What two people do you remember most from your working days and why?

The first is a man from my crew on the flight line. He was a WW11 Army Veteran and was in his forties. He was from South Carolina. He had very little formal education but was a hell of a mechanic. He was good at reading system blueprints and finding the problem and above all was dependable and honest. He would not bring sandwiches in his lunch but instead would bring whole cold meals with biscuits. The only thing that got me was the cold layer of grease on his food. He also swore that his wife Minnie brought him breakfast in bed every morning.
He was a good carpenter. I hired him to help me build my garage, workshop and a couple of rooms on my house. He liked Dorothy's cooking and there was something that she cooked that I can't remember that he wanted every day. Dorothy liked to hear him say Dorothy because he rolled it out until it almost sounded like two words. I about forgot an important item, he chewed Days Work and never spit, just swallowed it. He was really one of a kind and a good guy.

The second was a man a little older than me that by his patience and help got me on track when I got promoted from Industrial Engineering Tech to B47 Command Workload. It was a little bit of delicate situation because the Division Chief(a man that I had previously worked for) hired me without knowledge of the Branch or Section Chief so I had to make good. Everything was in a turmoil because B-47's were losing wings and Boeing had come up with modification to be applied to every aircraft in the fleet. All of the AMA's were involved plus several contractors. I didn't even have a desk but was assigned to the program at one of the AMA's. I was given a bunch of folders, told to work on the corner of this guys desk, told we don't have time to train you and if you have a problem ask questions. I did. The guy that I was using part of his desk happened to be the most knowledgeable person in the bunch and he answered my questions and if I got off track he steered me back on. I learned so much from him. He was also responsible for doing all of the reports for the Section and I liked working with figures so I ended up giving him some help. I gained enough knowledge to get promoted again in about two years. About two years later he died from colon cancer. It was a big loss to our Section but I lost a very good friend and will never forget him.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

Day one, excited to start my first job out of college with a piping design group working a nuke plant, at Stone & Webster in Boston. Assigned to the senior designer to be mentored, and after a couple of hours working at the drafting table next to his, he stands next to me and says "Better that you slow down and work carefully. Nobody will remember if you take a few more minutes to complete a job, but they sure as heck will remember if you get it wrong". I've stuck firmly to that advice and it's served me well the rest of my life.

Worked with hundreds of other memorable characters, but none had more impact than that.

My uncle went to work for Stone & Webster in Boston back in 1950 and went to NYC in 1956, he retired somewhere in the 70's.

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Don

Not good stories, but two I will never forget.

The face of a deceased 5 year old boy pulled from an overturned car in 1982, my first year of rescue, and my first time dealing with a kid. Way too much detail in that memory.

The look on an old mans face a few years back when we brought back his wife, a dementia patient, who had wandered off into the woods in the middle of the night. Like a kid at Christmas.

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BT
EGO VOLUNTAS HAUD OBEDIO

I'm still in touch with one friend from work. He's a gun guy and we have a lot of similar interests. This Covid thing has put a damper on a lot.

I also remember a particular boss who was great to work for and we had a general good time.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I also have worked with quite a bunch of characters. (some I think might have been certifiable)

As a 2ed year apprentice I went on this huge job, over a 120 pipe fitters for just my company. (South Mall Albany NY) I was teamed up with this old timer, he was about 2 years from retiring at 65. His favorite quote which influenced me greatly was "go slow, its faster" He also said a couple times you do not only have to learn the trade, but get good at the tricks of the trade.

Thanks Jack!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I got my first job out of school at a major title insurance company, which has now been merged and absorbed a number of times. When I was starting out there, I was sent to the mapping department when there was an older gentleman named Amos C. I watched him drawing easements and property configurations on paper, and I guess being a wide-eyed kid I was openly impressed with this work. For the next 38 years I worked with maps, deeds and property surveys and I got very experienced in plotting out the configuration of parcels of land.

In my short time with that company, I heard others saying that Mr. C. was not very friendly and rather standoffish. But one day after I left that company I was back in the same city the company was located in. I was getting ready to cross the street and who was coming the other way but Mr. C. He remembered me and he was overjoyed to see me. I suppose he remembered my open enthusiasm for his work all those years before.

Mr. C. has passed on, but I'll always remember how he got me on my way in my career.

Dad apprenticed my brother and me to a little old carpenter (Eskey S.) when we building houses. Neither of us became carpenters. But as General Contractors and I later became a maintenance supervisor, non of the subs or our own employees could pull the wool over our eyes!

Many times we both had subordinates say, "If you don't like the way I'm doing it, show me how you want it!" and we would grab their tools and show them!

That short carpenter not only taught us how to "Do", he also taught us how to think things through, and how to learn!

Ivan

This goes back to 1960 and my first job off the ranch at small town hardware store. Two old guys (probably younger than I am now) were also employed.

I was standing with one of them near the front of the store when a kid came in with a BB gun. He complained that it wasn't powerful enough and wanted his money back.

Harold took the gun, shook it to determine it had BBs, cocked it and looked around. Roy was at the far end of the store , bent over getting nails out of a bin. Harold shot him right in the butt and handed the gun back to the kid.

Roy erupted with a string of profanities and stormed towards the front. The wide-eyed kid beat feet out the door, never to be seen again.

Harold remarked to me "Another satisfied customer!"

Not sure what the lesson is here, but it is a cherished memory.

1983 in Spangdahlem AFB on the flightline. F-4 E's and G's. This new pneudraulic mechanic met Rick S. Grumpy, balding, hunched over most of the time- he used to walk down the fight line cussing out "bent winged bug suckers" and the pilots who flew them. He was a good mechanic and kept us laughing. He looked "old" to those young eyes but was probably in his mid thirties. Another, Wes F., was a huge muscle bound guy. Very good at the job and surprisingly soft spoken- until you got him mad! Learned a lot from those two.

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Support Israel!

Not gonna go down that road. After 25 years in the fire service in a busy city, I have too many of those. Both good and bad.


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There are many people I worked with who were very close friends - and even in retirement many of them still are.

I only keep up with one person from college, a former roommate who was like family.

I have kept up with exactly NOBODY from high school. Many years ago I attended my 20th high school reunion. After mingling and talking with people who I haven't seen in 20 years, the only thought I had in my mind was "For some, 20 years wasn't long enough!"

My first day getting checked into the USS Inchon (LPH 12), I was shown around by a salty looking E3. The next day, found out I worked in the same Division he was in. He showed me the ropes. And boy did we party hard together all over the world. I got out, he stayed in and made Chief. Great friend.

And, about 30 firefighters and officers that mentored me.


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I didn't go back to a HS Reunion until the 50th, why I don't know. The few jackasses hadn't changed but neither had the good ones. I enjoyed it and went every 5 years until there were too few left and most of them too crippled up to go. During that period of time I gained some friends from those I hardly knew in HS. Out of a class of about eighty there are three of us left. One lady died just a week or so ago.
Every male and one female served during WW11. I lost two very close friends, one had been previously wounded and was back into battle and was killed trying to silence a machine gun nest. The other was killed on Christmas Day, his 19th birthday when his troop ship was torpedoed in the English Channel.
Not too many towns of 5000 have their own Alumni building on the town Square chock full of school history. The Alumni have given enough funds so that it is able pay for several College Scholarships each year.It is a special town and and a special school.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!