Once upon a time many years ago (about 13 to be exact) I made the decision to move into a newly developing department at my company. They were creating a corporate purchasing department. A few weeks ago, I made a rather bittersweet decision to move on from purchasing to distribution in a new role. With the closing of a chapter, it is time for some reflection, memories and stories.
Here we are back in the day. The official group of purchasing. Aside from myself, there are only two others left from the picture in the purchasing department. Purchasing for a large company is hard bruttle work. When you work with great people, it makes it worth it.
A reflection of my time in purchasing. I defined my time in purchasing into various sections based on where we were as a department.
First was the birth of purchasing. This was by far the hardest time in the history of the department. Trying to change a whole companies way of thinking. Proving that we had something to offer and were beneficial. My boss at that time taught me so much about negotiating. Took me under his wing. Made me the hard ass I needed to be. Our director was amazing though. Stood by us and brought down the hammer on people when we needed it. He made sure we had some fun along the way too. Lunches and cocktails were pretty common. It far outweighed the times when you would just leave and go home in tears from being called various words to not be mentioned. Finally there was the point were people didn't hate us...completely.
This led into what I like to refer to as the customer service years. By the obvious title this time was all about treating, working with our internal customers. Polishing some of the roughness we acquired. It was a tough job. The director at that time came from a customer service background. He taught us a lot about working with people and diffusing situations. Not just laying down the hammer.
After all of this, we decided to buy another company. Which led us into the nickel and dime era. This was all about how much money you could save. The director during this period was from the company we acquired and a woman. She is one of the smartest woman I know. I am very grateful of the things I learned from her. She was tough. One of my fave sayings of her's to this day is "shits-n-bits". My boss during this time was also pretty awesome. He taught me about leases,, bankruptcy and various items we as a company never worried about before. His saying "row well and live".
And the final era that was just starting...the bullshit era. This is why I decided to leave. When you are told to be quiet when telling someone the truth versus what they want to hear. Someone lies directly to your face, it is time to move on. At least it was in my books. There are a few values I will always stand by: truth and honesty. Those I do not break. I will miss the people in my department who have been my friends and coworkers thru the years. Of course, like I said, it was not like I died. I will still be around and we know where to find each other. And those wonderful people, where the ones who surprised me with a glorious lunch in true company tradition.
Look at all that glorious food. We definetly know how to party. Then one of the girls I sit near gave me the best going away present.....
Kleenex. Yeah I was excited.
Today I sit in my new position. I work with an amazing group of people. Even though it was a little scary at first, it feels completely right. Time for the start of a new chapter.
xoxo, Dawn Marie
No comments:
Post a Comment