[Author’s note: The following is a transcript of hand-written journals from 1982. These may have to be read in bulk before many trends and topics become clear. The “company” refers to the telephone company where I worked at that time.]
On the job. It’s good to be back—and I was unaware of the Halloween costumes allowed around here. A lot people were dressed up, my favorites being The Great Pumpkin (Dave Arlington) and the girls from NFA—all in dunce caps. There was—honorable mention—Pac-man, Indian, E.T., and (a) belly dancer. The rest were the usual fare.
There is something in the air as well. Norm (Fromhyr) is watching the individual performances in our department. The unpredictable work load and full crew makes the task unenviable. But with Fast Ed and a few others, a very bad show [for all of us]. Some do not even attempt to look busy. I went over and answered 114 [calls] but a few of the others unabashedly reading the newspaper can only frustrate the boss. [I later found out this was a deliberate union tactic to protest performance evaluations.]
I do get discouraged, my habit of working all the time seems unrecognized. There is latent hostility between Norm and I but I should think my work ethic can shelter me a bit. No, I receive the same slap on the wrist as the goldbrickers. Whoever complained to Norm about that “rude language” issue made a shrewd move alright. Ah, it’s all part of the weeding out process. Norm should notice that in all the time I’ve been there, I’ve been too busy to complain, not so my accuser.
The most apparent thing to me is in fact something that concerns me not at all. It’s Potsy, Brian (Berg) [the new guy]. I find it disappointing to see him fall into the pattern of the lazy-boys. He should be struggling instead. Rather, one sees increasing occurrences of gossip, personal phone calls, work-dodging, oafishness. I don’t approve of a lot he does, but I suppose it bothers me to an extent because he seems to have potential and could be a worthy competitor. But not if he develops a lazy steak.
When I got home, I sat and drank coffee. The shirt fit Dave (Savino)—and I was worried it was too large. [The company gave out free work shirts, but by the time I came on shift, only the XXL were left.) I got work done on my room. I’ve done plenty in the last 48 hours on my regular sleep schedule. I’ll catch up.
[Author’s note: I had recently returned to work after a union lay-off of some seven days. The company announced the call-back over the radio, which I don’t listen to. I was actually packed and ready to drive to California when a co-worker, Dave Halford, called to see where I was. I was in Everett, Washington. If I’d missed that fateful call, I wonder how much better my youth would eventually have been.]
