Bringing the hammer down

The company I work for is very passionate about giving back to the community and over the years I have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity through our organization on many occasions. If you aren’t familiar with this Habitat, one of the things they do is build homes for families in need. This is accomplished by the use volunteers to do all the work such as framing, installing windows and laying shingles. I’m getting ready do to it again.

Having been an independent woman for so long, I must say I’m a subject matter expert using most power tools. If I have to fix anything around the house I have complete confidence in my ability. I have alone installed toilets, ceiling fans and even cut down trees with a chain saw.

I had the opportunity to help build a house with some other coworkers and on the day I was there, I spent my time putting outlet and light switch covers on along with hanging a number of window blinds. I even hung two ceiling fans.

At the end of the day, the entire team was surprised with a site visit from one of the most Senior Leaders of the company. As one of the top leaders of a company with over 500,000 employees across the world, you can believe it’s not often, if ever, someone like me would have the opportunity to even be in the same city as this man. To be able to shake his hand and introduce myself was I felt, an honor for me.

As he made his way through our small group he finally approached me. I felt my nervousness was showing through my entire body. My mind is racing and I’m telling myself – “Oh my God - do not sound stupid, Oh God - be clear and direct”. With the most professional handshake and confident voice I could muster I told him my name and what I do for the company. He in turn said to me, “I really appreciate you being here today working on this home. What kind of things have you been doing all day?”

Without a thought, without stopping myself, I looked into his eyes in all seriousness and said:

“I have been screwing all day”.

Just Fucking Lovely…