How I Found Myself In Jackson MS
Dec 17, 2020 22:02:25 GMT
themotherhen, Jolly, and 5 more like this
Post by Ozarks Tom on Dec 17, 2020 22:02:25 GMT
It all started when I was in Vietnam, we could only draw $75 per month of our pay, the rest had to be sent to a bank in the States. Well, I was making $235 sergeant's pay, $55 jump pay, $50 proficiency pay, and $88 combat pay totaling $428/month. Adding to that the leave pay I obviously didn't take, and after the money I sent to my sister to pay her light bill, I still had over $3800 in the bank after air fare home from San Francisco.
When I got home I bought some clothes, and a couple minor repairs on my Peugeot, but still was sitting on what in 1966 was a lot of money for a 20 year old.
Well, you know mothers, after about two weeks of basically bumming around, being underfoot, and generally a pain in the butt, she dropped the newspaper help wanted ads in front of me. What? I was still "recovering" from the shock of war, or so I said (in truth, I had a pretty good war overall). She wasn't having any of it - "get a job!"
Of course I did what any dutiful son would do, packed my stuff and hit the road, cash in pocket.
The next month or so doesn't really come back to me now, matter of fact, it didn't really come back to me at the end of that month. I'd spent it heading in the general direction of Jackson MS where my next older sister lived with her worthless husband and five kids. When I say heading in the general direction, I mean I spent those days waking late in motels, driving a ways to another town at varying distances, checking into a cheap motel, and hitting the local refreshment establishments. I wasn't 21 yet, but I don't remember anyone questioning me. What I do remember of that meandering trip was for the most part wonderful, but can't be related here. Let's just say it could best be described in polite company and drunken debauchery.
One morning, surprisingly, I woke up at my destination, still had a couple hundred dollars left, and a half tank of gas in the Peugeot. That's when the realization hit me - "get a job".
Not having a real trade, other than radio teletype and shooting at little guys in black pajamas, I started hitting the local factories looking for whatever I could find. I soon found out that a cheap motel wasn't a very good address to put on the application form, so I called my sister, told her I was in town and what I was doing, and asked for her address. I probably hit four factories before at the end of the day I stopped at the American Can plant. Same routine as the previous factories, and when I say same, I mean they gave the exact same tests, including the mechanical aptitude test.
Well, the mechanical aptitude test was a timed test, they graded by how far you got in the booklet and how many right answers you got. After taking the same test four times previous that day I whipped through it, finishing the last three or four questions I hadn't gotten to previously. When the HR guy came back in I was sitting there smoking a cigarette, staring at a picture on the wall. "Give up?" "Nope, finished it."
Well, I guess nobody had ever finished that test before, but then, they probably hadn't done it for the fifth time in a day either. Anyway, I'd somehow missed one answer, but he immediately summoned the plant engineer. They just knew they had a mechanical genius on their hands.
The plant engineer's name was Ken Wiltsie, a long before army veteran from Wisconsin. He said based on my test score he could start me out as a 3rd period apprentice (it was a union shop) at well above minimum wage. I told him I didn't have any tools with the exception of some metric wrenches for my French car, and he said he'd loan me what I'd need, but I needed to buy my own each payday. I also told him I was low on cash, and he loaned me $50 until payday. I started the next morning.
My worthless brother-in-law knew a guy who needed a roommate to share the rent on an apartment, so I quickly had a permanent roof over my head.
I lived in Jackson for about a year, then decided to go back to Minnesota. I couldn't see punching that same time clock the rest of my life. Besides, the gal I was dating had serious wedding plans on her mind.
I had a great year there, met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. No regrets.
