Past

There are times when I wish the past would just stay there. Not always, of course, sometimes it is great to see an old friend and catch up with them. I had a lot of fun at my high school reunion, for instance. Then again there are other times....

When I graduated from college I had trouble finding a job in my degree (Industrial Engineering). One of my sorority sisters' dad had just bought a car dealership and they needed some sales people. I applied, got the job and started work after I returned from my honeymoon. I knew next-to-nothing about cars but went through training and became pretty successful. One of the downsides to this job were the horrible hours, almost every evening and Saturday's. Another was boredom. During most day's you would only speak to a few customers and on winter days you might not have any. The biggest downside was the almost constant sexual harassment. The staff was mostly male and they enjoyed telling me bawdy stories to see my reaction. There was one older man that always wanted to put his arm around me and if I complained he would get this sad puppy dog look and say "don't you like me?" This is just a few examples and there are much worse ones that I won't write about. These were the absolute worst times of my life.

I was so relieved when I finally after 2 years got another job. For a long time after I would get a sick feeling in my stomach just passing the building. The dealership closed a long time ago and I rarely think of it now except when I have a bad dream and those are fewer and fewer as time has gone by. It has been about 22 years since I last worked there.

I have recently found out that the church I attend is seriously considering moving to the exact building of my torment. I am sure that it will look drastically different and may seem to be the perfect place for us to move. For me the discussion has brought back many really bad memories that I would have preferred to have forgotten.