I never really knew what my dad did for work before I was old enough to remember him being a bartender/bar manager.
Then around the time the A-Team was on t.v…. originally in the eighties… I found out that he was a welder at one point in Oshkosh.
It went something like this.
Seargent Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus aka Mr. T, (the B.A. stands for Bad Attitude) was putting one of Col. Hannibal Smiths audacious plans into action.
B.A. had to weld something onto a vehicle but he grabbed an oxy/acetylene torch and fired that bad boy up and like any good t.v. script they cut away to commercial.
When they came back from break the vehicle was all welded up and my dad, true to form, got all pissed.
“He didn’t weld with that, not like that!”
Being just a youngster I asked, “Why not?”
Now let me ask you this…
Did you grow up in a house where when you asked your dad something when he was mad, it could go either way… if you know what I mean?
He was only ‘kinda pissed’ and he growled at me, “that was a cutting torch he lit up.”
I would only end up taking woods class in High School later on so I never learned the difference in tools for metals class, I did try a plasma cutter as a senior but that was just a five minute demo. To be a jerk I quickly cut a design out of the practice sheet of metal, “It’s Miller Time”, in cursive writing.
So I answered him, as any young kid who didn’t…
A. Want to tip him over the edge of getting really pissed and
B. I didn’t want to look any dumber than I already felt for not knowing the difference between an oxy/acetylene torch and a welder.
I simply said, “Oh”, and left it at that.
I never understood why he could be so good with babies, grand-kids and random teenagers down-town but didn’t have the capacity or patience to teach his son the difference between a torch and a welder.
I can point to that and clearly see why I over compensated with my kids and kids I coached in little league baseball and kids I worked with for over twenty-one years at a residential care facility by making sure I was teaching them at least what I knew or thought I knew about what ever subject we were working on at the time. Whether that was learning how to fish, how to swing a bat or how to operate lawn maintenance equipment. Usually a good eye roll would indicate to me I was being a little too detailed in my explanation of the process, but they also learned I was willing to spend the time with them when they had any questions.
Did you ever start writing something and it takes a decidedly different tone than what you intended? No? Well read on.
My kids know a lot of, if not all, the jobs that I’ve had but they never really saw me working at them. Not many kids get to follow their dads to work.
My new job, all of one shift so far, already has a twist to it.
My youngest son works there also, in the summer, for a college job. He was the one who let me know that the company was and would be looking to add on staff. So I looked into it. With much thought and prayer and prayerful thought, I made the decision to leave my job of twenty one years and take a position with said company that matched or exceeded all of my ‘should I stay or should I go’ criteria.
The only one I was concerned with is that I would be going back into the manual labor ranks and hoped my body wouldn’t let me down and that it wouldn’t be too, too hard.
Jokes on me.
From the time I accepted the position and half way into my first shift when someone from the company would ask me what job I took, they would get a funny look on their face and start laughing. Including my son.
Then at the halfway point of my first shift another older gentleman came into the break room. Same scenario…
“What job are you learning?”
“Sealer.”
“Really, hahahahah.”
So I asked him, “Ok what’s the deal. Everybody snickers like that when I tell them that?” He looked over at my young trainer dude and says, “Did anybody tell him?”
Young guns are quiet.
Old guy finishes with, “That’s the hardest job in the plant.”
Young guns are quiet.
Yep, seems true too. I didn’t do horrible. When I got home though… I could just barely raise my arms to shut off the light.
What job did you take? hahaha… not.
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