Chutzpah
Title
Chutzpah
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"We are getting to the last years in my narration of my 'working life.'"
Date
2009
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Coverage
1994/1995
Identifier
Chutzpah
Text
Chutzpah
We are getting to the last years in my narration of my “working life.” I will describe in another piece, how I made the transition from a Federal to a State employee. Today’s assignment: how I wound up my career as an Inspector with the Fair Labor and Business Practices Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
When, in the fall of 1994, it was made clear to me that my job with the Mass. Department of Employment and Training was coming to an end, I geared up again for the challenging task of finding another job. I had a lot of practice seven years before, and I had come up with a winner: Member of the Board of Review of DET. But it is 1994, and I am seven years older—67 years old. Most people are retired by this time.
Where can I find another job? I pulled out all the stops. I called everyone I knew in State government, in the labor movement, in the civil rights community, in the Jewish community. There weren’t too many jobs around. Finally, I heard that there might be an opening in the Fair Labor division of the Attorney General’s office. Great! It turns out that Fran’s cousin, Dick Yorrah works there. I immediately called him and arranged to take him to lunch. He seemed perplexed by my call, and I explained to him that I have to find another job and I learned that there was an opening in his Division. He didn’t know anything about it. I then asked him to describe the work he does. He hemmed and hawed. (I never knew what this expression meant, until I saw it in action.) Dick told me absolutely nothing about his work, the section of the law that his Division enforced, or the people with whom he worked. It was a total waste of time. I bought him lunch and got nothing, except frustration and indigestion.
Checking further, I found the name of a young woman I had met some time before, who, by a marvelous coincidence, was working in the Fair Labor Division as an attorney. I called her; we had a wonderful, informative conversation—all the information that Dick did not provide me—and armed with this knowledge, I started calling the key people in the Division and the Attorney General’s Office. I called Brian Burke, the Chief of the Division; I had everyone I knew who knew Brian, call him and write him. Apparently, I managed to wear him down. I had an interview. I believe I did all the right things, and in January 1995, I was offered the job. I couldn’t have been happier or more grateful to everyone involved: Brian Burke, and everyone in the attorney General’s Office that had to approve the appointment: the Director of Operations, the chief of Staff and Scott Harshbarger, the Attorney General himself.
I learned my job as an Inspector I, job grade 19, step 1. And I did my job. Some may have called it “on the job training.” But I had other skills that the other inspectors may not have had.
We are getting to the last years in my narration of my “working life.” I will describe in another piece, how I made the transition from a Federal to a State employee. Today’s assignment: how I wound up my career as an Inspector with the Fair Labor and Business Practices Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
When, in the fall of 1994, it was made clear to me that my job with the Mass. Department of Employment and Training was coming to an end, I geared up again for the challenging task of finding another job. I had a lot of practice seven years before, and I had come up with a winner: Member of the Board of Review of DET. But it is 1994, and I am seven years older—67 years old. Most people are retired by this time.
Where can I find another job? I pulled out all the stops. I called everyone I knew in State government, in the labor movement, in the civil rights community, in the Jewish community. There weren’t too many jobs around. Finally, I heard that there might be an opening in the Fair Labor division of the Attorney General’s office. Great! It turns out that Fran’s cousin, Dick Yorrah works there. I immediately called him and arranged to take him to lunch. He seemed perplexed by my call, and I explained to him that I have to find another job and I learned that there was an opening in his Division. He didn’t know anything about it. I then asked him to describe the work he does. He hemmed and hawed. (I never knew what this expression meant, until I saw it in action.) Dick told me absolutely nothing about his work, the section of the law that his Division enforced, or the people with whom he worked. It was a total waste of time. I bought him lunch and got nothing, except frustration and indigestion.
Checking further, I found the name of a young woman I had met some time before, who, by a marvelous coincidence, was working in the Fair Labor Division as an attorney. I called her; we had a wonderful, informative conversation—all the information that Dick did not provide me—and armed with this knowledge, I started calling the key people in the Division and the Attorney General’s Office. I called Brian Burke, the Chief of the Division; I had everyone I knew who knew Brian, call him and write him. Apparently, I managed to wear him down. I had an interview. I believe I did all the right things, and in January 1995, I was offered the job. I couldn’t have been happier or more grateful to everyone involved: Brian Burke, and everyone in the attorney General’s Office that had to approve the appointment: the Director of Operations, the chief of Staff and Scott Harshbarger, the Attorney General himself.
I learned my job as an Inspector I, job grade 19, step 1. And I did my job. Some may have called it “on the job training.” But I had other skills that the other inspectors may not have had.
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Chutzpah,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed May 1, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/87.