A Fond Farewell

This February marks the end of my time at Anderson & Anderson. It has been the best job of my life so far—the only one I can honestly say I will miss. I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to work for people as supportive, trusting, infinitely patient, and good-natured as the Andersons. The growing Anger Management community is still relatively small, and I am also thankful for the chance to meet (or at least speak to) so many of its prominent members.

A year and a half ago, I was the most stressed-out I have ever been. After a succession of inane, temporary employments, I found myself in familiar territory for aspiring writers: jobless, penniless, inexperienced, overwhelmed, and largely clueless.

Eventually, my finances dictated that I needed to find a full-time job in less than a week, or else I would not be able to make the next rent payment. In this tight spot, I had the enormous good fortune to stumble across an internet posting for an Administrative Assistant position at a prominent Anger Management company. Given my complete lack of office experience, I must’ve thrown my hat into the ring with enough panache to strike a chord in George Anderson's big heart, because he offered me the job.

Although I was absolutely desperate for work, I was a little hesitant to accept the position at Anderson & Anderson, mainly because George wanted me to stay on for at least a year. And even though I had only met him once (for the purpose of an interview), I already liked him enough that I didn’t want to commit to that much time without the full intention of keeping my end of the bargain.

After a couple hours of mulling it over, I decided to take the job. I never imagined that it would transform my life as positively as it has. In my first weeks in the office, I picked up a copy of Gaining Control of Ourselves, and found it to be extremely insightful. I quickly identified several sources of stress in my life and worked to reduce/eliminate them.

Every day in this office has presented a new challenge, which consequently forced me to explore subjects I wouldn’t have tackled otherwise. Under the tutelage of George Anderson, I feel I have become a better person. He has been an incredible boss, and an even more inspiring ally.

Throughout my time here, however, I have retained my aspirations of writing novels. With the looming expiration of my apartment lease at the end of this month, I came to the heartbreaking conclusion that the time is right for me to leave this office and pursue my dream. Soon, I will be moving to Germany to work on a novel set in Berlin.

It is entirely possible that, a year and a half from now, I will again be jobless, penniless, and overwhelmed.

Fortunately, however, I’ve picked up some tools for dealing with the accompanying stress.


--Ben Arntz


PS - I am pleased to announce that our newest intern, Rasheed, will be taking over as the office manager in the Brentwood office. We can all sleep much easier knowing the office affairs will be in his very capable hands.