[speaker001:] um you know one thing that I miss being in a small company is the opportunity for um job growth just different job opportunity I was talking with somebody from Bausch and Lomb today and she was telling me how she started as a clerk typist and then found another opening in another department and moved on and so forth and so forth and is now uh personnel uh director and I mean it's just it's there's so much opportunity in a larger company to uh stay within the same company so you're not losing your seniority level but um just to try new things and and see new areas and departments and I mean you can in in a large company you can go from one department to another department as if if you switched companies sometimes
[speaker002:] well yes you have an opportunity to to use a J O B system which is a job opportunity system it's most companies most big companies have that but
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] well I think sometime that you get lost in that also
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] I really do I I I sometimes think that a small company may offer well I'm not sure how to put
[speaker001:] well uh-huh
[speaker002:] I'm not sure how to put this but that's not uh perhaps better one on one uh relations a a big company sometime you can get lost you can you can uh opportunities do arise
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but the competition is much greater for that
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh well it's true yeah
[speaker002:] opportunity okay
[speaker001:] there is a very uh uh at least in my office and I know that's not necessarily the way it is all over but the camaraderie within the office when you're with a small company I think you're right you could be even uh you can be a big person in a small company you know
[speaker002:] exactly I and I think you get a lot more support from your coworkers and and often times in a big company you are asked to go and do things in other areas that
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] may not be your expertise okay but they require you to do this as their as your uh stepping stone or whatever you'd care to call it
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and and that can get to be sometimes very very disastrous with the consequences of that because people do the best they can
[speaker001:] uh-huh sure
[speaker002:] and often times it's not really what
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] was aimed at in the first place if that makes sense
[speaker001:] uh-huh I yeah I understand that you know a question that I have for you is um do you feel working working in a large company do you feel that you can see the impact that you make do you feel that you can see like the results I know in my company each person is vital because we are the company and each person really can see the results that they produce
[speaker002:] yes I can I see that in my job because my particular job is of of a troubleshooting nature and I'm you know it's one of these put out fires things so
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] I can see the results of that
[speaker001:] I see yeah
[speaker002:] but um yes I I'm I I get a lot of gratification from my job but some some folks I guess they go to work every day and they just go to work for a paycheck every every two weeks or every month or whatever
[speaker001:] yeah I I
[speaker002:] but in my particular job I really enjoy it because I do have an opportunity to help other people do better okay and I really like that
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh I I do feel bad for the people I mean obviously we all work for a paycheck but it's nice if you can be enjoying it you know while you're doing it
[speaker002:] yes yeah I I I also teach school at at TI at uh Texas Instruments I'm a I'm an instructor there so
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] I teach new well not new employees but all yeah all employee any employees really that that care to and we talked about the job opportunity system we have uh a system where we train people to to become what we call automation specialists
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and and it's a job where if you as a secretary you decide you want to be uh an automation specialist which is a much higher paying job and a much more technical job
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and then you would come to one of our in-house classes
[speaker001:] that is great
[speaker002:] on on company time
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] and and and or on overtime so we don't involve the the uh production process okay of of personnel coming to our classes and we set up and establish these
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] sixteen and twenty week classes at at uh three hours a day twice a week for automation specialist training
[speaker001:] that is wonderful
[speaker002:] when you finish hopefully you've acquired enough knowledge to uh you know move on into advanced machinery type operations and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and and that that's really gratifying to me I I see a lot of young folks come in and and gals and guys both and some gals that say I've no I don't know a hammer from a a nail or a wrench I mean you know and okay that's and that's where we'll start but and we have the other side of the coin where you have you know really advanced people
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh well yeah
[speaker002:] coming in and and top notch uh mechanical type people and they want to do better so they of come they they jump right on it
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh that is great and that is so smart because with uh everything becoming so much more technical and sophisticated you're just not finding people out in the work force that have the skills that you necessarily need
[speaker002:] no that's a fact and
[speaker001:] I mean you just don't find them and it it's such such a great way take the people that you already have and train them
[speaker002:] and train and train them we sometimes we have to uh simply for for two reasons one
