I miss Carol

Ah Carol... I used to work with her at the lawfirm.  She was Mort's secretary, still is, I understand.  We were night and day.  She was in her 60s...the kind of lady that went to the beauty shop once a week to get her hair and nails done.  I wore a bun most days and bit my nails compulsively.  When I first started working there, we didn't talk much and I got the feeling she didn't like me.  One day, I guess I'd been there for a year by then, they nervously asked me how I would feel about working closely with her.  I told them the God's honest truth: I can work with anyone as long as said person is willing to keep it professional. 

She and I are both strong personalities, but I think we both reconized that and we were very careful with each other at first.  But the more we worked together, the more we relaxed around each other.  There were days I exasperated her and days I had to bite my lip hard.   BUT!  I really enjoyed working with that woman.  She and I worked well together.  We got our work done, quickly and efficiently, without a lot of discussion or ego.  We both understood that getting the work done for the good of the company was the most important thing.  

When she'd go on vacation, Mort would ask me to do things he'd normally ask Carol to do and he'd ask other people to do the things that I didn't know how to do.  I don't know how Caro got it all done.  I remember the Tuesday after she had been gone only one day, I started marking a post-it not with strikes everytime Mort would annoy me.  By that Friday, I had filled up two post-it notes with about 50 marks.  I gave it to her that Monday and explained that I put a mark each time I thought, "I miss Carol".

Occassionally we'd disagree and look at each other with a look that said, "I can't believe this woman is so stubborn", but it didn't slow our overall progress.  Together we took collection files from less than $1,000 a month to over $30,000 a month when I left there.  Please understand, we didn't work on commission.  We worked because that's what we were supposed to do.  I loved her work ethic and dedication.  We never hung out socially.  I don't send her Christmas cards, but I respect her to this day.