You've Got To Be Kidding!

We hired a new kid to work out in our plant last week. Everyone was joking about us now hiring children. He just enrolled in college and is working to help support himself. In addition to being young, he looks even much younger. He did quite a bit of welding in high school and thus far he seems to be a fast learner and a hard worker. The older guys were saying we might have to open a day care for our new employees. I had seen the young fellow but not spent any time with him.

One day I was walking through the shop checking on various projects and there he was standing in the shipping and receiving area. I went over and introduced myself to him. He said to me, “Sir, you sure look familiar to me, could it be possible I know you from somewhere?” I saw the opportunity for a joke so I told him, “Well, back in the early seventies I did work as a department store Santa, and you may have sat on my knee, but I would guess you were born much later than that.” He was dead serious, “No Sir, that would not have been possible because I was not born until 1989.”

Wait a minute. 1989? 1989? That’s almost 1990. Sometimes those moments occur when you really begin to appreciate how much water has flowed under the bridge, or in my case, under several bridges. As Willie Nelson used to sing, “Ain’t it funny how time slips away?” And so it does. Then I thought about how that I was exactly him many years ago. I graduated high school at seventeen and went to work immediately in a summer job working on a pipe line installation project. The fellows there treated me like this young man is being treated. They asked me if I had a note from my mommy that allowed me to work there.

I started out as a welder’s helper but quickly was given the opportunity to try out for a skill position where I did the initial spacing that allowed the first pipes to be welded. I caught on to this very quickly and while it was very demanding and tough, it was a lot better than catering to ornery welders who tried to make your life miserable. It also quieted down the jokes because everyone knew it was a pretty important job, so with it came a little more respect. Now that was in 1964.

I can picture it now. If I would have said to Mr. Roy, the pipeline project superintendent, that he looked familiar to me, he would have gathered a group around and then may have said something like this, “Well sonny, back in the thirties I did do one season as a Santy Claus, so maybe your mommy brought you to see me, ha ha, ha ha! Everyone would have laughed because Mr. Roy was the all powerful boss man. Perhaps I would have responded, “No Sir, that wouldn’t be possible because I wasn’t born until 1946.” Everyone would have stopped laughing and Mr. Roy would have then said, “Hey, you trying to be smart aleck, don’t you have something better to do than running your mouth?

And so it goes. The more things change the more they stay the same! .......More later.