After a couple of unsuccessful interviews, I was called by this little office that I replied to an ad at the newspaper. My husband said he never met anybody who got a job by answering an ad at a paper. I went to the interview very relaxed thinking they are not going to hire me anyway, I’ll just do my best. Chris and I have practiced interviewing, so I did well this time. I was interviewing with three guys at the same time, I was very nervous, but I explained well what I did before, and I was hoping to get my foot in the door in the US. A couple of days later, the owner, Tim, called me and offered me the job. I was more than happy. I told Chris, even if he had offered me 1 dollar per hour, I would have taken the job. Of course he did better then that in the offer. I started the following week.
Pam complained that I was wearing too much perfume. She complained to the owner’s wife and she had to come and talk to me. "Helena, can you come here with me? I need to talk to you". She said that pointing to the boss's office. I entered the room, she followed me, and I was sweating. "Am I getting fired?" was my first tought. "Do I stink?" was my second tought, trying to hold on to some hope.
Well, here comes the problem: I smelled too good. "What?" I tought with much relief. Then she went on how embarrassed she was to have to tell me this, how Pam had put her in this position etc. Bad girl that Pam. Complaining about my good smell, she had "gowl/gall". I can't imagine complaining about someone smelling good. GOOD people, not bad! Anyone else would give anything to sit next to me because of my fragrance. After my Mom’s first visit to my house, we discovered Victoria’s Secret "Get 5 - Pay 4" Garden collection. Those pretty little things that smell so good. I wanted (and I bought) the whole collection. Five items that smelled like a specific flower. I purchased five items, and wore them everyday, all together. I took a shower with the shower gel or the scrub, then I would apply the body lotion all over my body, and then spray the body mist. I kept the hand lotion in my purse. Well, everything smelled great, but maybe wearing them all together was too much. Maybe Pam had a point.
I didn't know about wood frame construction. The first time I saw a roof detail I almost passed out. Those " x"'s everywhere! I wondered what those were. I nevee worked with wood frame construction before, and I didn't even know what a 2x4 was. Everything seemed to be 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, and so forth. What was that? After my first day of working there I went straight to the bookstore and bought a illustrated architecture dictionary and a building construction details book. I needed to find pictures of those things and all the vocabulary. I needed to succeed. I devoured those books and after a few months I was able to develop on my own wall sections and details for one house all by myself. One of the main archutects was very impressed of how fast I was learning and he congratulated me on my determination. That was very nice and encouraging. I could do that.
Being able to draw all that stuff by myself made me confident but at the sane time after two years I was ready for other challenges. I wanted to work with larger buildings.
Working with single family homes in Georgia introduced me to a few architects that became dear. Kim Mead White, Greene and Greene were admired by me and my peers. I learned more about the Arts and Crafts Movement and Frank Lloyd Wright. I wasn't afraid of 2x4's anymore. They were the back bones of architecture and now I was dominating them.
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