After I left college in London I had no clue what I wanted to do so I took a 9-month secretarial course to learn shorthand and how to type. Once I completed the course I walked in to the first employment agency I could find and told them I needed a job.  I was very nervous about the interview but nonetheless I landed a job as a secretary to the Credit Controller of an international transport company in central London.

My very first boss was a stickler for details.  Most of my job comprised typing financial data that I had to decipher from pages of hand written notes complete with side notes and corrections.  Everything had to be typed and presented to perfection or it was rejected.  I would like to add that this was done on an electric typewriter so one mistake and I would have to start over again.

Once I had settled in I started getting headaches.  I did not worry about them and just took over the counter pain killers to relieve them.  As time went by the headaches became stronger and more frequent.  This did not go unnoticed by the office manager who was so concerned about them he contacted the company doctor in central London and made an appointment for me to go and see him.  The doctor was very nice and told me to take a few days off.  I might add that the appointment was with a private doctor which was paid for by the company.

When I returned to work the headaches persisted but as I was told there was nothing wrong with me I persevered.  Months later my boss announced he was taking his family on a month long vacation and that while he was gone, I would be reporting to another division of the company. I found myself feeling very relieved that he would be gone and wondered what I would be doing during his absence.  I was kept relatively busy however something changed, my headaches stopped and I felt good for the first time in ages.  Once I realized I had become ‘headache free’ I became concerned about his return as nobody else I was assigned to in the company caused me to feel ill in any way.

While he was gone I found out from the CEO’s secretary that my boss was a difficult man to work for and that he had run off anyone who worked for him, including temporary staff and he did not understand why. Much to my relief he quit when he got back from his vacation.  After he left my headaches stopped and I transferred to a new company.

I have worked for many demanding people over the years but very few actually made me ‘feel’ ill.  For the record since working as a medium I get bad headaches whenever I have a premonition about something negative taking place.

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