Ah sooo...there it is!!!

[Codger_64]

I just happend to be doing a bit of early morning web surfing and found my Automotive plastics production engineer job!! Ah, well... I found out where it went anyway.

Here is a not so brief description I posted a while back of what happened:

I went through a similar employment situation a few years back. First, there was a RIF, a reduction in the workforce, mostly hourly workers. The workforce was augmented by giving additional duties to salaried workers. I was chief production engineer and had to assume the responsibilities of the engineering technicians, who were treated shabbily until the quit one by one. Not only did I have to design the assembly process, the production line, buy the equipment, get it installed, acquire the subcomponents and train the production workers, but I had to hand build all preprototypes, prototypes, and and program launch orders. When a new mold was installed, I had to work a 24 hour shift (no extra pay, thank you!), and handle all communication with the customer, our sales managers in Detroit, and the assembly plants in Mexico.

I watched while all my efforts went down the tubes as Corporate decisions caused molding machines the size of a locomotive to be unanchored and prepared for shipment with the molds to other plants. Miles of overhead conveyors were stripped out and shipped out to the new plants along with the production orders and all my engineering notes and Cad files.

I finally came to the conclusion that these Corporate decisions were above my pay scale and tried not to object or whimper as I watched my babies being loaded on semi's bound North and South.

Then the hidden edict came down from on high to RIF salaried management. Rather than pink slip us, they resorted to their now familiar ploy of piling on the work to make us quit... i.e. no unemployment benefits and a dead end to our insurance, profit sharing, etc.

My own exit came when my workweek, originally 50 hours, went to well over a hundred. My salary at that point figured out to a few cents less than I could make at McDonalds. RIF's continued, and production work and equipment shifted to other "more profitable" locations til only a skeleton crew remained at that plant doing second process work on subassemblies.
A lively small southern town dried up and seven hundred or so people became unemployed. A few "lucky" souls (those who participated in the corporate screwing of the little people) accepted transfers to the other plants. I still have my company t-shirt proclaiming me to be a valuable company asset!

Ooops! Another rainy day here in the south! Can you tell?

Codger

Now that you are up to speed, here is where my job now resides (and where the plastic parts for your GM, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Harley Davidsons will come from) :

http://www.siegelrobertautomotive.com/china.html

Suzhou Park China.

Codger

 

[Don Luis]

Back in 1982, I was working for Burroughs computers and went over to Monterrey, Mexico to install a small mainframe at a plant that made plastic parts for Ford, I thought it was funny that they did not do any programming, all software was sent from the USA as punched card decks, many employees were US citizens and there wasn't much talk about taking jobs away, but times have changed and even Mexican jobs are going to China.

I'm not against globalization and free market competition, I believe that as China becomes a larger manufacturer it also becomes a larger consumer, they have to buy steel, machinery, etc., much of that they cannot produce themselves.

I also believe that the USA can compete with anybody in the world though I wish that doesn't mean having to make low quality stuff in America, rather that the public will learn about quality.

I hope you guys are doing well in your jobs, personally my retirement has being approved and today is officially my last day at work, I may be coming next week but just hanging around and handing things over.

Luis

 

[lt632ret]

Gee I hope we get some comments from people who have examined the new Chinese imports so we can hear about the good quality of the product for the relative price. I guess those people are still employed don't worry they won't be for ever if price is there only criteria to buy these items. Well perhapes that is to harsh I guess they can always work for these outfits selling there cars and knives. In the case of the knives remember while these are imported from nations who have vowed our destruction and use political incarcerated inmates to build them all is not lost. I was once at Schrade talking to a ranking reopresenative of the Taylor organization. I was told that while these were not made here look at the employment they created right here. I mean after being made by there craftsmen ( since we no longer have that option or the ability to compete ). They have to be shipped to the USA ( so that creates jobs for our long shore men ), Then they have to be boxed and transported to the stores. So that employs truckers, salemen ect. Wow isn't that great soon we can all be employed by the communists in one form or another either selling there products ( with high praises for there virtues and quality ) or as delivery people. Gee I wonder if I could pick up a few bucks by being one of there ( house servants ) you know a butler. I mean if I have to work for them I would like to be close so that perhapes they could throw me an extra bowl of rice on occasion. LT PS Good luck Don now you will be free to be able to sit around and gripe about all the things going on that you can do nothing about ( er just like me ). As the old saying goes I used to be important now I am IM POTENT.

