On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:48:53 -0400, HK wrote:


Here's a really old Piels beer commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26HtmV0DmRU

It's good. For some reason it reminds me of Maypo instead of beer.

They got more sophisticated (!) as the years passed, but still kept to
the format.

I had two good summer jobs thanks to the Teamsters, and another good one
thanks to the Steamfitters and Boilermakers Unions. I knew a little bit
about welding before that summer, but by the time the summer was over, I
was working right alongside journeymen, refurbishing
steam boilers at the now defunct Bigelow Boiler factory. Now that was a
manly man's job! The place was ancient; it had built steam locomotives
earlier in its history.
WARNING: Long Winded, No Boats
I was running heavy brake press and shear crews at the IH bulldozer
plants in Chicago (the old McCormack works) and Melrose Park.
Got to arguing over safety and piecework issues with my foreman and
the division foreman. Shears repeating, screwed on averages, etc.
A couple years back I had seen one guy I was friendly with get his
fingers cut off by a small press that repeated. He came walking up to
me in shock holding his good hand over the finger stumps, mouthing
"Vic, Vic." We got him laid down and hauled off and as we were
looking for the glove with his fingers the f**cking machine's ram was
still pumping up and down. I was looking before I saw the kid because
I've got ears for that, and a repeating shear is way out of place.
They couldn't reattach his fingers. I was running 8-torch Linde gas
cutters then. Flash forward a couple years and I'm working in a
different department on the heavy bangers. One day I'm cutting 1"
thick steel pieces and the clamps and shear come down with no pedal
action by me. Steel slaps but luckily neither me or my helper get our
hands mangled. I shut it down and told the foreman to get maintenance
to fix the repeat. This is about the 3rd time it's happened in a
week.
He wants me to keep working it until maintenance comes.
"What, and lose my fingers like Raphael?"
He says, "He was using his head on the switch." Meaning pushing
pieces faster by not using both hands on the widely spaced switches.
I let him know the best I could express it that I was actually there
and was he full of sh*t. This SOB had already negligently let an
uncoordinated kid get his arm mangled to uselessness in a Webb roller.
I had warned him the kid couldn't even operate a worksaver safely.
Anyway, it was all downhill and after I stood toe-to-toe with the
general foreman cussing each other out and spraying each other with
spittle I knew I had to get out. That one ended with the ahole
general accusing me of threatening him - a firing offense. A small
crowd had gathered and I heard from it steward Gainsworth's soft but
penetrating voice tell the general "He didn't threaten you. I heard
everything said here." Anyway, I knew I'd get fired by these jokers
if I had a flat and was a minute late, so I decided to get out.
I had a kid coming and needed to keep my insurance. I got a contract
book from Gainsworth and saw that a vet would be granted leave of
absence to attend college, but there was language about "at the
foreman's discretion." After my shift I went to the front office to
ask personnel how they interpreted that.
The personnel guy said "You want to go to school, you go to school.
Don't matter what the foreman wants."
So within a week I was enrolled and had the paperwork done with the
front office. Had to pay a bit over $400 month for the insurance but
hey, the GI bill money almost covered that. I had a job to come back
to if I needed it, and insurance for my family.
Anyway, I was a good boy for the foreman for the week or so left.
Just goaded and insulted him whenever I got the opportunity.
I figured he knew I was leaving. After all, me and my helper produced
more bends and cuts than the other 2 shifts combined. He must know
who he was going to steal from and endanger next, right?.
My next to last night my helper still hadn't heard who he'd be working
with. I saw the foreman walking by and yelled at him,
"Hey Tony! Who's Hines gonna be working with on Monday?"
He says, "What are you talking about?"
They hadn't even told him I was leaving!
So I explained, "Tony, I'm going to college on a leave of absence.
Tomorrow's my last day."
He says "Bull****," storms away to his office and gets on the phone.
I could see it all through the big window. He's on the phone about a
minute, his arm goes all the way up and he SLAMS it down on the
receiver. Sweet, sweet, sweet. Never said another word to that
c*cks*cker.
I came back 6 months later to a different department, but it was
tough working full time and school full time, so I quit IH after doing
6 more months. Got a 4 hours a day PT job fueling, jockeying and
washing tractors and trailers at UPS, so I was a Teamster for almost 4
years.
Made almost as much pushing a brush there for 20 hours than
I made lifting 90 tons of steel at IH in 40 hours.
The unions were good to me. Except for those 2 pricks I never had
problems with management either. Guys like them are the reason
there's unions. They'll lie and steal you blind, and get you killed
for a buck.
Of course then I became a "professional" and soon made 5 times
as much. The downside to that was listening to overpaid lazy geeks
with ties whining about unions. Like being around ballerinas all day,
for Christ's sake.

--Vic