A place of higher education in
University City, Philadelphia, more commonly known as
West Philly. Birthplace and home of
ENIAC, the worlds first computer. Neighbor to
Drexel University, University City High School,
Ben Franklin Technology Center, and the
studio where
American Bandstand was filmed which is now the West Philly Enterprise Center, a
business incubator.
I used to work at UPENN for 6 months back in 1995 at the Computing Resource Center when it was on Locust Walk, at the end of the foot-bridge that crossed 38th St. We provided walk-in tech support for everything computer related except UNIX. I got asked a lot of different questions, some were difficult and some of them were dumb.
Merely for providing the services we were paid by the university to do, I was hit on, fondled, and asked out to dinner on more than on occasion. I was offered cash payments ranging from whatever was in their purses or wallets up to $50. I even got one marriage proposal for 'saving a really important document from certain destruction' <-- her words, no foolin! I said no because I had the feeling she only wanted me for my mind.
I was pleasantly surprised by the overly direct nature of the women I encountered at UPENN many of whom were 10 - 20 years older. Being the introverted person I was in those days, I was also totally unprepared for and unsure of how to handle those situations. I'm not a stud by any means, but sometimes the women got freaky and put their hands too high on my thighs to be considered a friendly gesture. I wasn't complaining mind you, I just wanted to keep my job. Professionalism mandates no mixing of business and pleasure, so I had to respectfully decline the sexual advances and offers for dinner. This explains why I was offered dinner, and hit on by some men who, unfortunately for me, were equally direct as the women were.
Working at Drexel and especially UPENN were the most important things I did while attending college, other than going to class. I met and helped a lot of people during those . Those two jobs alone provided me with more non-technical knowledge than any job I've had since.