[box sid=”box-1409249053″ style=”background-color:#faedcb;”]Thanks to Richard Friedman of the class of 1972, who responded to our request for additional Alumni First Jobs stories. His letter to the editor reminds us that finding that right job after college can be a bit of a struggle, but a worthwhile one.[/box]
[dropcap sid=”dropcap-1409251282″]M[/dropcap]y first and almost last job was driving a cab in Yonkers, N.Y., for a private taxi service.
It was April 1973, just about a year after I had graduated from Baruch with a BBA in industrial psychology. In essence, after great effort, I had not been able to find a job in the business world and resolved myself to remaining a cab driver, a job I’d been doing since I was 18. Even my mother had stopped bugging me: previously she would tease me that I should ‘hang my diploma in my taxicab’!
The private car service catered to people in the general east Yonkers area, along Central Avenue, who would call from their homes for transportation to and from local schools, shopping areas, restaurants, etc., as well as airports and places in New York City or Long Island.
One beautiful early spring afternoon, I received a call from my dispatcher to pick up a fare at Walt Whitman Junior High School. While waiting in front of the school on this gorgeous day, I found myself almost hypnotized by the beauty of the surrounding trees and decided to walk down a garden path adjacent to the school.
There I stumbled on a wide-open classroom window with a teacher giving what appeared to be an algebra lecture. I stood there observing for a while—until the students became distracted by my presence and the teacher requested I leave.
A few months later, when I arrived in Florida to begin my new life, the memory of that teacher’s dedication as he lectured his students and individually helped them to learn remained with me, and I began the road to my career as a high school math teacher.”
—Richard Friedman (’72) is a retired math teacher living in Florida.