Judy drove me to the eye doctor's today. They did more tests and confirmed that I have a small hole in the retina. So I go back on Friday to have it welded (lasered) .
We then headed to the Ancaster Fairgrounds to pick up our Dofasco Christmas treats. Because of the postal strike, tickets didn't get mailed. So they had to verify everybody before handing out the gifts. Took an hour in line to get our nutcracker and popcorn pail.
Merry Christmas.----------------------------------
When I was out with Roger and Judy recently I shared an advance copy of the Memoirs that I have been writing. Roger suggested that I should include more detail, such as what I wrote yesterday about my trips with grandkids (which I have now included). The Memoirs are for the grandkids, so that they can better understand why I am who I am.
-----------------------------------
My supposed friend Barry posed the following question in our Wordle thread:
One has to wonder how much weight Bud will lose given he doesn't cook and Mardi is away sipping on margaritas in Mexico.
Perhaps the question should be how much will he gain while relying on takeout to fill the void.
Answer: No takeout meals, two dinner invitations (thanks Sue and Maureen) and no weight lost (so far - but she doesn't return until tomorrow night).
Some of you know the story of why I don't cook, but I'm going to burden you with some of my Memoirs to explain to the others.
My
Career
When the Bar-Don Lanes opened in Stoney Creek, dad was instrumental in forming two
leagues, the Saltfleet Men’s League and the Saltfleet Mixed League. He had bowled in a Dofasco league for a few
years prior. It was at the Bar-Don that
I got my first job at age twelve. We
started out setting pins six nights a week and were upset when they cut us back
to four.
My dad died when I was in grade ten at Saltfleet High School. The next school year I started helping the
janitor sweep floors after school to make extra money. I did my homework while I set pins at the
bowling alley.
Then I added a Friday night and Saturday job at Clayton's Men's Wear. (Working three jobs and pretending to be a dad to my younger siblings didn’t leave any time to learn how to cook.)
The summer my dad died, and the following
summer as well, I worked as a mail boy at Dofasco, carrying requisitions
throughout the mill to obtain the requisite superintendents’ signatures. Dofasco turned a blind eye to the fact that I
was only 15 that first summer. I made about
$30 per week. I continued to work weekends at Clayton's.
When I was 17 and had completed grade 12,
it became necessary for me to quit school and start working full time to help
support the family. For a year, I worked
at Clayton’s (at $35. per 46 hour week), until he got a job flying
supplies for the construction of the DEW Line and decided that he needed a more
mature person to run the store in his absence.
Although I was offered a job by Stu Chapple to work at the hardware
store and had also been approached by Walter Scott, the manager of the Royal
Bank, I decided to try Dofasco, where I started at $45 per week.
For the first year, I worked steady nights,
picking up time cards throughout the mill and calculating the hours worked for
each person. For the first three months
of that stint, I also worked days at the Men’s Wear store to help the new
manager get into the swing of things. I
would get about three hours sleep Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, eight hours on
Wednesday (a half day at the store), and virtually no sleep Friday when the
store didn’t close until nine. After
closing the store at six o’clock Saturday night, I could sleep around the clock
because I didn’t have to go back on nights at Dofasco until Sunday midnight. I lost 15 pounds that summer (from 135
down to 120).
After a year on nights, I was brought into
the time office and for almost two years worked on payroll. I was then sent for psychological testing and
after a grueling day was told that I should quit Dofasco and go back to school
to become an accountant (which I couldn’t afford to do). Instead, Dofasco put me on the Sales training
program and I spent the next year and a half working in various labs throughout
the plant, including several months in the Steel Casting department (Dante’s
Inferno).
I followed a path that would be impossible
today without a university education. My
determination to achieve and dedication to the job, together with an analytical
bent and long hours, helped me to finally become Director of Sales Planning and
Administration, with a staff of about 80 people and a spot in the “Management
Group” which got to eat in the separate executive dining room and rotated
through attendance at monthly Company Directors’ Luncheons.
After retiring, I worked for Laurence
Marshall at Larry’s Truck and at Golden Horseshoe Tire for about three
years, as Credit Manager, management assistant and finally as Purchasing
Manager for Truckland, after Laurence had sold it and it changed names.
Perhaps my most satisfying job has been my
“farm labour” activity as I tried to help David wherever he needed
assistance. Watching your son overcome
the obstacles and challenges of entrepreneurship to build a successful business
and playing with your grandchildren on the job is as good as it gets.
-----------------------------------------
So now you know. And, I don't do laundry either.
Stay well.
No comments:
Post a Comment