In the early 80s, I tried and tried to get hired by C&P Telephone/Bell Atlantic/Verizon. I went to their local employment office in Falls Church, VA and went through all of the formalities, filled out all of the forms, took the tests and received the typical "don't call us, we'll call you" response by a front desk clerk. I did this for years. Each time, I received a form letter within a week thanking me for my interest, but they were unable to provide me with employment at this time. Keep in mind, they were advertising all over the place with available jobs. I was working as an electrician and making good money, so I didn't lose too much sleep over it. Still, I returned every six months (that was their required repeat interval for testing) and did it all over again. Same tests, same result. After my seventh attempt, I demanded to speak with a manager. I knew I was qualified and able, and I had also maxed the test each time. I demanded answers. I called and arranged to meet with the manager.

He knew why I was there and acknowledged that he had seen my package come across his desk many times. He thanked me for being so persistent and for my interest in working for the company. I then asked him why we kept going around in circles with their process for four years. He got up from his desk, closed his office door and gave me a pat on the shoulder. As he sat back down, he said that he would love to hire me. I had maxed the test every single time. I was in perfect health (fresh out of the military) and had no criminal or driving issues. They had dozens of positions available that were a shoe-in for me. He said that it saddened him to sign those form letters going out each time. He knew I was wasting my time and finally told me so.

When I pressed him for a reason, he replied: "I'll never admit that I told you this, so please don't repeat it, but you're not the proper race or gender that the company is seeking to fulfill its current quotas".

On that note, I got up, shook his hand and thanked him for his honesty. I never looked back. We kept in touch and he assured me that he'd keep me abreast of any future opportunities. I started my own interconnect company the following day in 1984 with the mindset "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em". Within two years, their Centrex sales reps were throwing more CPE business at me than I could handle. Something tells me that he might have had something to do with that, although he is long-gone and I'll never know.

Ed Vaughn, MBSWWYPBX