During the summer of 2006 I interviewed at a company owned partly by a former supervisor’s husband, the job was to be an Office Manager. I interviewed with three people, one of them was my current boss Jim DiLuigi.
I was kind of selling myself as something of an IT guy and Jim asked me if I knew why he was getting so many spam emails for Viagra in his inbox. I answered simply – “It’s the sites your visiting.” which he didn’t take well at all. I should have clarified that it is about filing out information on websites that ask for your age and gender and those sites selling your information to spamming companies.
I didn’t get the job, partly I think because of that answer. Jim doesn’t recall it that way, but I’ll bet that’s what happened. The same company did call me a few weeks later to offer me an Administrative Assistant position which I gladly accepted.
While at this company I sat facing Jim and we quickly developed a good working routine where he’d pass me things to type and I’d hand him the document that he’d then edit a bazillion times, sometimes reinserting words he’d deleted three drafts ago – that was kind of annoying (still is today). We were quick, efficient and comfortable.
In a few short months it was obvious the Office Manager they hired wasn’t meeting expectations, she was let go and the position was offered to me. I took it, glad that my hard work hadn’t gone unnoticed and thankful for the opportunity to grow.
In the fall of 2007 things with the other boss were getting crazier and crazier and logic was being tossed out the window at regular intervals. The other boss got it into his head that he should fire Jim and nothing I could say would deter him from that goal. So in December, Jim was terminated and I made plans to exit that company as well.
In January of 2008 Jim approached me with the idea of starting a new firm, I had let him know previously I would be giving notice at the beginning of the year. Initially I was just humoring Jim, and thought such an endeavor would last maybe a few months and then he’d want to do something else or I wouldn’t like it… Jim asked if we could give it a try for five years and we both agreed to that.
We did pretty well in those five years. We laughed almost every day. Every day I got a hug in the morning and a hug in the evening. We’d have lunch and take trips and spend time in waiting rooms and walk around the city. We worked too, Jim would travel all over the country to help find simple solutions for accessibility issues and then come back and we’d write up reports for the client and answer their calls and emails.
One thing I’ve loved about this is Jim’s open-mindedness, even with the law he knows so well. He’d take my suggestions sometimes and answer my questions no matter how trivial they might have seemed to me.
We survived snowmageddon, the earth quake, my Pa and his Ma’s passing, his friend passing, my failed engagement and arguments here and there. We took trips to Boca Raton, Maui, Cancun, San Antonio, Danville, and more. We ditched the PC’s and went Mac. We’ve had some of the most interesting clients and situations come up that kept us intrigued and entertained.
The goal was never really about making money, the goal was about having fun and helping others. We met the goals.
Sadly, we’re going to be closing our doors January 31, it was a great run and I’ve received a great friend (and his family) out of the deal. I’m a lucky man. I’ve just had the best job a person could ask for and it taught me the importance of loving the job you have and the people you work with, go do what you love and do it with people that are worth knowing.
My boss, my friend, my partner – Jim DiLuigi is worth knowing.
