I worked for a very short time at Metromail. I was a stock handler and moved stock from the warehouse to a pickup point near the machines. Metromail is a large direct mail advertising company on the east side of Mt. Pleasant. They mail out massive amounts of material to households across the country.
I drove a forklift to the warehouse, found the material and then delivered it back to the pickup area. There, handlers with handcarts would move the material to the machines that inserted it all into envelopes. It was actually fascinating to watch. I worked the evening shift. It was a good job but after the first week or so it was apparent that I would not be able to work there and still get my schoolwork done.
I gave my two weeks notice so I ended up only working there for a month. When I left they said I was a good employee and that I could come back anytime I wanted. That made me feel good and I actually considered it a few times but never went back to work there. Factory work is a different kind of work than I have ever experienced. I am glad I had that experience.
I also worked at Walgren’s Market during college. I was a night and weekend manager. Another store in town had started opening all night and weekends and so Dick Walgren and his brother decided they had to at least be competitive so they extended the evening hours from 6:00 to 10:00 PM and started opening on Sundays from noon to 4:00 PM. A small group of us manned the store and served what few customers we had during those times.
The schedule worked well for me. I had plenty of time for schoolwork and the job paid pretty well. I think it was around $7.00 an hour, which was considered very good pay in those days. I ran the cash register and supervised another worker who stocked shelves or carried out groceries if we had a customer. When we closed I hid the cash drawer in the back of the store, secured all of the doors, and activated the alarm. I goofed the latter two up a few times and set off the alarm.
It was an easy job and I enjoyed the responsibility and meeting the public. Once when I wouldn’t sell beer to a minor he got all excited and screamed and yelled at me. When he threatened me I picked up the phone and called the police and he left the store immediately.
One of the owner’s sons had keys to the store and would come in the back way when we were still open. I know he carried a lot of beer out the back door but there didn’t seem to be anyway to stop him. On other occasions members of the families of the two owners would come in and fill carts heaping full of groceries and then wheel them right past me and out the door. I felt a little uncomfortable about that but didn’t know what to do.
Walgren’s caught fire and burned late in the summer just before I started teaching.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
College Jobs II
I worked in the medical records department at the Mental Health Institute while I was in college. After college I worked there part time as an educational consultant. Prior to working there I had volunteered there on short-term projects a couple times as a boy scout or as a member of our church youth group.
Growing up there was a lot of mystery about the Mental Health Institute. People in neighboring communities often jokingly threatened to send each other to Mt. Pleasant if they acted silly. In Mt. Pleasant we just threatened to send people to the east end of town. We heard a lot of stories about the people out there. In the summer, groups of them would come to the pool to cool off. I don’t remember one negative incident in all of the times they came. Still, we talked about them with fear and uncertainty.
It wasn’t until the early 60s that they started using effective drugs with the patients and the institute population dwindled from nearly one thousand patients to only a little over 300. Many were there because they simply had no place else to go. Others were so severely mentally ill that medication wasn’t much help.
The institute consisted of the main three-story building with wings on each side. There were 2 wards on each floor of the east wing and the west wing. The patients lived on the wards. There were underground tunnels that linked that building to the hospital building, the employee residence, the physical plant building. There were several other smaller buildings. I am not sure how many were linked by tunnels.
I worked nights and weekends. My job was to process medical records, manage the front desk, and answer the phone. After nine o’clock each ward called in once each hour. They would identify their ward and then say “Ok”. Within a one or two minute period all wards would call in. I recorded it on a tally sheet all night long. If they didn’t call I would call them. I used to have dreams about it. “4 west, ok.”
Most of the time it was a very boring job. I was able to study some while I was there. Once in awhile on the weekends a patient would stop by to talk. On the night shift I rarely saw anyone. A night shift nurse might stop by but not often. On even more rare occasions a patient might be admitted. Sometimes if it wasn’t for the wards calling in I would have fallen asleep. That never happened even though I was on the verge of it a couple times.
I did avoid some patients while I worked there. I had been warned about the ones not to be alone with. I had to call for help a couple times when they showed up at my desk on weekends. At night they were in locked wards.
A few times, a social worker that lived in the employee’s building would stop in and play cards with me in the evening for a while. She was blind but had brail marked cards so she was impossible to beat when she dealt.
Growing up there was a lot of mystery about the Mental Health Institute. People in neighboring communities often jokingly threatened to send each other to Mt. Pleasant if they acted silly. In Mt. Pleasant we just threatened to send people to the east end of town. We heard a lot of stories about the people out there. In the summer, groups of them would come to the pool to cool off. I don’t remember one negative incident in all of the times they came. Still, we talked about them with fear and uncertainty.
It wasn’t until the early 60s that they started using effective drugs with the patients and the institute population dwindled from nearly one thousand patients to only a little over 300. Many were there because they simply had no place else to go. Others were so severely mentally ill that medication wasn’t much help.
