My First Real Job/I get close with my dad:
Late in my sophomore year at Thornridge my dad’s company
Union Carbide went on strike. Dad believed a man was not a man if he wasn’t
working. Dad needed to work, so after his time on the picket line he looked for
a job. The job he found was to change his and my life. It was a small hot water heater company was
looking for a machinist and dad got the job. I remember him telling me, “I was
honest with him. I told him we were on strike and that all I could promise was
eight hours work for eight hours pay.”
TETCO Metal Products was a small plant that made hot water
heaters in Riverdale. When the strike ended dad stayed on at TETCO and worded
weekends and evenings for several years. He dearly loved working at TETCO. I often
wondered what it was about TETCO that made him so happy. Looking back it, TETCO
gave him a place where he could use all his skills and intelligence. It gave
him a deep pride in his work a pride he never got at his union job at Carbide. In
fact he worked harder at TETCO than at his full time job. I think the reason
for this was Carbide was a job he had to have and TETCO was the job he wanted. TETCO also gave him something he needed
desperately, respect.
Right or wrong dad never believed he was loved or respected
by our extended family. He felt he was always being put down and that he was
not really wanted. I believe he may have
been partially right. I obtained his military
medical records and personal file after he passed away. What I found has helped
me to understand his feelings. I often
felt the same way growing up and his records helped to validate my own feelings
as well, at least in part. Growing up it seemed as if Dad and I were always a
step behind and to the left of our extended family. Very often especially in my
younger years I felt mom had some resentment toward me. It was one of those
feelings that made no sense. Growing up
I always felt loved but also felt some unease on the periphery of my
consciousness.
Often during my sophomore and early junior years I would
walk from1530 University Ave down Greenwood road the four or five miles to
TETCO to visit with dad. Sometimes I would hop a freight heading to the freight
yards in Dolton. The tracks ran the west side of Greenwood Road. I’ll never
forget my first hop. I had just crossed Sibley Boulevard and was walking down
Greenwood when I saw the slow moving freight train. It was going just a little
faster than I was walking. I remembered old movies where hobos often hopped the
freight and sat in empty boxcars. I ran across the road and started trotting
alongside the train. Then with a boyish sense of adventure I grabbed the ladder
going up the side of the boxcar I was running alongside and I was riding my way
into Dolton. It brought me less than a
half a block from TETCO, neat! Hoping freight became my means of transportation
to visit dad until I got my license to drive.
Being with dad as he was working, seeing him
creating something out of a block of steel and the joy he had in doing a job
well greatly impacted me. My dad had no union at TETCO but he did have skill and a joy
in doing a good job. As a result he was valuable to Mr. Teters who paid him
well and gave him more and more responsibility within the plant. My dad had
something Mr. Teters wanted and my dad was happy to sell his knowledge and
ability to Mr. Teters at a good price. I remember my dad letting me run a
milling machine and bringing the cut to within 1/1000 of an inch. He showed me how to use a set of calipers to
make measurements and a feeler gauge. One
night I visited him and he showed me how to use a me use a spot welder then gave me two pieces of metal to weld together. Another night he showed me how to use a welder and weld using a welding rod by “carrying a bead” down two
pieces of steel. The more I saw my dad work using various trades he had learned
over the years the more it hit me that the more you know the more you are
worth.
In my junior year dad got me a job as a janitor at the
plant. I was to work his hours and he would be my supervisor. Mr. Teters and my
dad showed me around the places I would have to clean. It looked fairly easy
until we walked into the workers locker room. It was a room that would inspire
revulsion in the most hardened janitor. Too say it was filthy, dirty and gross
would be an understatement. As we walked into the locker room we passed eight
commodes. Each more gross than the other. It was like someone had purposely
spread feces over the porcelain parts of the bowl. Used toilet paper lay on the
floor evidently some people are so lazy putting toilet paper in the bowl is too
hard.
The locker room itself was filled with dirty pictures and
magazines, for me the only good part of the whole thing. My dad saw my
revulsion and smiled. Later, when Mr. Teters left for the day dad found me
cleaning one of the offices. He took me to the men’s locker room and gave me
one of the most valuable lessons of my life. “Do the hardest job first and
remember” he said with a smile, “you can always wash your hands and shower
after work, and it looks like you’ll need too." he went on, "Remember you are here on my recommendation
don’t let me down.” Then he showed me the best way to clean the locker room, a
power hose, rubber gloves, strong cleaning solution and a long handled brush.
I’m proud to say when I was done the locker room and commodes never looked so
clean. Neither did the offices and break areas. Throughout the first night dad
kept coming to check on me telling me how to best do the work and making sure
it was done properly. After the first
night except for an end of shift inspection he left me alone.
Over the next several weeks the complements started to come,
“This is the cleanest the locker room has ever been.” It amazed me that the men
actually started to clean up after themselves. The locker room still needed
cleaning and the power hose was more than useful but as long as I kept it
really clean they helped to keep it that way. It was the same in the break
areas and in the offices.
As I got better at cleaning I got done quicker. Leaving me a
couple of hours a night to do my homework my grades started to improve as a result.
Working and the complements of doing a good job gave me confidence; confidence
inspired me in other areas. I was
changing. More important I was growing closer to my dad than ever before. We
were not just father and son anymore, he was my supervisor, my mentor but more
we were actually becoming confidants.