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] that we we are changing jobs constantly where we are changing our methods of doing things and we are finding more economical methods and more
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] okay and the other thing is we cannot find the people outside to just walk in off the street and help us
[speaker001:] uh-huh right
[speaker002:] so but that would be the same in your type of secretarial job I'm that one time we the girls used to have just the typewriter and they
[speaker001:] uh-huh exactly
[speaker002:] and then they had word processors and now they've got full blown desk top publishers so you know
[speaker001:] oh my oh exactly I mean it's incredible
[speaker002:] it is I I'm that amazes me that you know people say your job amazes me well my job is really nothing I sit there and I watch some little gal make me all kinds of charts and view foils and graphs and
[speaker001:] um yeah  yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] and it's I it's you know they use laser printers and all that and it's absolutely mind boggling uh because I could probably turn it on before I get the screen to go completely blank you know and I generally do that
[speaker001:] wow yeah  uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] but I I was in the same situation I had to learn
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] I I had no knowledge of a computer at all I'm a master mechanic but not a computer expert
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] but now I'm in to Lotus and word processing and I can hold my own with that
[speaker001:] oh that's great that is fabulous
[speaker002:] but um
[speaker001:] you know another benefit that that I wish I had more of and who wouldn't is vacation time
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] you know um I think that uh when when you're working and an especially I don't know I mean every job you you say how you're constantly putting out fires you know I I feel like my job is like that too unfortunately but that just it drains you you know after a while it just
[speaker002:] yeah I I I feel that way and it's a long time to get you know you work for many years with two weeks vacation per year
[speaker001:] yeah yeah exactly right
[speaker002:] and then if you have extra days out for what other reasons uh there may be uh an and we we try to deal on an individual basis with them but you can be penalized for that an and it it's penalized against your merit increases and et cetera
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh oh wow
[speaker002:] so I mean you are allowed a certain number of days of what we call sick time and personal time off but if you you know if you extend beyond those
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] an and at times we will adjust on a one to one basis
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] for some unusual circumstances but
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] to work for a company almost fifteen years with two weeks vacation it seems to me like an awful long time
[speaker001:] it's hard is that uh what your company policy is too
[speaker002:] well no it well in some instances yes
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] okay in some instances it would be we start with a a weeks vacation and then it's two weeks after a year or so
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but then that two weeks stays and then it goes to three weeks for a long long time and then after fifteen years it's four weeks
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh oh my goodness
[speaker002:] but that's still that's a long time you know
[speaker001:] but that is a long time and especially when you take a weeks vacation I was just talking to somebody about this today it's funny it takes you until Tuesday or Wednesday to really wind down
[speaker002:] oh sure
[speaker001:] you know to say okay I I can relax I can sit here for an hour if I want to and just not do anything and realize that you don't have to be worrying about something you know
[speaker002:] I think uh I would like to see I would like to see more well it's like the kids were talking in California about going to school all year but they have breaks every ninety days or thirty days or ninety days or whatever it is they have two weeks off or a week off or something
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh right
[speaker002:] and they find that that's much better for them than having the whole summer off an where they're completely bored like the second month into I think I think industry really would really
[speaker001:] uh-huh that's true
[speaker002:] benefit from that
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I'm not sure how we would accommodate all of our people being on vacation at all various times but we would always be shorthanded I guess but so that's a problem you know that's a problem pardon me
[speaker001:] yeah well that's where temporaries come in they could hire temporaries to fill in
[speaker002:] well yes that's and that's exactly what we do in many instances you know where our work load increases an and our vacation periods and stuff
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] of course we have uh what we called an SDS a Summer Development Student Program so
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] we we put a lot of school um
[speaker001:] like a co-op type thing for the summer
[speaker002:] college pardon me
[speaker001:] like a co-op for the summer almost
[speaker002:] yeah yeah they work for us and and they they go to school back in the Fall
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and hopefully when they get out of college they consider us to come on full-time
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and they've uh established themselves with a work pattern an and the you know they're familiar to our
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh right
[speaker002:] our ways and stuff and they're on our records and we find that that's very very helpful
[speaker001:] yeah I that is and uh it also gives you a chance you know to look at these kids and make your own determinations
[speaker002:] you sound uh like a very young person
[speaker001:] I'm twenty five
[speaker002:] I