It was June 5th. 1967 – I was to report to Human Resources at 8AM.

My ride was a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air –

Aqua and White.

I had just graduated from H.S. –

and the previous 8 months – I had spent 51 days in the hospital –

In traction in bed with a Catheter for 41 of those days.

There were days that I did not know if I would ever walk again.

I was in a car accident –

I am lucky to be alive.

I came home in a wheelchair and then the rehab began.

I went to crutches and then to a cane.

I had been an athlete – and now I was learning to walk all over again.

I had a broken pelvis and a torn Urethea tube.

But – I had a wonderful support group.

I arrived 15 minutes early – parked my car and walked around the front of the “TILE PLANT”-

To the front entrance – down the stairs and reported to the lady at the window –

Who I was and what I was doing there.

I had a paper bag for lunch.

She told me to take a seat and soon two other guys came in.

They were Bonas students and were there for Summer Work.

We talked and then the HR man – named Jim – came and said hello –

Told us to wait and the foreman named Jim would be right there.

I remembered being in awe of all the surroundings.

Not knowing what to expect and then Jim was there –

said to follow him and we went down the stairs – turned left down the hall –

And through double swinging doors to the sights and sounds of PLANT LIFE!

It was HOT as we walked right down beside the old number one kiln.

The noise – I shall never forget and the fork trucks – the people working –

Ear plugs were expected to be worn and safety glasses which they had given us.

It got hotter as we walked down toward what I later found out was the mounting room –

and turned left at the lab.

Jim kept walking and turned left at the lab and we proceeded through a large doorway that had a metal fire door – IN CASE OF FIRE?

What had I got myself involved in?

The first stop was the men’s locker room and we were assigned lockers – mine was number 10!

There was a place to take a shower with three shower heads.

Benches attached to the floor were in front of the metal lockers – all a tan color with numbers on them

Through another doorway were the urinals and stalls and a closet-

With a large piece of cardboard on the floor –

Here is where FRIDAY sleeps for his lunch break Jim says!

Then it was back out and turn right and walk down a slight ramp.

This he said was the SERVICE and BODY PREP departments.

Around the corner to the left was the time clock –

Punch in there – put your card in the rack and don’t punch in late or punch out early!

WELCOME TO THE TILE PLANT!

Herb was the supervisor of the Body Prep Department and Jim was the supervisor of the Service Dept.

There was no office – they both had stand-up metal desks side by side.

It was noisy and dust in the air-

here is where they mixed the clay bodies together and it went up four stories!

Next – he said since I would be there the longest and the other two just the summer-

I would be trained in Body Prep – as an extra and used as needed.

I then met the other workers in Body Prep –

and started training as can man.

Then onto weighmaster and compactor operator.

Then the Forty Cubic and soon Stain – making the colors for the tile before mixing/

That went on for three months and I knew every job in the department.

Someone named Samuel was fired and the opening was on the second shift-

No one bid on it and I was assigned the job.

I worked as a weighmaster on the second shift for 6 1/2 years –

TEN HOUR DAYS – 3pm. to 1 am. – no breaks – eat on the fly – 2 hours OT every day!

My starting pay back then in 1967 – was $1.72 an hour plus OT!

There were four of us on the second shift and at that time the rest of the plant was all done and gone-

by 11PM.

It was a dirty dusty job – but also no one bothered you.

My job was to weigh up 1200-pound batches that looked like Talcum powder on stainless steel scales.

I had three systems North – South and East.

I added the stain of the color we were running –

I had a large control panel that showed me the entire system and what step the batch was in.

I had a chair next to the panel and it took 12 minutes to run out before I weighed the next batch.

So I took that time to READ – whatever I could get my hands on.

The whole time while watching the power panel.

The only time I was not doing that – we had color changes and we had to clean up the entire process-

start to finish

They gave us two hours for a wash job and one hour for a brush job.

Usually one or two a night.

meanwhile, you had to keep the other systems running.

No one was there in management to bother me – I was up on the third level

It was noisy with the hum of the units running.

One other worker was there with me on the other side and two men on the ground level.

That was my first job at AOTC – and I lasted 47 1/2 years.

I held many jobs in those years

I ended up running the two departments I started in.

I was in management the last 12 years we were there before we both transferred to NVA!

Down in NVA – I worked in seven different locations –

The beginning was just the tip of the bottle in the different hats I wore for what-

would become DAL-TILE – part of MOHAWK INDUSTRIES!

Sherry and I met there and were married on June 25th. 1982 –

We both retired from DAL-TILE – AMERICAN OLEAN TILE CO. after 791/2 years of total service.

Thanks for reading –

PAPA’S WORLD-

my site: livinglifedoingitmyway.blog