On July 9, ten employees at Detroit brokers Pittman-Weeks met to discuss revisions to Allocation Form 343-9d. It was a very emotional issue and things quickly got heated – with VP Sheila Warren pounding the table and yelling that a proposal to make the form a three-parter could spell the “ruination of all we’ve built!”
Accounting Manager Sandra Polling tried to calm things down. “Let’s not blow the panic whistle,” she said. As soon as the words departed her lips, she knew. Warren quickly adjourned the meeting. As everyone filed out they avoided looking at Polling.
“I’ve known for 20 years that it’s the panic button and you push it, you don’t blow it,” she says. “Why did I say whistle!?” Polling, whose career had been steadily advancing, figured the whole thing would blow over in a couple weeks. Sadly, she was wrong
“The very same dayI was asked to leave three different task forces,” she says. A fourth group – on lavatory soap dispensers – didn’t kick her off, but refused to tell her where they were meeting. Two rubber plants were removed from her office.
Polling says she understands. “I know they think if you don’t know your expressions, what else don’t you know?” Still, she didn’t expect the reaction to be so harsh. “I tried to get in to see Ms Warren, but her assistant says her next opening is in 2028.”
Having not received any assignments since the meeting, Polling plans to petition the UBEI (US Business Expression Institute) to officially change the term from “button” to whistle.” “It’s more logical to blow a whistle,” she says. Meanwhile she’s doing her best to look busy.
“I’m just keeping my feet to the grindstone,” she says.