 

[El Lobo]

LT,
You are on quite a roll today.

Don Luis,

Congratulations amigo, and welcome to the next chapter of your life. :thumbup:

Sounds like time for a nice cigar...and maybe a Drown Royal or two.

Bill

 

[Don Luis]

Dang, just got a phone call asking me to stay till the end of the month, Oh well it does mean some extra cash.

Kind of a rant sorry...

Luis

 

[Codger_64]

Schrade and Canal Street money Don Luis! And congratulations on your retirement! With the beautiful wife and children you have shown us, and the crafts, you will find plenty to fill your time. You might even think about a trip to the NY floodplane to help LT sort out his sheds. Well, one of them anyway.

Codger

 

[glennbad]

Time to start your world record longest lanyard

Well, when it does arrive, enjoy the time off, my friend...

Glenn

 

[textoothpk]

Congrats on your retirement, Luis.

If you ever find yourself back in Michigan, we can don our tamaulipecas, grab a couple of my sharp-shooting .22 rifles and do a bit of squirrel hunting.

Phil

Here's some tamaulipeca clothing. As I recall Luis explaining, Tamaulipeca is a region of Mexico noted for it's heavily embellised buckskin clothing. Can't see much of it on the lady, but she sure is pretty. I recently posted a pic of me in my own version of the tamaulipeca, a shirt I had made from the hides of deer I had killed. It is in the X-Timer thread where I show off my bunny hunting gear.

 

[Mick57]

Gee I hope we get some comments from people who have examined the new Chinese imports so we can hear about the good quality of the product for the relative price. I guess those people are still employed don't worry they won't be for ever if price is there only criteria to buy these items. Well perhapes that is to harsh I guess they can always work for these outfits selling there cars and knives. In the case of the knives remember while these are imported from nations who have vowed our destruction and use political incarcerated inmates to build them all is not lost. I was once at Schrade talking to a ranking reopresenative of the Taylor organization. I was told that while these were not made here look at the employment they created right here. I mean after being made by there craftsmen ( since we no longer have that option or the ability to compete ). They have to be shipped to the USA ( so that creates jobs for our long shore men ), Then they have to be boxed and transported to the stores. So that employs truckers, salemen ect. Wow isn't that great soon we can all be employed by the communists in one form or another either selling there products ( with high praises for there virtues and quality ) or as delivery people. Gee I wonder if I could pick up a few bucks by being one of there ( house servants ) you know a butler. I mean if I have to work for them I would like to be close so that perhapes they could throw me an extra bowl of rice on occasion. LT PS Good luck Don now you will be free to be able to sit around and gripe about all the things going on that you can do nothing about ( er just like me ). As the old saying goes I used to be important now I am IM POTENT.

That little blue pill will straighten you right out. (pun intended) Might even make ya feel important again.

 

[lt632ret]

The referral to IM Potent was a pun making reference to being unable to change the nature of having products we used to produce, now being made and sold to us by the communist chinese. It also was expressed to explain the feeling of futility and frustration, when the american public forgets the history and heritage of the past ( and those who sacrificed to keep that history and heritage). Sorry you misunderstood however I do thankyou for your medical suggestion and will keep it in mind should the need arise, or in this case not arise. I have never considered sex as a reason to feel or be considered important but as I have stated peoples sense of values and right and wrong has seemed to have changed perhapes your idea that sex is what makes a person really important is now the accepted criteria, to being important. I have known many rapists ( in the line of duty while working for the prison system ). They also seemed to feel that sex made them important. I really never considered them to be important people ( I considered them among the lowest of humanity ) however with this new criteria, of true importance, perhapes I was wrong. LT

