Plan B

When I was in high school my folks encouraged me to take typing and shorthand. This was so I "would have something to fall back on" in case I did not complete college and attain the highest professional goal for a woman - elementary school teacher. I'm guessing the scenario they feared was that some good looking scamp - in a uniform or on a motorcycle - would whisper "come away with me" and I would immediately forget all plans for a degree and every other sane thought as well.

The "fall back" plan was to gain the ability to transcribe what was said by someone important (that is, a man) into squiggly lines from which I could regurgitate a neatly typed letter at about 80 words per minute. If I couldn't be a teacher maybe I could be a secretary which was not as good but at least I would be working in an office and not on my feet all day waiting tables or cutting hair. It's hard to believe but this pretty much summed up most career options for women about 50 years ago.

When I retired two years ago I was a Director of Systems and Programming, a job that did not exist or could even be imagined when I was in high school. It was a perfect fit for me and I loved designing and implementing claims processing, prescription eligibility and fulfillment, police, fire, utility billing, legal, purchasing, financial and any other kind of large information technology application. I never did learn how to write shorthand or type 80 words a minute or wait tables or cut hair and I never inflicted myself on impressionable elementary school children.

Oh and I never ran off with a good looking scamp in a uniform either...

;-)