The good old days, with jobs for willing men

[Patch]

Came across this the other day thought I'd share the link.

 

I had 2 factory jobs between 13 and 14, one twisting wires on Danby stoves and the other machine operator in a plastic factory. Man oh man, no safety 15 minute lunch, firm 10 minute breaks 32 to $40 a week,just rolling in doe:)

 

[cecdoo]

Ok, when I was 14, I worked nites at Ennis hammer factory, grinding the tits off cast iron hammers. The hammer heads were cast in trees of 10 or so, you knocked the heads off the tree and it left a little tit, they rolled a 55 gal drum of heads up to your rite side and an empty drum on your left. Pulled a head out of rite, ground tit off on huge belt grinder and thru finished hammer in empty barrel. End of shift they weighed the barrel and you were payed pc rate. Yeah those were the good ole days, it really wasnt quite as glamorous as it sounds.

 

Craig

[Sailor]

In school I had a job weekends and summers working in a plywood mill. On weekends I would crawl through the machinery with an air hose blowing out all the splinters and charcoal from the driers and other machines. For a while I worked in the power house. All the sawdust from the mill went into a huge storage room about 60 ft square and then was fed to the furnaces via a conveyor belt running along in the floor in the center of the room. I was given a 20ft pike pole and a hard hat. My job was to climb up and poke the sawdust so it would avalanche down onto the belt. The guy on the opposite shift from me disappeared one day, all they ever found was the hard hat and pike pole.

Another job was to clean the furnaces. There were four of them and each weekend two would be shut down on Friday night. Saturday two of us would smash the bricks out of the entry way and crawl inside to shovel out the ash. It would be over 100 degrees inside and you had to stay completely covered because if the ash, which was as fine as talcum powder, came into contact with moisture it would turn to acid. You had to provide your own clothes which did not last long. I spent four years doing these jobs. Today whenever I go to the hospital or get a new doctor they demand to know how many packs of cigarettes per day I am smoking. They don't believe me when I tell them I have never smoked.

[Kretz]

Ya a lot of those old industrial plants have a lot to answer for.

I worked all my working life in the chemical/ petro chem & nuclear industries. Goodness knows some of the hazardous fumes & chemicals that were ingested back then.

All sorts of fumes Amines (a horrible cat pee smell that would blanket the whole town) Acetone, Ammonia, Toluene, Benzene... distillates of all kinds... if it ends in "ene" I've probably breathed it in at some point! & some of the dusts were even worse... One plant I worked on produced Chromium Dioxide. Everything was covered in green dust. If exposed for long enough this stuff ate away the lining & septum in ones nose! & We won't mention working at the nuclear disposal site in Cumbria where you couldn't even see the stuff that could kill you! Getting suited up, entering & exiting the facility via multiple RA monitors & showers.

Another plant produced a very fine white powder Titanium Dioxide (an inert brilliant white "filler" ) used in everything from Paint to chewing gum. There were occasionally accidental releases of Titanium Tetrachloride a gas that when it came into contact with moisture solidified almost immediately to a cinder (sponge) toffee consistency. If you breathed it in you were dead as it solidified in your mouth throat & lungs. A few workers were killed by that stuff. The cloud would drift around until it either dispersed in the wind or was hosed with water.

Ah! the "Good Old Days!"

Edited February 1, 2019 by Kretz

[Patch]

Still regardless of hardships we were boys and we was learning.

I was always thankful for work in my teens, Skinny, poor language skills, zip for knowledge but, I could put in a solid days work.

The pay cheques helped; if Mom was singing while cooking life was sweet.

 

Forging a man takes time, not always pleasant true but, there is usually a shiny side to it.

 

Like I tell the boys education is the smarter way, the quicker you getrdone the sooner life will change..

[uncledj]

Wouldn't know where to start. Worked in the steel mills (pipe mill) out of high school, spent a couple of years as a laborer at Turkey point power plant, nuke side and fossil side...January 1985 I was the most highly irradiated guy in the plant, then worked as an insulator in the fossil boilers, then back to the steel mills as an outside contract laborer, then road construction labor, then I got into my current profession where the toughest jobs were removing / installing steam boilers, dealt with a lot of asbestos,but I was finally using my brain a bit, and now, as a commercial / industrial HVAC guy....I still have tough days and b**ch, but I know just how good I actually have it. Lord knows, I know what work is....I've the torn muscles and torn and worn tendons to prove it.Some of those laborer supervisors used to work us like dogs.

