It's Thursday or as my as my staff would like to call it "Day 4 of the hostage situation".
I must mention the people that worked with me when I moved to the office in Leduc. Recruiting for international offshore operations was a much larger role, I had to hire a new assistant who's job would not only consist of catching the phone, doing employment pkgs., arranging drug and timed aptitude testing of the candidate, but also research the requirements and restrictions regarding visas and immunization etc. for each country that we were sending personnel into. There is a lot of frustration when you're learning on the fly like we were, fortunately I was able to talk Doreen Myrfield into coming back to work with me, caught her at a weak moment. Doreen had this amazing ability to remember people and their details, was incredibly good natured and could put up with me for at least 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I'm not for everyone, I'm barely for me. Doreen could pretty much read my mind . she would come up with a file or information before I had ever asked for , she'd overheard my phone conversation. She was also very pleasant and helpful to the candidates who came in for an interview as well as the fellows that were home on crew change. They would stop by for coffee, a chat and a look at the pictures on the "wall of shame". often bringing a picture or two of their crew members to add to the collection.. We also soon had wedding and new baby pictures being added.
Doreen was also my navigator whenever I was invited to attend any out of town or out of province functions.. Our first road trip together was in the middle of winter, to Carrot River Sask. for Les and Lisa Browns wedding. The night before the wedding there was a heavy snowfall so in the morning we had to shovel around the car, front and back so we could get out of the motel parking lot. A little later that morning some of the grooms family came on sleds to see if we were okay and if we could get out, we were ahead of them . We had many laughs on these road trips, as she constantly reminded me that if your turn left to go to your destination you must turn right to get home!
As we moved along in the job we both quickly improved our understanding of the qualifications for each position and requirements for each country. The sudden death of Doreen's husband Brock, changed everything, we were all in shock and I was at a loss without her. We talked daily , at that time she planned on taking time off to deal with her grief and all that goes with it, returning at a later date. As a replacement Shelley Austin was hired on a temporary basis. Shelley had no knowledge of this offshore industry, actually she was a partner in a dance studio which was a far cry from this. but I had met her on numerous occasions and felt that she could handle the position, it was temporary and would consist of answering the phones, respond to job inquiries and help with employment pkgs. Within 3 months Doreen determined she wasn't up to coming back full-time, but would stay to train her replacement and also agreed to come on a part-time basis and full-time when I was travelling. The full time position was offered to Shelley, thankfully she agreed and was now my recruiting assistant. Shelley was very astute and with Doreen's skills and training, caught on very quickly. A few years later Shelley passed her knowledge onto Sue Manuel, we were going along very well and then a new baby was on the way so Sue was away on maternity leave for a year. . There were a couple of staff that came and went in between time, Sue returned and Bonnie Howard also joined our staff. Bonnie and Sue took the operation over when I retired.
We all keep in touch, occasionally meeting for lunch and the conversation ultimately turns to some very funny stories of our days working together.
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