 

[Mick57]

The referral to IM Potent was a pun making reference to being unable to change the nature of having products we used to produce, now being made and sold to us by the communist chinese. It also was expressed to explain the feeling of futility and frustration, when the american public forgets the history and heritage of the past ( and those who sacrificed to keep that history and heritage). Sorry you misunderstood however I do thankyou for your medical suggestion and will keep it in mind should the need arise, or in this case not arise. I have never considered sex as a reason to feel or be considered important but as I have stated peoples sense of values and right and wrong has seemed to have changed perhapes your idea that sex is what makes a person really important is now the accepted criteria, to being important. I have known many rapists ( in the line of duty while working for the prison system ). They also seemed to feel that sex made them important. I really never considered them to be important people ( I considered them among the lowest of humanity ) however with this new criteria, of true importance, perhapes I was wrong. LT

I stand corrected sir & apologize for the misunderstanding. And no, sex is not my idea of what makes someone important. Sorry if you misconstrued that from my poor attempt at humor.

 

[lt632ret]

Hey does that stuff work ? Ok so now if I figure out how to get some all I need to do is find a volunteer test subject ( for effect testing). I have got a bunch of fiftys to use as bait since my original bait ( good looks ) is gone. In fact it was never there.

A friend of mine took some of that stuff but apparently he took to much, so following the instructions he went to a pharmacist to find out what to do to make the ( er swelling go down ). The pharmacist was a woman and my friend was rather embarrassed so when she asked what was wrong he asked if there was a male pharmacist around that he could explain it to.

She said that she and her sister owned the drug store and they were both pharmacists and that he could explain the problem to them whatever it was and not feel uneasey. He said OK and stood back from the counter and pointed at the bulge through his pants and said what can you give me for this?

She said wait here a minute and brought out her sister both of them then looked at the problem and in whispers started discussing what to do. Finally the original pharmacist then turned to my friend and said well about the best we can offer is half ownership in the pharmacy.

Please excuse me if in the original posting I seemed rude or impassioned. Chance are I am both. I offer no excuses only my reasons, I have no fear of the future however sadly having seen so much of it I believe only in the finality of death. It was my hope before passing to have seen just one small nuance of something change for the better just some little justification that all the sacrifices I have seen made by those much better than myself have not been in vain. In stead as I watch the unfolding of history every day I fear ( as I have really always known ) that human nature selfishness, greed, avarice as well as the overpowering desire to destroy and control our fellow man ( all man made contrivances of suffering which could be ended in a moment by simply a universal decision to do so ), only seem to escalate. Why I let these things bother me is I suppose do to the inability to do any thing ( but perhapes the most basic attempts ) to change these unalterable travestys that we knowingly inflict upon ourselves.

Many years ago I was at a dinner for one of my children who is a West Point Graduate ( I had 2 who graduated from there ). In any event there was a colonel there who was the speaker I asked him one question " What was the one thing to remember as a cadet at West Point in order to graduate" His answer was a smile and the comment " Never lose your sense of humor " I have always tried to remember that in life, I am sorry if I seemed to forget that lesson in my original response to you. LT



She stared for

 

[Don Luis]

Thanks all for you comments, in preparation for my retirement I got up at noon today.

He he, this thread may just become Whine and Cheese material...

I've heard several jokes about a couple of old single ladies who own a pharmacy, I even remember a version of this one from before the times of the blue pill, for the other one that I remember you have to know some Spanish and some Italian:

The two old ladies are in Italy on vacation.

Lady #1 to lady #2.- Ask someone what time it is.

Lady #2 to some Italian guy.- What time is it?.

Italian guy.- nove cincue.

Lady #2 to Lady #1.- He says not to bother him.

Luis

 

[Mick57]

Hey does that stuff work ? Ok so now if I figure out how to get some all I need to do is find a volunteer test subject ( for effect testing). I have got a bunch of fiftys to use as bait since my original bait ( good looks ) is gone. In fact it was never there.

