In the summer, a temp agency placed me in a factory that made truck parts. Using an array of hydraulic presses, tourches and stamping devices, they turned flat pieces of metal in various thickness and density in to all manner of things that are used in building trucks. It was here that I discovered how labor unions have killed productivity in America. I know this doesn’t have anything to do with music but I’m putting it out there because I was there in the summer of 1984.
I don’t recall how i heard this but the shop was two years behind in delivering parts ordered. How ridiculous is that for starters? The people working there didn’t seem to have any kind of motivation to be productive. They stood st their stations and pressed out the parts with no sense of urgency at all. It was really boring work. Whenever I hear about more manufacturing jobs going overseas, my first thought is “Good. Let them have those boring jobs.” Of course the reason those jobs are held so dear is that the are typically the most overpaid jobs that require the least amount of expertise to master. I was 19 at the time and I didn’t think of the job as an 8 hour shift. I was looking at that pallet of steel that needed to be turned into giant washers. I wanted to get it done as fast as I could so I could do something different.
I swear that I could have gathered up 20 friends of mine and we could have gotten that shop back up to date by the start of the fall semester. I was actually told by some of my co-workers to slow down. Can you believe that? That place was porbably operating at less than 20% of its capacity with those guys.
The shift ended at 3:00pm but the work stopped at 2:30 when everybody would go to the bathroom to wash their hands. The last 15 minutes of the day were spent standing in line next to the timeclock with time card in hand just waiting for it to tick over to 3:00 when they would punch out and go home. It wasn’t even my business but it infuriates me. The union made it basically impossible to fire an underperformer which made them all underperformers. That shop went out of business in 1990’s. Do you think those guys in China stand around the time clock for 15 minutes every shift?
I’d work 6:00am to 3:00pm, go home, shower, go to Lisa’s house, stay there until it was late, then go home sleep, for a few hours, promise myself to go to bed early tomorrow, then repeat.
Back to the music.
Donna Summer – She Works Hard For The Money
Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney – The Girl Is Mine
Elton John – I’m Still Standing
Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night
Adam Ant – Goody Two Shoes Another time where I liked an artistbefore they became big. I had been listening to Adam Ant for years.