Ernst & Ernst

Early in 1968, I suffered one of my worst days.  I got fired.  What a humiliation!

It all started in July of 1967 when I moved to Michigan.  I had expected to be at Lackland Air Force Base outside of San Antonio, Texas, but my colitis diagnosis scuttled that plan and I had to devise a new one ASAP or I would spend another summer in Oswego living with my parents.  

I chose suburban Detroit because my late brother Ted lived there with his wife and infant son.  My first and only job interview was at the CPA firm Ernst & Ernst (E&E) on West Fort Street in downtown Detroit.  Why did I go there, I don't remember.  

The Personnel guy who interviewed me was impressed with my Penn-Wharton degree and offered me a job at $10,500 per year.  A lot of money in 1967.

My brother advised me not to accept any offer right away, not believing I would receive such a high offer.  I accepted the next day.

The job was as an accounting auditor, a position for which I had no academic training.  At Penn, I took only 6 accounting courses, none of which were about auditing.  My colleagues at E&E had three times the number of accounting courses, including auditing.

My experience at E&E consisted of being assigned to a different manager and client every couple of weeks or so.  My first assignment was at a bank where we opened a very rich family's safe deposit box and counted their stocks and bonds.

I was expected to be available for work 24/7.  An example was I had to leave Thanksgiving lunch early so I could go to the fur vault (to count furs) at a downtown Detroit department store.

About six months after I started, I arrived at the West Fort Street office early in the morning.  I was called to the Personnel office.

The manager there read me an appraisal from a job I had worked from about two months before.  I considered that the audit manager who wrote it had been friendly towards me.  However, what he wrote was highly critical.  I hadn't shown the proper amount of enthusiasm for my work.  I just did what I was told...nothing more.

Therefore, I was to be terminated.  I tried to justify myself to the Personnel manager, but it was hopeless.  The decision was made.  Case closed.

At first, I was depressed.  But, then I remembered how much I hated my job.  Then, I was relieved...but, still humiliated.

But, the Personnel manager gave me one good piece of advice.  He said in the future I should stay clear of CPA firms and try for a position in private accounting.  When I moved to New York City, I did just that.  I got a job with Joseph E. Seagram's & Sons, Inc. and stayed for 31 years...and three months.