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I sit at a large, brown, wooden desk with a large gouge in one of the drawers. The desk cost $40.00 and came with a three-shelf bookcase and a small wooden computer table. It seems I was the high bidder at an auction selling off the remnants of an FDIC office that bit the dust.
During what we refer to as “the two weeks from hell,” among our staff, and “deadline” to our readers. 20-hour days are the norm. One night, after an office all-nighter, I drove home only to realize I’d left my house keys at the office. When I rang the doorbell, a little voice responded, “Who’s there?” “Mom,” I replied. “Mom who?” came the answer.
Is it worth it? Except for the “Mom who?” the answer is a resounding yes.
Three short years ago, my work life consisted of crawling under the occasional truck, taking statements from a variety of crooks, attending too many boring task force meetings and suffering monthly over the most ridiculous set of corporate expense account reimbursement rules known to man (Yes, I’m talking about you, John!).
Now, the job description is just a little different. Recently I had the pleasure of sitting between NICB’s John DiLiberto and AISG’s John Swedo at a day-long seminar. During breaks, I hit the pay phones like everyone else, returning messages and taking care of necessary business from afar. The list of people I get to mingle with and talk to, and most importantly, learn from almost every day, reads like a Who’s Who in the Fraud Investigation Industry. From a purely intellectual standpoint, to say this is thrilling would be a vast understatement.
But there is another side to the equation as well. It is the calls, letters and faxes that come in daily from JCIFR readers:
“Our company saved $26,000 as a direct result of information printed in your last issue”; or “I don’t know how we got along before we had John Cooke to help us.” From a purely emotional and egotistical standpoint, to describe this as gratifying, would also be a vast understatement.
To each and every one of you who has imparted a bit of your hard-earned knowledge, shared the credit for a hard-won victory or contributed to the JCIFR effort in any way, please know that you are the reason these 20-hour days are so very worthwhile.
I salute each of you. And that is not an overstatement.
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