MY LIFE FROM LAKE ALMANOR AND BEYOND: Tropical Storm Allison-June 11, 2001

TROPICAL STORM ALLISON-June 11, 2001

I was on a plane to Dallas, Texas on June 13, 2001 to work for the Forth Worth Area Office.

They had us working in a really large warehouse type building and it would be hot summer. I learned right away that any rayon or nylon type clothing was too hot and I was soon shopping for cotten and linen clothes.

This was my first day and one of the woman leaders took a liking to me and got me a SBA jacket. Everyone did not get them at that time unless they were going out on a disaster location and people were always asking me how I got it so I always told them I would share. Sometimes the air-conditioning would be so cold and sometimes we had rain, so I always had my jacket.

We worked in a Pod with a Supervising Loan Officer and seven of us. There were four ladies in our pod Joyce, Julia, Julie and Janet and three guys Leo, Randy and Dick. Some of them had worked for SBA previously, three were from Texas, the other four were from Georgia, South Dakota, Hawaii and California.

Randy was from the Atlanta SBA Office and he was so pissed at Julia and I when he found out we were getting loans approved with less stringency (do more loans faster) than he was used to in their office, thus we had a higher production number than he did.

JULIA

Dell was a great first leader for us to have because he taught us well. I tend to ask questions however, and soon one of the guys was pulling a zipper across his mouth to tell me to shut up so we could move on...but questions is how I learn and to my credit, I was the first woman reservist to be awarded $50 as a Top Reservist! I bought Kreme Doughnuts for everyone.

Randy liked to tease the ladies with his teeth but someone wrote him up for sexual harassment, which was ridiculous.

Julia and I became good friends and usually ate lunch together. Ken, one of the young guys in my van liked to eat with us. And one day, Julia said, "Now isn't this nice, A Jew, A Baptist and A Mormon all having lunch together."

John had told me to be sure and visit the Stockyards so I thought they would be like the stockyards in Glendive but it was a great entertainment center.

This was Ken, the Messianic Jew from Florida. He was very smart and when one of the former SBA guys told me I should be able to get a raise because I was much more experienced that most of them, Ken helped me change all of my non-government words into government words showing the experience I had, in my resume. I got the raise to GS 11. No one cared until Beaumont, Texas when one of the old leaders found out two of us ladies were GS 11 and he was only a 9. He gave us a bad time and I told him off. Probably gave me a bad write up but that was in 2007 and I did not care if he did, he was not the greatest leader I had, in fact he was prejudiced against women. One of the ladies reported him.

I quickly learned also that the "old boys club" was alive and well in SBA. Men leaders would keep their friends close around where it was easier and send the women out to the far reaches to do the work. Nothing you could do about it.