Oct 16th 1989 - Oct 16th 2005

Well,

Today is the 16th of Oct and funny enough it is the 16th anniversary of the day I started working at my current job. I never thought I would last 3 years at this company let along 16 years as prior to that my Avg was only 2-3 years.

Being a machinst as most can attest way "Back in the day" a good number of us were gypsies within the trade. While this sounds like a funny description it will make a bit of sense after some old mayday explaining.

Getting our of a trade school and paying your dues usually meant busting your ass in some sweatshop for minum wage (IE: $3.35 an hour back then) . We all pay dues in life so most can probably understand the theory. Unless you got into an apprentiship program back then the best way to gain experience and to move up the ladder was to be a gypsy. In essence another sweatshop would make an offer of .50 cents or $1 more an you were off to make more cash and learn new things. The only time you ever heard of established guys were those of high experince working for large defense contractors and even at that they were union and had the tenure to avoid layoffs...

So this led to my current job. I had been working in a union company for the defense industry in 1989 to make a living. I've worked on the Patriot missle battery , Blackhawk helicopter, Apahe Helicopter systems and even the space suttle within my career.

in 1989 the defense industry started to bottom out as the russians were slowly no longer becoming a threat and money was being filtered into other sectors of the economy. At that time the company I was working for Craig Systems needed 12 million in orders to be able to just stay open and we had 1 million and no outlook for anymore for the year.

Being a union boy it was easy to see the painting on the wall, Layoffs! When you are in a union job it is easy to see if you will be losing your job simply by virtue of your start date and who has been there longer.

I started looking for a job as soon as the rumors started flying. A good friend of mine that not only worked at Craigs with me but went through trade school with me had gotten an interview for a semi conductor company called MKS. In my research of the company I had noted they had a huge amount of openings over a period of time and simply assumed that they could not keep help. After a bit of coaxing Paul got through and pushed me into appying with him.

My interview had gone well enough for MKS to make an offer within 24 hours and I simply turened the down. I had assumed that it would be done with that but odd enough they decided to counter offer. I remember it vividly it was on a friday afternoon the phonecall came in. Instead of giving them a commitment I asked if it was possible to think about the offer over the weekend.

Monday morning would serve to be my do or day morning because it wasn't long before we were told that the layoffs were to be announced on Wed. Being union you have to be given a notice before they can let you go. I got on the payphone and accpeted my new job right then and there with the stipulation I wouldn't start for 3 weeks so I could have a vacation ...

I started at MKS on Oct 16th 1989 in their machine shop as a "B" machinist. Eventually I moved up to "A" then tool and die/fixturing and eventually the model shop for the engineering dept where I am currently.

It hasn't all been a smooth ride for the last 16 years but what makes it good is the people I work with and at times the challenging ideas our engineers come up with. It doesn't hurt that every once in a while I get to put a degreed MIT grad to shame by giving him the WTF are you stupid look and trust me as educated as they are.. sometimes they are stupid!

A few years ago we were going through a round of one of the many sets of Layoffs we have had and my friend Paul got layed off. We had not only gone through school together but endured Craig systems together, MKS, My wedding, Watching our kids grow together and in one instance it was gone. Oct 16th 2001 my office phone rang with Old Pauls voice on the other end letting me know he had been let go. He chuckled a remarked "Well Kev I almost made it" I asked what that was and he explained his 12th anniversary ..After a brief silence I calmy stated "Paul today was our 12th annivesary" ... He had been let go 12 years to the day of our starting day.....

Life goes on and stories forever change but the one thing for me that remains constant is the fact that at 6am tomorrow that alarm will go off and it will be me working on my 17th year at the company wondering if and when it will be my turn to take my stuff and go home ....

K