I realized the magnitude of my mistake when I arrived outside our cafeteria and saw my fellow program participants standing there in their best suits and dresses. One particular Friday, I came to work dressed casually not remembering that we had lunch scheduled that day with the owner/chairman of the company. I was part of a management training program and one element of the program was to give its participants exposure to executives in the company. It was, however, something my department had embraced. It was, at that point, happening sporadically across departments and was certainly not yet common practice. Our company had recently begun introducing casual Fridays. I was just a few months into my first professional job. My most embarrassing moment at work came very early in my career. I wasn’t fired, but was transferred to another office. Consequently, hundreds of customers ordered the wrong item and it caused a great deal of trouble in Ward’s order-filling department. In my haste to leave the office before the Thanksgiving holiday, I failed to check the captions on a strip of photographs and misidentified a piece of hardware for binding the edges of linoleum. In 1943, I was writing copy about rugs and linoleum for the Montgomery Ward catalog. We are stronger than most because of our common bonds. I believe my time at Wabash in some small way prepared me for being able to endure hardships such as this. Sorry for the nature of this note, it I believed it should be shared for those brothers out there who are having similar experiences but have not yet made it to the other side. just shows you that life is unpredictable and hard but never-the-less, life after the fact will exist. The good news? After 2 and one half years, most of us are finding the opportunity to consult with the same companies that formerly put us on the street. Unfortunately, this is a story that has been all too common. This is followed by the struggles with trying to find a job, any job including jobs that are well below your education and skill set. The realization of being cast off after many years of service was unique-your sense of value quickly dissipates. The most embarrassing event in my career was being RFI’d at the age of 62. The experience helped make me become a better judge. The experience reinforced my resolve to remain neutral as a judge and not worry about what happened to me as a result of my rulings. I was encouraged that I had ruled correctly. Over time three or four courts, state and federal, ruled the same way I did on the issue. I thought to myself, “Well, I’m happy I live in a country with the First Amendment so unhappy people can let off steam and say what they want and not in a country where my wife, Jan, would be reading in the paper, “State Judge Jay Patterson found dead in execution style slaying.” Then my emotional ride went to a new stage. Pretty soon I began getting calls from supporters saying things like, “This isn’t right!” “You’re a good judge!” “Isn’t there something we can do about this?” I don’t know for sure what happened next but the two pro se parties had apparently placed all the signs illegally in public right-of-way. I carried one of the signs to my media consultant and asked him, “What should I do about this?” His advice: “Nothing.” So I did nothing. “I made a correct decision.” “What can I do about this?” I went through an emotional ride something like the stages of grief: “Oh, no!” “Why me?” One read, “State Judge Jay Patterson has never read the First Amendment,” and the other, “State Judge Jay Patterson corrupts American Values.” When I ruled against them, the two were so angry they placed hundreds of yard signs all over Dallas. They brought the case as a Section 1983 civil rights case. Midway through my 12 years as a trial judge in Dallas I heard a case brought by two pro se parties trying to shut down a bond sale by the local school district. But we only have so much space in print, and some of the most interesting and thoughtful responses are published here for the first time. We asked readers to tell us about the most embarrassing moment of their professional careers, and we printed many of the responses in WM Winter 2018.
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