As the son of a front office white collar worker, Jon Trybulec didn’t expect his job would be on the assembly line. But he learned much more than he could have in the office.
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I was told that “money didn’t grow on a tree in the back yard” and that my parents were not “made of money”, so I had to work to go to college.
I was not studious enough for a scholarship and not poor enough to get financial aid.
I needed a job. Fortunately, my father was a front office white collar worker for one of the “Big 3” auto producers in the ’70’s and had some “pull” in getting me hired at the assembly plant.
My physical was quick and the doctor who expertly examined me said, “So, you’re Leo’s son. You are fit to work”.
Great, I thought. I was going to get an easy job doing little and making big dough because Dad knew the doctor and worked in the front office.
My new boss met me at my father’s office on the first day of work. Good — he knew that my father was “somebody”.
Mr. Young walked me down to the assembly line where 80% complete Volare’s were slowly rolling past us at about 2.5 miles an hour.
Good — he was showing me around the plant and soon he would lead me to my easy – do nothing job.
“Grab on to the hand rail and walk under the car”, Mr Young said.
Just in front of me was a concrete walled pit, about 7 feet wide and 6 feet high. Almost finished cars were rolling just above my hair covered head.
Mr. Young followed me into my “work station”.
He handed me a 20 pound air driven impact devise that would secure huge bolts through the leaf spring onto the frame of the car.
“Your job is to secure the bolt, with a washer and a nut to each side of the car. You will also take this part out of this bin and place it on this conveyor for a man further down the line. Understand?”
The impact tool became very heavy after 5 minutes and my imagination told me that the line had sped up to about 30 miles per hour.
The plant was at 92 degrees. It was Summer and I had to do this job for 90 days.
Every minute at the plant I thought swear words about my father.
Was I being punished by my father for something I did earlier in my 18 years on the planet? Did God forget about me? Did my Dad have “no pull” at the plant?
That first Friday I came home from work at about 11:30 P.M.(afternoon shift) and was greeted by my Dad sitting at the kitchen table, having coffee and smoking a cigarette.
“So, what do you think — like working at the plant — under the cars?”
It was as though my Dad was tempting me to swear at him. But, that wasn’t my style.
I stood up and pointed at my father. I never pointed at my father with a sinister look on my face before this moment in time, but the situation was ripe for action.
I was 18 — a real adult man!
“I thought that you were somebody at the plant. I thought that you could do something for me.”
Big words for somebody who never “got into it” with his father before this fateful Friday night.
He tapped the ashes of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray and spoke mildly.
“I could have gotten you an easy job. I could have made life real real easy for you”.
He smiled — a kind of a crazy man smile.
“But, I love you. I love you a lot, John and I wanted you to know how it is to do honest hard manual labor. Are you going to stay working at the plant or are you going to college as we discussed when you graduated from high school?”
“College”, I said.
He continued.
“Do your job expertly for 45 days, without any back talk to your boss, be there on time, do extra work and I will talk to the afternoon shift director of operations”.
I was angry and happy all in the same moment.
In 45 days I was driving finished cars off of the line, an easy job in the word of automobile assembly.
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Another lesson learned from Leo Trybulec.
Originally posted on LinkedIn.