A friend of mine took some of that stuff but apparently he took to much, so following the instructions he went to a pharmacist to find out what to do to make the ( er swelling go down ). The pharmacist was a woman and my friend was rather embarrassed so when she asked what was wrong he asked if there was a male pharmacist around that he could explain it to.

She said that she and her sister owned the drug store and they were both pharmacists and that he could explain the problem to them whatever it was and not feel uneasey. He said OK and stood back from the counter and pointed at the bulge through his pants and said what can you give me for this?

She said wait here a minute and brought out her sister both of them then looked at the problem and in whispers started discussing what to do. Finally the original pharmacist then turned to my friend and said well about the best we can offer is half ownership in the pharmacy.

Please excuse me if in the original posting I seemed rude or impassioned. Chance are I am both. I offer no excuses only my reasons, I have no fear of the future however sadly having seen so much of it I believe only in the finality of death. It was my hope before passing to have seen just one small nuance of something change for the better just some little justification that all the sacrifices I have seen made by those much better than myself have not been in vain. In stead as I watch the unfolding of history every day I fear ( as I have really always known ) that human nature selfishness, greed, avarice as well as the overpowering desire to destroy and control our fellow man ( all man made contrivances of suffering which could be ended in a moment by simply a universal decision to do so ), only seem to escalate. Why I let these things bother me is I suppose do to the inability to do any thing ( but perhapes the most basic attempts ) to change these unalterable travestys that we knowingly inflict upon ourselves.

Many years ago I was at a dinner for one of my children who is a West Point Graduate ( I had 2 who graduated from there ). In any event there was a colonel there who was the speaker I asked him one question " What was the one thing to remember as a cadet at West Point in order to graduate" His answer was a smile and the comment " Never lose your sense of humor " I have always tried to remember that in life, I am sorry if I seemed to forget that lesson in my original response to you. LT



She stared for

"Never lose your sense of humor" are words of wisdom we all should remember. Lord knows I've forgotten them myself at times, but then we're all probably guilty of that. Although I don't post here too often, I'm always checking in to read the latest threads. Your knowledge of Schrade & it's history is certainly second to none, & reading the stories you post has always been a treat. (like this latest one with the pharmacy) And like you, (& I'm sure everyone here) I lament not only the closing of Schrade & other American factories, but the direction this country is heading. We can only hope that those better than us that made the ultimate sacrifice didn't do so in vain. Only time will tell, but like you, I wish I we're more optimistic of this countries' future. Greed & corruption is rearing it's ugly head all around us & it's frustrating as hell to see no end in sight. I'm 55 yrs. old, so I know what it's like to refer to the "good ol days" of my youth. So what I guess I'm trying to say in a roundabout way is, there's no need for an apology on your part LT. It's appreciated, but not necessary as there's certainly no hard feelings on my part. I learned a long time ago that this type of communication can cause misunderstandings (which I'm guilty of in my original post) very easily. Like everyone else, I really do appreciate coming here & being able to take in some of the knowlege, insight & wisdom you've gained in your journey of life. Don't ever stop sharing that.

ps....to your original ?, works great. As your friend can attest to. It's very easy to get. Just a simple Dr. app. & he'll hook ya up with a sample pack or prescription. (as long as you're able to take it. Can't take it if you're on nitro) I'd be more than happy to send ya a couple to try out. Can't help ya out with the test subject.....yer on your own there.

Don Luis...don't know you, but enjoy your retirement! Looking forward to it myself. Maybe next year.

 

[lt632ret]

Never used nitro preferred C-4 ( now even that has been upgraded ). ( A joke ). "On my own" yes that pretty well says it. Oh well as the Duke would say To The Pure Life. LT

 

[Mick57]

Never used nitro preferred C-4 ( now even that has been upgraded ). ( A joke ). "On my own" yes that pretty well says it. Oh well as the Duke would say To The Pure Life. LT

Got it. Not as good as the previous one with your friend & the pharmacy, but funny nonetheless.