The institute consisted of the main three-story building with wings on each side. There were 2 wards on each floor of the east wing and the west wing. The patients lived on the wards. There were underground tunnels that linked that building to the hospital building, the employee residence, the physical plant building. There were several other smaller buildings. I am not sure how many were linked by tunnels.
I worked nights and weekends. My job was to process medical records, manage the front desk, and answer the phone. After nine o’clock each ward called in once each hour. They would identify their ward and then say “Ok”. Within a one or two minute period all wards would call in. I recorded it on a tally sheet all night long. If they didn’t call I would call them. I used to have dreams about it. “4 west, ok.”
Most of the time it was a very boring job. I was able to study some while I was there. Once in awhile on the weekends a patient would stop by to talk. On the night shift I rarely saw anyone. A night shift nurse might stop by but not often. On even more rare occasions a patient might be admitted. Sometimes if it wasn’t for the wards calling in I would have fallen asleep. That never happened even though I was on the verge of it a couple times.
I did avoid some patients while I worked there. I had been warned about the ones not to be alone with. I had to call for help a couple times when they showed up at my desk on weekends. At night they were in locked wards.
A few times, a social worker that lived in the employee’s building would stop in and play cards with me in the evening for a while. She was blind but had brail marked cards so she was impossible to beat when she dealt.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
College Jobs I
I had several different jobs while I was in college. They ranged from scooping hog manure to being the night manager of a grocery store. I have already written about working on a farm and the swimming pool. I did some odd jobs in those days like painting or carpentry work but they were very short term.
I worked as a typesetter and printer for Glanzman Printing Company part-time for several years. It didn’t pay well but I needed whatever money I could get so I couldn’t turn it down. It usually amounted to 3-4 hours a day. Jerry Glanzman, the owner, was the only other person working there. I learned a lot about the printing business during that time.
We printed everything from business cards to funeral programs to massive runs for Metromail, the direct mail advertising company in Mt Pleasant. Some printing runs involved only 25 or 50 pieces. Metromail had runs of up to 3 million pieces.
I learned a lot while I worked for Jerry. It was an interesting job and you really had a feeling of accomplishment when you created something that looked very professional. Typesetting is now a lost art. You would have to go to a historical village to see how it’s done. The type drawers are now sometimes hung on the wall and filled with nick knacks.
Jerry had a linotype machine that you could set type with, too. It was complicated and I never learned to use it. As part of the process it actually poured molten lead into a mold to make the reverse image of each letter. Flat strips of hot metal would come out of the machine in perfect order.
Jerry was close friend of Maurice LeMaster a local policeman. He came twice everyday for coffee…once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We would walk over to the Cozy Café, find an empty booth, and have coffee. I was fascinated with the local philosophers who would hang out in there and talk about how to solve the problems of the world. I think I learned as much in the coffee shop as I did in some of my classes at college. I also wasted a lot of time there and drank too much coffee. I got so I knew almost everyone who came in.
One day when I was doing a long run for Metromail on the offset press I caught my thumb in the machine. I had been applying water to the plate and pressed a little too hard. My right thumb was in before I realized what happened. It was nearly severed about a half inch from the tip. Pushing it back together I went, dripping blood all the way, to Lauser’s where Becky worked and had her take me to Dr. Rankin.
Dr. Rankin shot it full of painkiller, cleaned it out, sewed it back together and sent me home. It was so bandaged up that I had to write with my left hand for about two weeks. To this day the thumb looks different, flatter and wider, than the other one.
I worked at Glanzman Printing on and off for about four years. I’ll tell you about another one of my jobs in the next piece.
I worked as a typesetter and printer for Glanzman Printing Company part-time for several years. It didn’t pay well but I needed whatever money I could get so I couldn’t turn it down. It usually amounted to 3-4 hours a day. Jerry Glanzman, the owner, was the only other person working there. I learned a lot about the printing business during that time.
We printed everything from business cards to funeral programs to massive runs for Metromail, the direct mail advertising company in Mt Pleasant. Some printing runs involved only 25 or 50 pieces. Metromail had runs of up to 3 million pieces.
I learned a lot while I worked for Jerry. It was an interesting job and you really had a feeling of accomplishment when you created something that looked very professional. Typesetting is now a lost art. You would have to go to a historical village to see how it’s done. The type drawers are now sometimes hung on the wall and filled with nick knacks.
Jerry had a linotype machine that you could set type with, too. It was complicated and I never learned to use it. As part of the process it actually poured molten lead into a mold to make the reverse image of each letter. Flat strips of hot metal would come out of the machine in perfect order.
