It’s no secret that I LOVED my job at Pen Maker. Not just because I finally found my home in a marketing department, or because I like writing, or even because of my love of pens and pencils. I got to see first-hand how things get lost (or added) in translation within just a few days of starting, when the director of marketing explained to me how in a color marker the “tampon that is soaked with ink.” The fun continued when Japan headquarters came out with a revolutionary new ink system that flowed effortlessly with no skipping, blobbing, etc. My boss Jill had to explain to the company president why Maxiflo wasn’t a good name for a pen.
No topic was off-limits in that company. I had to write a letter to the middle school principal asking why the director’s son didn’t get straight A’s and 5’s on his report card. After the president’s wife had a doctor’s appointment, the personnel manager had to explain to him what a hysterectomy was.
