WORK

by: Anonymous

I never thought about work much when I was young, but after twenty-five years in the mill, I think on it daily.  The old what if – what if this, what if that – you think it over and over.  Well, that was yesterday, and we can’t change the past.  Even though I can’t say that I have a job that I like doing daily, I can say this - Inland Steel has been good to me.

Finished, out of school, didn’t have any rules.  While working at Queen Anne Candy Factory, I got my buddy Dave a job working with me.  I was laid off from Inland.  His Dad helped him get a job over there.  Man, they worked you like dogs at Queen Anne Factory.   We were working one day all hot and sweaty covered in white stuff, I think is was starch and David and me were talking.  He was saying that this plant was nasty and he couldn’t wait to get called back to Inland.  He said he made a lot of money there and that I should put an application in and so I did.  We probably rode over there on our motorcycles, I can’t remember.  We had two Honda 350’s and we thought we were bad to the bone.

My day started like any other day, a joint for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Me and all my buddies partied at our friend Ish’s house.  Well, it was getting late and I said I had to go for a job interview at Inland and my friend Cesar said he did too.  So we hooked up bright and early the next day.  We stood in line on the corner of a street; Cesar was one payroll number ahead of me.  We ended up at Plant 2  Blast Furnace.  I don’t remember all the stuff like getting a hard hat, glasses and shoes but I’m sure we got all that.  What I do remember, we ate our lunch sometime early in the morning and by lunch time we were hungry like hell.  We sat outside of some office all day talking and BSing.

We worked two weeks of straight days then we went to the Sintering Plant working labor shoveling fine on a moving conveyor belt.  Well, we were partying still pretty heavy all the time.  Hell, we were 18 or 19, just out of school.  Some time or another Cesar got into the mechanical gang, and I stayed in the Dust Bowl at the Sintering Plant.  We all would get stoned everyday, all the time.  One time,  Cesar came to see me on my job zombitized, he stayed up for a couple days speeding.  I told him to be cool and go to sleep.  I watched out for him making sure he didn’t have any problems with the foremen.

Well time goes on like it does, Cesar quit work after some time and went into semi-pro boxing.  We all had a good time watching him box at the Civic Center in Hammond. We would scream and holler so loud we would be hoarse the next day.  Then we’d hook up at a bar and do our thing.

Well, that was some time ago.  I saw him a couple of times about a year ago; he’s still rockin’ and rollin’ and having a good time.  He has a good job now, making good money as a pipefitter. Dave’s still in the mill but I couldn’t tell you how he’s been doing.  I haven’t seen him since we started working. And me, I work, go home, go fishing and then back to work again.