Jerry was close friend of Maurice LeMaster a local policeman. He came twice everyday for coffee…once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We would walk over to the Cozy Café, find an empty booth, and have coffee. I was fascinated with the local philosophers who would hang out in there and talk about how to solve the problems of the world. I think I learned as much in the coffee shop as I did in some of my classes at college. I also wasted a lot of time there and drank too much coffee. I got so I knew almost everyone who came in.
One day when I was doing a long run for Metromail on the offset press I caught my thumb in the machine. I had been applying water to the plate and pressed a little too hard. My right thumb was in before I realized what happened. It was nearly severed about a half inch from the tip. Pushing it back together I went, dripping blood all the way, to Lauser’s where Becky worked and had her take me to Dr. Rankin.
Dr. Rankin shot it full of painkiller, cleaned it out, sewed it back together and sent me home. It was so bandaged up that I had to write with my left hand for about two weeks. To this day the thumb looks different, flatter and wider, than the other one.
I worked at Glanzman Printing on and off for about four years. I’ll tell you about another one of my jobs in the next piece.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
College Swimming Team
College sports are all together different than high school sports. It is much more rigorous and time consuming. The few athletes that go on to college sports are generally the skilled and the very best and talented high school participants. I was not a very talented high school athlete. I swam competively in the AAU league when I was young and swam in the annual swimming meet at the pool. That was my only experience.
When I visited with Coach John Steigman about going out for the team he told me he really doubted that I would be very successful because I would be swimming against skilled athletes that had been swimming competitively for years. Some had as much as twelve years experience. I think Coach Steigman let me on the team because he was hurting for swimmers because of injuries and was having trouble putting a team in the pool.
The team consisted of a gifted swimmer and Olympic trial qualifier who had flunked out of The University of Iowa; three freshmen that had been state qualifiers and place finishers in their home states and two junior lettermen. Then there was me. When I told the team members of my experience they laughed. It was obvious they were way out of my league.
The first day of practice nearly killed me! Two hours of intensive swimming including sprints and distance was more physical activity than I had had for some time. I remember going home and collapsing on the bed and sleeping for a couple of hours. It went on like that for a week and I finally begin to build up some endurance.
I don’t think anyone ever expected much out of me. The team needed a backstroker. That would be me and then I would fill in a place on the sprint freestyle relay and the medley relay. In the first meet I was second in the 200 backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle. I could tell the rest of the team looked at me differently and I felt like I might be able to help out after all.
In the second meet I swam the backstroke leg of the medley relay and we won the race although we lost the meet to Coe College. At Illinois College we won the 400-yard relay just after I won the 200-yard backstroke. I was exhausted but swam well anyway. We also won the medley relay that day and the meet.
In the conference championship meet we placed second. Our medley relay and freestyle relays placed second and I placed third in the backstroke. It was a tough meet and a long trip to Principia College that is located high on a bluff above the Mississippi River north of St. Louis.
At the winter sports banquet I was recognized for my contributions to the team and I received a letter. I was thrilled. I had achieved something I didn’t think was possible for me. That was the end of my college athletic career. Coach Steigman asked me to come out my senior year but I was busy working and student teaching and just didn’t see how I could work it in.
When I visited with Coach John Steigman about going out for the team he told me he really doubted that I would be very successful because I would be swimming against skilled athletes that had been swimming competitively for years. Some had as much as twelve years experience. I think Coach Steigman let me on the team because he was hurting for swimmers because of injuries and was having trouble putting a team in the pool.
The team consisted of a gifted swimmer and Olympic trial qualifier who had flunked out of The University of Iowa; three freshmen that had been state qualifiers and place finishers in their home states and two junior lettermen. Then there was me. When I told the team members of my experience they laughed. It was obvious they were way out of my league.
The first day of practice nearly killed me! Two hours of intensive swimming including sprints and distance was more physical activity than I had had for some time. I remember going home and collapsing on the bed and sleeping for a couple of hours. It went on like that for a week and I finally begin to build up some endurance.
I don’t think anyone ever expected much out of me. The team needed a backstroker. That would be me and then I would fill in a place on the sprint freestyle relay and the medley relay. In the first meet I was second in the 200 backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle. I could tell the rest of the team looked at me differently and I felt like I might be able to help out after all.
In the second meet I swam the backstroke leg of the medley relay and we won the race although we lost the meet to Coe College. At Illinois College we won the 400-yard relay just after I won the 200-yard backstroke. I was exhausted but swam well anyway. We also won the medley relay that day and the meet.
In the conference championship meet we placed second. Our medley relay and freestyle relays placed second and I placed third in the backstroke. It was a tough meet and a long trip to Principia College that is located high on a bluff above the Mississippi River north of St. Louis.
At the winter sports banquet I was recognized for my contributions to the team and I received a letter. I was thrilled. I had achieved something I didn’t think was possible for me. That was the end of my college athletic career. Coach Steigman asked me to come out my senior year but I was busy working and student teaching and just didn’t see how I could work it in.
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