I've seen some pretty cool stuff,....it gave me some good life experiences, but I can't help but wish I'd taken an easier path.

Now I'm just looking forward to retirement. Still have 9 or 10 years to go.....hope I can make it. lol

[Patch]

Wouldn't know where to start. Worked in the steel mills (pipe mill) out of high school, spent a couple of years as a laborer at Turkey point power plant, nuke side and fossil side...January 1985 I was the most highly irradiated guy in the plant, then worked as an insulator in the fossil boilers, then back to the steel mills as an outside contract laborer, then road construction labor, then I got into my current profession where the toughest jobs were removing / installing steam boilers, dealt with a lot of asbestos,but I was finally using my brain a bit, and now, as a commercial / industrial HVAC guy....I still have tough days and b**ch, but I know just how good I actually have it. Lord knows, I know what work is....I've the torn muscles and torn and worn tendons to prove it.Some of those laborer supervisors used to work us like dogs.

I've seen some pretty cool stuff,....it gave me some good life experiences, but I can't help but wish I'd taken an easier path.

Now I'm just looking forward to retirement. Still have 9 or 10 years to go.....hope I can make it. lol

 

Yep! But a worthy supervisor who earned the position knew what he asked of, and acknowledged your worth at some point during the day.

Young guys I'd start at 17, 4 days in if they were still there I offer an advance on pay, if the crews showed a liking, their pay would be adjusted to 18 from hour 1. If they were still around after 3 months well we'd start taking a liking to them and and open up some opportunities 6 months offer up apprenticeship...

A good trasedman need the best laborers..

[WRIDR]

What a tremendous Link!

 

It should be employed as mandatory reading for every Kid entering High School, just to show them how lucky they are to have avoided a Start in Life like this.

 

Rgds, WRIDR

[Kretz]

What a tremendous Link!

 

It should be employed as mandatory reading for every Kid entering High School, just to show them how lucky they are to have avoided a Start in Life like this.

 

Rgds, WRIDR

 

They wouldn't believe it!

Forgot to mention in my offering above, I started work at 17 & was made redundant three times before I made 21. (no fault of mine btw, the companies just closed down for commercial reasons)

[djh3]

Here is a

.

[Chaharly]

I work as a welder building Great Dane Trailers. Right now I weld together the rear frames, which are Stainless Steel. Its a pretty cushy job and they provide us with welding hoods with filtered compressed air. I honestly cant complain too much!

[RDawson]

I believe kids need exposed to some of the jobs we had as teens. Most of them have no idea what a hard days work is. I grew up as a hod carrier on my dads job sites, 5 boys in my family and we all spent our summers on the job from age 12. I spent the months of August and Sept in the tobacco fields. Spend all day cutting, spiking, and hanging tobacco in 90 degree heat 90% humidity and you'll understand a days work.

Most firefighters work a 2nd job on their days off as pay is far from great. Nearly all of us older guys are in some type of construction but these younger guys think they deserve high pay/low work jobs. I had one with a wife and kid at home complaining about money problems so I set him up with a friend to work on a block job. He made it to lunch and told me that he wasn't going to work that hard. I always thought a man did what he had to do to pay the bills.

Now all the farmers and many construction companies are using immigrant labor because young America is too entitled.

[Kretz]

Forgot about the Steel works! Did part of my apprenticeship training there. Remember being on a catwalk waaaaay above the soaking pits & rolling mills changing out thermocouples. Errant steel rod that had missed the takeup spools wrapped around the roof beams. It would snake up there when red hot hit the beams etc wrap around & then cool there! Boy was it hot up there.

& who remembers some of the pranks the old guys used to try to pull on us young fellas?

Go to the stores & ask for a long stand. After asking & waiting 1/2 hour or so the storeman would ask "Got your long stand yet?" It could go on for hours till the poor apprentice realised!

The other one was go to the stores & ask for a can of tartan paint.

