Act Two-

 

"I'm happy about who I am and what I am. I can't wait to find out who I'll be tomorrow." - Joyce Dewitt, Actress

I have been thinking about retirement for months. Every time I met with my financial advisor he would say " You know you can retire".  The last time we met, I told him I was one bad day from retiring.

Well that bad day came the Thursday before Easter.  When you have enough money to retire it is difficult to put up with day to day work issues and to get up at 5 am each day.  It has been tough for me this past year because I started a new job right as the pandemic hit.  It has been really challenging trying to learn a highly technical job while being remote from my team.  One of the things that had been a constant in my career is work even with challenges was fun. This job was just not fun anymore.

It felt strange to turn in my notice to retire.  I figured out it was because I had not chosen to leave a job for over 20 years. I was laid off from my job with a local utility company after 19 years.  I was also laid off from the two jobs before that.   Those breaks in employment showed me I would have no problem finding things to do once I stopped working.

I started working the day after high school in 1976, washing glassware in a lab.  I continued working there through most of college. I had been promoted to a lab tech and there was a mix of full time employees and college students. All the other college students were engineering majors. They told me how fun the classes were. I had started as pre-med and for many reasons decided to give engineering a try. I loved it!  What they did not tell me was how much work it was.

I graduated engineering school in 1982 during the middle of a huge recession. Employment and inflation were double digits.  I ended up going back to work at the company I worked in college.  I was doing research on materials for humidity sensors for HVAC systems. My big accomplishment was working with an intern to develop a computer program that reduced the time we needed to analyze data from over a week of calculations to a few minutes.

The photo you see at the top of the blog is from my next position.  I was a research engineer working on semi-conductor materials.  I had a secret security clearance.  I helped to build the equipment in the picture. This photo was used on a cover of a brochure for our research center.  

The photographer entered it and won a contest at EPCOT. It was on display there for over a year. It also appeared on the cover of Design News. I loved this job until I got a new supervisor.  He was single and decided I should date him. I was only one of  five women working as engineers in a staff of 150.  It was my policy not to date anyone at work ever.  He did not take it well and took away all my work.  It was really a terrible situation.  His boss, the man that had hired me, asked me what was going on. To my regret, I did not tell him what had happened. It was something that was not talked about in those days. It was not the only incident of harassment that happened at this company. The women engineers would trade stories.  What made the situation even worse was he was my advisor for my master's thesis.  Right in the middle of the project he washed his hands of me. He would not ever read the thesis. He refused to help with anything. I was on my own. He also was on the committee when I presented my work.  It was as awkward as it sounds.

Early on in my employment one of my male co-workers pulled me aside to tell me he did not want a bunch of male visitors to the lab.  Apparently he viewed me as some type of distraction. In a meeting early in my career, the manager of my department stated in a meeting " When I look at a male engineer, I know he has to be here."  Wow, that really has to make you question your career choice and your place of employment. With that kind of leadership, it is not surprising the work environment was not great for female engineers. At the time I think less than 5% of engineers in the U.S. were female.

So I was transferred to a different work group. I had spent years getting my graduate degree in semi-conductor materials. So now I was going to be working in a pilot production facility to assemble circuit boards.  The guy running the lab was very dis-organized and I was brought in to turn around the quality. He refused to train me. He tried to set me up to fail. This time when the manager who had hired me asked about it, I told him what was going on and that he was telling anyone that would listen that I was incompetent.  I took matters into my own hands and started a local chapter of the professional society governing the work. I attended many seminars and got up to speed. I turned the lab performance around.  By then I had a new boss and the day I hit my quality goals, he took me out of the role and gave the management of the facility to one of his hunting buddies. I took my skills and moved on to another company.  I learned quite a bit in the 9 years, but it was time for a change.

I then worked as a production manager for company that did contract circuit board assembly. They had 50 employees and 30 of the employees reported to me. The place was not making money and their quality was a mess. I wore many hats there, safety officer, trainer, production manager. Without going into all of the details I used my knowledge and experience to help the company make a profit for the first time.  The problem was I was single and in my 30s.  The President of the company was also single.    He used the company as his playground. He made it very clear his interest in me.  At the end of a record production month, I was fired. It was shortly after turning down his last advance.  I chalked it up to experience and was ready to move on. The problem is they were giving me bad reviews that I knew cost me at least two jobs. A friend inside the company told me she overheard several of the managers talking about doing it and laughing about it. I filed a discrimination suit with the EEOC and they found cause. We settled.  The problem was that my reputation was now so damaged I feared I could not find a job in my field.

So I ended up working as a Product Safety engineer for two years until the company ran into financial trouble. I learned so much about risk and the legal world.  I did training about product safety and liability.  It was because of that experience that I decided to transition into training as a career.

