First year out of high school,I took a year off and worked at a factory that
made chemical driers. It was a learning experience.. for many reasons. About
40 % of the workforce were black guys from the south and west side of
Chicago... and almost all related by blood or marriage. Another 40% of the
workforce were hillbillies from Tennesee and Kentucky. They were all related
in some way as well. The final 20% were smart mouth young long haired hippie
freaks like me.
Oh, and I'd say 60-70% of the total workforce were ex cons... murder, rape,
manslaughter, armed robbery... you name it.
I learned that a hillbilly that takes a dislike to you would rather kill you
than look at you (and he tried).
I learned how to arc, mig & tig weld.
I learned all about drill & tap sizes.
I learned how to read blueprints.
I learned sheet metal fabrication.
I learned how to operate bigass overhead cranes.
I learned how to operate huge shears and press brakes.
I learned that the sheet metal workers union was a joke.
I learned that my narrow white ass belonged in college.
oh, and to bring this back on topic...
I saw a guy rip a 4" circle of his scalp off when his hair got caught in the
drill press.
I nearly lost the use of my right hand when I was tightening a bit in the
chuck of a high speed press when some a-hole turned the drill on.
I watched one guy mash his hand flat when he tried to defeat the safety on
the big brake.
I watched another guy grind 2 fingers off when his hand slipped while
working on a big surface grinder.
I had to cut a friend out of his shirt as he suffocated... his shirt tail
got caught in this big hand held grinder polisher, and it wrapped his shirt
up so tight he couldn't breath.
I watched a dumbass that had used masking tape on his safety shoes catch his
foot on fire while welding. (You'd always slice your shoes on all the sheet
metal in the place, and he'd just taped over the spot where his steel toes
were falling out..)
I watched a guy (named "Jim Dummy") start falling backward while on a ladder
building a huge shipping crate. As he reached around the ladder to catch
himself, the bigass pneumatic stapler pressed against his chest and fired a
huge staple that nicely stuck into him at a great depth, luckily on either
side of a rib.
Ahhh... life's lessons.
WST
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 9:30 AM
To: Charles Christ
Cc: Spridgets; Robert Duquette
Subject: Re: Bonehead auto repair mishap
That's why I always carry extra bands. To tie the hair back BEFORE
getting under the bonnet of a car with a running engine, or just about
anywhere else I am going to be working ;-).
Now about my scarf ;-)
Larry
On
La
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