I was pretty savvy, so I would either ignore the orders or just go & kill an hour or two in the canteen with a cuppa & bacon sandwich!

That sort of thing now would be seen as "bullying" & cruel & not be allowed. Young people now appear to need telling how valued, loved & wonderful they are, & expect to be rewarded for mediocre work.

I was just relaying some of this thread to my wife who said, ya! before college, daytime I worked cataloging an art collection nights I worked in an automobile chrome plating plant for a number of months. Said she used to get lots of small cuts on her hands & again lots of "healthy" (not) fumes she also did numerous waiting table & cleaning jobs so it's not just us guys who did what was needed!

Edited February 1, 2019 by Kretz

[Patch]

We here often "kids today...) I'm going to spill a bit on some of what I've been thru.

 

A couple years back a developer I have had 20ish year experience with ask me to get involve in a project they had acquired.

I was traveling with the crew, the apartments that were provided were in one of the 18 apartment buildings of a project by others. We were on contract for 2 churches and a heath club.

My oldest boy was very uncomfortable pulling into the parking lot, few words were spoken but I could feel his tension. SK soon joined us and we settled in and began hiring for the projects.

All hell seemed to be braking loose all hours of the day, blue and red flashing lights lighting up the nights were usual.

Now we had our hands full with the 3 contracts we were up there for, and the construction renovators the developer had hired were doing there own thing in their own way and fell under the developers management. Here in AB. their is in place some very strick rules, plans and procedure, hazard assessments, safety training excetera, and it must all be logged.

Well the project manager there called me one day to ask my help after being shutdown by all the agencies, ones a lot but all...Yikes It didn't take long going thu the paperwork to see the infractions which I began to explain. I advised her and the owner that they would need to hire a consultant now to put together the training programs, binders of procedure and protocols and that the consultant would assume respectability and monitor implantation of,, for most likely a mandated 3 months also that a fine was unavoidable 60K!

 

One early morning talking on the phone with a girlfriend out there as I was readying for a meeting, the crew having left, I heard a scream, slightly pulling the phone from my ear to listen I figured kids going to school letting off steam? Then I here a please somebody... that scream sounded terrified and I quickly went to the balcony to have a better study.

Sure enough I see a woman trying to crawl out of a taxi and could clearly see her half unveiled body. I launched a hey at the situation dropping my phone and taking off..

Now I know I have a temper, experience and training but that part of me was still upstairs in the apartment.

By the time I made my way she had managed to get out of the car and was lying face down with him on top, as I charged I could see heads gocking out thru windows, people standing on balconies, and all younger than I. As I grabbed him my discipline kicked in, the screaming from all round muffled. I gave her instruction to get to my apartment, I would wait for the police and I lost sight of her thinking she had left I loosened my hold thinking just to keep him corralled - when out she popped grabbing something and running off thru this maze of buildings. When he caught glimpse of her I saw the look on his face turn to rage and he managed to get away. I had to pause a moment, I remember placing my hands on my hips and hanging my head, feeling of the frozen ground under my bare feet then sprinting off; I made short work of this fellow and then left the scene clammily headed for a shower, dress ect.. While in the shower I guess the police made their way into the apartment as I heard something but... Ready to go heading out the door Ajay had received a call from the girlfriend and come back to check up... So I explained and.... he said dad you can't do this anymore I understood his concern and replied for some of us it's not a choice its a reflex.

So I made my way down to the police outside forwarding my Identification the reasons why we were living/staying there and the events as I recalled them. Would it surprise you to know mine was different? Turned out that a lady above and across had the whole thing on her Iphone, yeah, their check on me complete I was thanked and then left.

 

Little did I know that this would lay some groundwork for coming events, also why the 3 gangs that occupied the ghetto were unable to intimidate me but, after which they gave me a wider berth and there was afterwards rarely any noise or guys hanging on our floor period.

 

Getting back to the shutdown I agreed to represent the owner after the need for a task force was established, because, none of the gov inspectors could be there without escort.

