I was reading a newspaper column by Liane Faulder, which impacted me enough to make me reflect on the topic.

I’ve thought about what my Dad didn’t tell me, but it was just a jumble of memories, seemingly disjointed. Thanks to Faulder’s column, I recognized the common thread that always fell back on his career path, with its ups and downs.

The little I know of his career path is that he started very young as an employee of the Dominion Bank. It eventually became known as The Toronto Dominion Bank and into its current variation as the TD Bank.

Dad had to get time off work to go and write his high school exams.

Another snippet that remained with me was that bank employees were not allowed to marry without permission. Permission was only granted after they had a specific income level with the bank. The purported reasoning was that being married and supporting a family was costly. Only a certain income would stop the head of the household, a male, from being tempted to steal money from the bank. Dad told me about a co-worker who fessed up to being married with four children only after this bank policy was terminated.

But I digress.

Dad gradually worked his way up the corporate ladder to Branch Manager, and his older brother was also rising up the ranks.

This is where Dad’s career starts to wobble. Here are some memory remnants of that time.

As a youngster, maybe 10-12 years old, I remember almost never seeing my Dad for two weeks. In those days, the banks were open every weekday and at least part of Saturday. I got out of bed after he left for work and was in bed before he got home.

I remember one time he was awakened at night by a police call. They informed him that there had been an attempted robbery, but everything was now okay. Thanks for that.

I recall my Mom saying that my Dad was too kind. He wasn’t tough enough on the business owners who were late with their loan payments.

At some point, he was transferred to head office to handle international exchanges. Although it seemed like a promotion, in hindsight, it was, at best, a lateral transfer. His brother’s trajectory continued upwards.

Only with my own life experience and my ups and downs could I empathize with those career moves, let alone even think something was amiss.

Perhaps my Dad’s experiences could have guided me through some of my rough career moments.

Please give this a bit of a think. Can you reflect on a topic you’d like to explore with your parents-living or deceased?

I am curious about your thoughts. Please comment below with your bit of a think.

Photo by AI Request: Create an image in landscape format of a father and older teenage son in discussion.

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