HR Undercover

I own an independent sales company in the garment industry. One of the lines I represent is owned and manufactured in India. The owners hired me sight unseen so they were unaware I was 5 months pregnant at the time. I instinctively knew it would be fatal if I revealed my state as they were not accustomed to working with women much less one who was in charge of their most profitable territory. After 4 ½ months my company had more than doubled their sales and I had given birth to a healthy baby boy. The owners phoned to set up a meeting with me to plan next year’s production. At the meeting, all went well, we shook hands and I was happy the whole pregnancy thing hadn’t come up. I was entering the elevator with the two men when a friend gasped and pointed at my chest. There I stood with 2 very large milk soaked breast spots on the front of my dress. I can only imagine what the five men talked about on their return flight to India.

I’ve been an RN for over years and believe me I’ve seen heard and smelled a lot! Visually and mentally. Working in a high economic area, we have many women who truly do NOT want childbirth to be truly one of “Labor” let alone pain or anything else that might mess their hair or create unfeminine noises, smells etc. Recently a slightly “over done” woman was on the verge of getting uncomfortable and requested an epidural to ward off the pain. Fortunately that was accomplished and soon after she requested an exam to be able to evaluate how “much longer.” Upon examining the mother to be, a very loud noise was produced “down there” (as one not only loses sensation, but also “control”). She sat up as much as she could, looked at me and said “Did YOU do that”?.. I looked up towards her face and thought “Are you kidding me?” But to continue to keep the peace and have her feel “pretty” came back with “Sure, I’ll take the heat, of course it was me farting”. Please….

I asked an employee to “fax this paperwork over to our customer, “Bob”…ASAP!!! Later, I found the paperwork that had been faxed sitting next to the fax machine. The cover sheet was addressed to Bob Asap I said to the employee “Oh, you didn’t? You just called our customer A SAP!!”

Friday evening, I forgot something at the office. I came back to retrieve it and found blankets rolled up on a chair in the sales office. I immediately thought that someone had broken into our office to find a place to sleep (it was the beginning of a long holiday weekend). As I looked across the room to determine what was truly going on, I saw clothes and a pair of shoes scattered around the room. I quickly realized that the clothes matched that of one of our sales reps as he had worn them to work earlier that day. The police were called and we (my husband and myself) had to meet them there when we knew for a fact that the employee was in the office (well after business hours). As it turned out, the employee had been living in our office for quite some time. His desk was his medicine cabinet, he had work-out equipment hidden all over the office, and he had small kitchen appliances hidden as well. I’m sure it seems as though it should have been very obvious that someone had been living there, but this guy was a real pro (who, of course, had some serious issues). While it took well over an hour for him to pack everything up while we and the police stood over him, he actually asked me “does this mean I’m fired?”.
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One of our most competent and well-liked employees was killed in a car accident. His two hundred co-workers contributed over $15,000 and gave it to the employee’s fiancé. A week after his death, she delivered his baby son. It was the saddest work experience of my life, but I was so proud of everyone’s generosity.