular publishing company located? 
Now, I ask you, do you need a Library Science degree to look up a simple reference question as this? 
NO, NO, and NO!
But you can not find the answer if you were not allowed to use the Directory! Right?
This was before Google Era!

So I started thinking about another job.
What should I do?
What could I do?
Where was a job available?
Well, I had been there before, right?
There were not many suitable jobs in town.
And to tell you the truth, my salary at that time was not too bad, plus there were benefits. 
Still . . .

And, this was the reason why I entered the world of Real Estate. 
If there was not a job, I had to create one for myself. 
Real Estate was my venue. 
I had never been in sales before. I had no real knowledge about the Real World. Although my father was in business, but I was not trained to be a business person.

With total ignorance, I dived in - Sink or Swim.

I did not know that I would be swimming with the sharks.