My Job

Ok, so I have to work for a living. I've had a pretty steady work career since finishing college in 1998, and don't mind holding a job. Being that I am single, I am the only source of income for my household, so work is important for me in regards to supporting myself. I think that even if I was married with children, I would still want to do something in the work force to prevent myself from going nuts.

Ok, so I work for the Harlem Globetrotters. The basketball team. It tends to get peoples attention, which, I like, but usually leads into a ton of questions about what it is that I do. I get asked a lot of questions, and here are a few common ones, in no particular order that usually come up in conversation.

I didn't know that the Globetrotters were in Phoenix. We thought they were in Harlem, New York. What gives?

Well, the Globetrotters to date have never had an office in Harlem. Ever. The Globetrotters were formed in a small town outside of Chicago about 83 years ago. A gentleman named Abe Saperstien "invented" the Globetrotters, and toured with them as thier owner and manager for many years until his death in the 1960's. (I think he died in 1966.) Anyways, its changed hands with owners over the past couple decades, and after being in LA for many years, the team was sold and moved here to Phoenix in roughly 1992/1993. We have been in Phoenix since then, so for about 15 years??

How did you get hired by the Globetrotters?
Well, when I moved to Phoenix I was doing a lot of job hunting on my own and I was also working with a Temp agency for interviews as well. I was doing temp work for the time being to keep $$ coming in, and interviewing on the side with them, and with jobs that I had found by myself. One day, after my temp position was done with an insurance company, my temp placement gal called and said that she had a job interview set up for me with a really good company, and wanted to know if I was interested. She then told me it was for a Receptionist position with the Harlem Globetrotters. I was like what? You mean like the Harlem Globetrotters?? She said yes. So, we scheduled an interview, I went, and got offered the position that day. I took it, and have been here for 3 years.

Please tell me more about what you do with the team. This has got to be so much fun working here.

Ok, Ok, I am formally the receptionist who does also a lot of admin work as well. I sit in the lobby, and answer the phone. I do tons of Fedex's for players, loads of paperwork, order office supplies, and assist with other projects that need help. Sometimes its stuff for finance. Other times its stuff for operations. I can't list everything here, but its a lot of typical admin paperwork.

My job is just like other peoples jobs. What people sometimes forget is that even though I work here, for a basketball team, at the end of the day, its a job just like yours, and everybody elses. You have good days, and bad days. It's ultimately a business. So, the same business rules apply here that they do at any other office you will ever work at.

OMG! You must have SO MUCH FUN doing what your doing! Tell me MORE!

I love working here, don't get me wrong. My desk is on a basketball court. I have two TV's in the lobby with me, one of which runs all day long with Globetrotter clips. I get to talk to basketball players on the phone, and most of the time, I laugh from start to finish. There is a fun side to this, and its totally worth the stress sometimes.

I have been able to talk to and meet many people that I would probably never get the chance to meet if I worked somewhere else. I've met Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, Curly Boo Johnson, and every single player on the team that currently plays for us. The players do come into the office, but not every day like me. They usually come in like a few times a year for meetings prior to the season starting, usually around this time of year. I've had ESPN in my lobby interviewing my old boss before sold the team. I've had a few other famous people call up for tickets. Its fun.