I got an eight-month temporary job in
Writing maintenance manuals and operating instructions
in a fiber-optic cable factory. They were converting to a new,
sol-gel process for making glass tubes, instead of buying them.
I would document that process. Wet end support, cleanroom
and dryer, dehydralization and sintering furnaces, air emission
control system and wastewater treatment. We were ISO-9000
certified. I jumped right in. I meant to be hired permanent
at the end of my temporary contract. I would make myself
indispensable. This was a second chance. A last-ditch attempt.
I did become indispensable. I was the first job-shopper hired permanent.
I got the full benefit package. Paid holidays, paid vacation, sick leave.
Health insurance. A defined-benefit pension, free medical care in retirement.
I was a member of management. That meant I was unrepresented by a union.
By the Communication Workers of
I worked uncompensated overtime. I got a performance bonus every year,
at Christmas. I got raises and promotions. I was a sharp tool for the company.
Beware when you’re getting’ all you want. A fattenin’ hog ain’t in luck.
The business cycle. Boom and bust. What goes up must come down.
I was there six years. Until 2002. What happened in 2000?
Bush stole the election. The Supreme Court gave it to him.
An ill wind hove into sight. Eight years of that pipsqueak.
The company I worked for sold the factory where I worked.
and distributed my pension to me. $38,000. The new company
didn’t have a pension plan for management employees. They paid less.
There was less job security. In fact, after six months, they laid the whole
writing group off. It was a cost savings to them. We got a package.
I got ten weeks of pay and outplacement counseling. I was destaffed
in the Workforce Management Program (WMP). I went on early,
reduced-benefit social security. $1,000 a month, less what
they took out for Medicare. I had 26 weeks of unemployment
and one 13-week extension. That plus my ten weeks was 49 weeks.
I gave myself a sabbatical year. I was 62. I wouldn’t say I was
retired so much as used-up. The expendable had been expended.
I had passed my sell-by date. I moved back to
and fix up Brenda’s old home place. We bought it from her brothers and sister.
Brenda got laid off and joined me. She had moved to
We were reunited in Parker now. I built a chicken coop. She planted
Seminole pumpkins. No hard times blues we had a barrel of flour
and a bucket of lard. We had coffee and bacon. We had everything
we needed.