A Place For Her Lever

I wonder how much of being a Superhero is just finding a place to put your lever.

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Her name was Judy, I think. Don’t remember her last name. She walked in off-the-street looking for a job - just out of high school - with no experience and no particular skill. She was plain, short, a bit of a pudge, and completely unassuming.

“Set down. Let’s chat. You seem like a very nice girl. You don’t have any experience or special skill, but that doesn’t matter; I don’t have any openings at the moment that require too much of either experience or special skill. You can learn on the job”.

I offered her a small salary. She accepted with a smile, saying, “Oh thank you, I’m sure I can do good work. I just need a place to put my lever”.

I didn’t expect that.

“Are you referring to Archimedes”?

She didn’t remember the name. She did remember what Archimedes said about the power of the lever. Her high school history teacher told her class about Archimedes’ analyses of basic machines, including the lever.

The part that stayed in her mind was Archimedes’ claim that given the right place to put his lever, he could move the world.

Judy remembered that part because it gave her a strategy for success: find a place to use what you’re good at; find a place to put your lever; - Simple, direct, practical. I was impressed.

Sadly, Judy wasn’t very good at doing the job I gave her.

The business was dedicated to producing mechanical illustrations and text for industrial instruction manuals. Judy’s job was to paste illustrations and text in position as camera-ready keylines. It wasn’t complicated work, but it did require deftness and accuracy.

Judy did the best she could. It just wasn’t the place for her lever.

Time passed. I hoped she’d get better at keylining. She didn’t.

Instead she found a different way to be useful – Catering.

It wasn’t planned, it evolved. There was a snackshop a few floors away that served every business in the building. Ours included. At midmorning and midafternoon, people would walk away from the drafting board to get a coke, sandwich, bag of chips, or whatever.

When Judy went to the snackshop she always asked if she could get anything for anyone else. Yes she could.

Before long, what started as a generous offer to be helpful, became Judy’s actual job. She had found a place for her lever.

Judy now spent a few hours every morning and afternoon taking orders, collecting cash, going for the food, and delivering to her in-house customers. It was an excellent arrangement

for everyone. Judy had found work she was good at and the other workers gained an hour or so for the work they were hired to do.

I assigned inventory and filing to Judy in her off-time from catering. Her problems with keylines no longer mattered.

And so it went for the next six of seven years - until the elderly couple who owned the business decided to retire. They signed generous severance checks, wrote recommendations for each employee, and bid everyone good luck for the future.

We turned in our keys, shut out the lights, and called it the end of an era.

I’ve lost track of everyone who was around at the time. I imagine they all did fine. I’d like to ask what they remembered of Judy, but I cannot.

I wonder how many knew that Judy never did the job she was hired for. Instead of that, she invented the job she could do. Invented is the wrong word, Judy was not a schemer. She was a nice girl who wanted to be useful - somehow.

I doubt Judy ever heard the Marine slogan: Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome, though that’s what she did. And even though she didn’t remember Archimedes’ name. She did remember the words most useful to her - “given the right place to put his lever, he could move the world”.

It’s a good trick.

Judy mastered it.

By K. L. Shipley

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