 

One evening walking into my app. building I was met in the middle of the first flight, one came thru the fire door and the other up from the basement level, well OK I pause and pick my pins, hopefully the guy above comes at me first instead the one below addresses me as Mr.... and asks if he may have a word with me; man it gets complicated; I later discuss this with the task force and the owner (which is a group)

Projects go broke all the time for lots of reason but, the laws and responsibility remain a constant! You can enforce and hold accountable till something breaks but then all you end up with is broken pieces with no structure, so all vested need to negotiate then, commit new investment or ownership and you prepare for change. I condemned some buildings and thus shuffled the deck, have no idea how many arrest were made but lots, then the project had a new owner, and I got the hell out of Dodge.

 

So where did that experience come from? Between jobs at 15 I took a wrong turn, suddenly people were making decisions regardless of my input. There were 2 options and I didn't like either. How did I get there, hmm, well we had a persistent issue that plagued my family and one day not unlike the above I took action... To this day I still believe I did the right thing but, I was the seed of and showing signs of, so intervention was the decision and off I went.

I'm not alone in this and many times I've heard of worst outcomes to similar situations. Anyways those that have gone this rout know that some of the doors that open during these few choice times can quickly lead one down the wrong road; as was the case with me. After 3 years I wanted out and wanted to reset my future. So I had a conversation, I understood the rules, the consequences confirmed and I left.

 

I lucked out running into a foreman for a line crew that knew me from my street days. He offered a job, I took it and what a tight crew it was. Long days, hot, wet or cold we'd spur up and without fail always the crew to aim after in footage. These guys taught me to play as well, not something I knew, they were just enough older, all tough but in a fair way. A year in and trouble from... came back. I felt it best to leave and deal with it on my own, maybe they knew but being involved is a whole different kettle.

Sometime after most of it settled down, and I had lived up to my end, word got around to stop. Again I lucked out and got a job climbing and rigging com towers all across the nato circuit. I was their first young man they hired, the crew chiefs had been doing it since the dew line, hardened men, good men, they brought the best out of me and molded me into what eventually I grew to be. I learned to read thru their efforts have never stopped since. I sat with one thru his last moments I couldn't of thanked him enough for his interest in my personal growth, father of 13, I wonder what his childhood was and if perhaps that was what he saw in me.

 

After a bike antecedent and a year in convalescence I climbed one more year but it wasn't the same, I left after a mishap in a bosun's chair off the east of Canada. The cause was too many new unworthy recruits; it takes time to learn that trade and it should be one new guy at a time, most guys aren't suited, its more the lure of the money than the life. Marconie lost that contract a couple months after and l&r won it. One night watching Barbra Frum on the national sitting with my girlfriend enjoying a nice quiet life, it was announced that an investigation was underway into the deaths of 3 young men when the 320' tower they were working on fell killing all 3 injuring others. As this played my phone rang I answered and knew it had to be gov related by the full description of who they wanted to address. So answering fully my thoughts were I was about to be asked to be part of the investigating team as likely I was the last up that tower. Instead they tried to talk me into coming back and instead, I shamed them for having such a large crew out there and that twist was being corrected during a climb with too many people on the tower, the maximum be zero during correction. Still they were stuck and dod would have preferred me back and they made an offer, I said double it and I'll think about it, they replied too much, compared to what I said. They sent me a letter in the mail, I tore it up and moved on.

 

So was there an end to that blip in my teen years, yes, but only because I would not yield. It took 3 more years after I left to free one mans grip on my family, burnt houses burnt cars, locks that keys would not open, (his calling card) threats to the sisters and then finally I missed a connecting flight, snow storm and I was home, his bad luck.

I've not looked back, yes there's some troubling memories but getting on with life one earned buck at a time and children made it all worth the bumps.

 

So I find it hard to compare kids today and I don't usually find they are to blame after all, sure they make mistakes maybe a bit less active, but we are their parents.

 

This took me a long time to write, hope it was worth the read

[Patch]

& who remembers some of the pranks the old guys used to try to pull on us young fellas?

 

 

Like a "cord to turn the wind" oh ya I remember! 10 time a 1/4 mile I must of walked between farms. Uncle asked me in French and I didn't but it together till someone took pitty on me..lol

[Patch]

I learned this while working as a lineman. It was an opiate reflection to the company as we believed them to be tops in our minds.

 

We the willing working for the unknowing have done so much for the ungrateful and for so little, that We the willing are now qualified to do anything for nothing