I used my technical background and experience doing training to a job as a technical trainer. I helped them set up a program for their designers. We were able to lower the training time from 5 years to 2 years.  I went onto to be a supervisor of training and procedures.  The role of the department was to deal with outages and hazards on the electrical system.  I felt like it was such important work. I developed all of their training programs, helped develop 125 procedures. The people were just the best, but my fellow supervisors engaged in outright harassment of my employees. When someone came to me, I felt the accusations were try based on what I had experienced.  I knew reporting it would hurt my advancement. I felt morally my obligation was to my employees. Things needed to change and they never would unless someone reported it.  Things were better for a bit and again the same problems occurred. I again took a stand for better treatment. I am sure I was branded as a troublemaker.  The employees being harassed were all women and it was done by men.

I moved on to become a manager of performance and improvement for a group of power plants. I led the effort to update over 3000 procedures over four years. I trained many writers and proofreaders using course materials I developed. It was another assignment were there were few women.  I think less than 10% of the staff was women. That as always leads to challenges.    I compared working there being a serf. The Lords were the plant managers. What they said was the rule and no one should challenge it. Sometimes that silence put the company at risk and I felt when it put safety at risk I had to challenge it. That did not make me popular. After 19 years I was downsized when three of the large plants I supported closed.

I was lucky to find work as a Technical Writer at American Transmission Company. I saved the best company for last. They end up on best places to work in Milwaukee for a reason. They really care about their employees. Every person I worked with was talented and nice. They truly hire the best and create a great environment. My last position was as a System Protection Specialist work with sub-station relays.  My boss was extremely nice, my co-workers could nor have been nicer. It was hard to leave but it was time.

My career went by so fast.  It seems it was over almost as soon as it started. I faced many challenges. When I had a toxic boss, I vowed to be better and got the training I needed to be ready when my turn came. When one career option disappeared, I retooled and got ready for the next opportunity.  

I could still work, I continued to interview right up to the very end. I just sensed for now it was time for Act 2.  There have been my highs in my career and also incredible challenges being a woman in a mostly male occupation. I wondered many times if I made the right career choice. On whole I think I made the right choice and I proud of the work I've done.

I will still be busy with training, travel and projects around the house. I am also thinking over self-employment options using my training and technical skills. I am excited about Act 2, act 1 will be a tough one to beat!

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Chris Wodke

Founder & Manager Team CMT

www.run4cmt.com

 

Chris is a triathlete and long distance runner. She is a three time participant of the Boston Marathon.  In 2012 she finished 2nd at Boston in the Mobility Impaired Division. She was on the course in 2013 when the bombs exploded.

 

She has appeared three times at the Paratriathlon National Triathlon Sprint Championship. She was the 2012 and 2014 National Champion Paratriathlon Open Division Champion.

In 2014 she was the PC Open Champion at the Duathlon National Championship and at the Aqua bike National Championship in 2016. She represented Team USA at the Aquathon ITU World Championship in Chicago in 2015i, Cozumel in 2016 and Denmark in 2018. In 2018 finishing 5^th in the 60 to 64 age group.

 

 In 2014 she represented the U.S. as a paratriathlete at the Pan-American Triathlon Championship in Dallas, Texas.  She has won state championships in cycling and triathlon as a senior Olympian. In 2017 she placed 2^nd in her age group at the Winter Triathlon National Championship, earning a spot on Team USA for the World Championship.

 

In 2020 she was named a National Ski Patrol Subaru Ambassador and a USA Triathlon Foundation Ambassador.

 

She travels around the country raising awareness of CMT.

 

She is the author of the book, “Running for My Life” that details her experience as a CMT affected athlete and the book “Soup Sundays, A Journey Toward Healthy Eating”.

http://www.henschelhausbooks.com/catalog/memoir-biography/215-running-for-my-life-winning-for-cmt-9781595982827.html

 

You may visit her author page at:
http://www.amazon.com/Christine-Wodke/e/B00IJ02HX6

 

Team CMT is a group of athletes and supporters working to raise awareness and to find a cure for CMTWe currently have 233 athletes in 41 states. We also have members in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Vietnam, Iran, Scotland, France, Turkey, Poland, Norway, Mexico, Wales, Ireland and Sweden!. If you wish to join us visit our web site; www.run4cmt.com or www.hnf-cure.org

 

CMT or Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most commonly inherited peripheral neuropathy. It affects over 155,000 Americans (as many as MS).  It is a disease of the nerves that control the muscles. It is slowly progressive, causing loss of normal function and or sensation in the lower legs/feet and arms/hands.

 

Symptoms include; muscle wasting in the lower legs and feet leading to foot drop, poor balance and gait problems Atrophy in the hands causes difficulty with manual dexterity.

 

Structural foot deformities such as high arches and hammer toes are common.

 

Poor tolerance for cool or cold temperatures and many people have chronically cold hands and feet.

 

Additional symptoms may include fatigue, sleep apnea, breathing difficulties and hearing loss.

 

 

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