I have worked at the phone co. for 26 years, starting in Denver and eventually transferring to L.A.. I am a beneficiary of affirmative action. I was hired as a clerk in 1973 even though I failed the typing test because they needed more men in so-called "women's" jobs. By the time I got out of that position two years later, I could take apart a Xerox machine and put it back together. I then transferred into the Yellow Pages dept. typesetting the text of the ads. I was fast; (they called me "Electric Fingers"). When I was passed over for a promotion (while already temporarily promoted), I transferred to the "frame," a humongous steel, well, frame where wires are run from one block to another, essentially reproducing the connections out in the "field," in other words, from the terminal on the street corner to your house. It was quiet, somewhat tedious work, but I felt cool with my toolbelt and soldering iron until women "invaded" the job shortly thereafter. They were loud, boisterous, and cussed like sailors. They were also cute and teased us guys unmercifully. After 18 months I transferred into Special Services where I took trouble reports from customers re: their data ckts. (in the old days when 2400 kps was considered fast). I eventually tested them and also met my first wife in that dept. We got married and transferred to L.A. within a month. In LA I found myself working for AT&T once again on the frame! Along came electronic switching and I was soon at a desk. In 1983 they sent my wife and me to an intense 6 month school to actually work on the hardware and we fought constantly and were soon divorced. We eventually moved into a surveillance position, not even working on the eqpt. we were trained to maintain and repair. Boring! We sat in front of computers all day and helped others who were actually worked on the eqpt. over the phone. They moved the center to San Diego a couple of years ago. My ex-wife (who I had continued to work with after the divorce in 1988 until the move in '95) followed the work to S.D. and I stayed put, moving into power maintenance. (Just prior to that I ran for LA City Council, which is another story in itself!). I lost my specialized technical title in the move, but they gave me a truck to drive around to my various offices where I maintain and repair the back-up generators and power converters that run phone co. switchers (basically very large computers). It's usually very boring; the stuff hardly breaks. Now I'm considering management. I went to school fulltime from 89-92 and got a BA in journalism with a pr specialty, but I have little opportunity to use it. I could coast out my phone career and retire in this job in a couple years, but there's no challenge.