How many of you are old enough to have been working in 1973? If so, you would've had the kind of economic experience I did at that time. But if you were in school or missed the period of the oil crisis, get ready because those times could return with a vengeance.
I left the Marine Corps in 1974 and got my first (and only) real job with the Xerox Corporation. The U.S. economy was in terrible shape at that time. From 1973 to 1974, the U.S. was in the midst of an energy crisis, and inflation was in the double digits. Stagflation, a new word, had been introduced -- there was high inflation, but the economy wasn't growing.
Because of the energy crisis, I had not one but two cars. One was a Corvette, and one was a Karmann Ghia convertible, made by Volkswagen. I filled up my Corvette with gas on even-numbered calendar days and the other car on odd-numbered days. Also, the speed limit was cut from 65 to 55 mph to reduce gasoline consumption, which meant I was often pulled over for speeding.
Worst of all, as a brand new Xerox salesman just learning to sell, I found myself struggling to save Xerox copiers, rather than sell Xerox copiers. That's because back then, Xerox only rented copiers. As the economy worsened, one of the first items businesses got rid of was their Xerox copier. Each cancellation meant I had to sell two copiers -- one to cover the loss of the cancelled machine and another copier to earn enough money to put gas in my cars and food on the table. In some months, I was losing more machines than I was selling -- and was nearly fired several times.
http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/richricher/3721
I left the Marine Corps in 1974 and got my first (and only) real job with the Xerox Corporation. The U.S. economy was in terrible shape at that time. From 1973 to 1974, the U.S. was in the midst of an energy crisis, and inflation was in the double digits. Stagflation, a new word, had been introduced -- there was high inflation, but the economy wasn't growing.
Because of the energy crisis, I had not one but two cars. One was a Corvette, and one was a Karmann Ghia convertible, made by Volkswagen. I filled up my Corvette with gas on even-numbered calendar days and the other car on odd-numbered days. Also, the speed limit was cut from 65 to 55 mph to reduce gasoline consumption, which meant I was often pulled over for speeding.
Worst of all, as a brand new Xerox salesman just learning to sell, I found myself struggling to save Xerox copiers, rather than sell Xerox copiers. That's because back then, Xerox only rented copiers. As the economy worsened, one of the first items businesses got rid of was their Xerox copier. Each cancellation meant I had to sell two copiers -- one to cover the loss of the cancelled machine and another copier to earn enough money to put gas in my cars and food on the table. In some months, I was losing more machines than I was selling -- and was nearly fired several times.
http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/richricher/3721
