On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 16:21:28 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

On 8/20/2014 2:03 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
...

('Worked on a Penn Central crossing crew in 1967, when I was in
college. $9.40/hour in 1967!)
...

!! In college I had a union job as a construction laborer and the money
was way better than anything else available to college kids. But not
even close to $9.60, adjusted for inflation. In fact, in 1967 I had
been working as an electrical engineer for 5 years and I wasn't making
close to $9.60. A job like that makes you wonder why you're going to
college!

Bob

Well, one week of that made it very clear why I was going to college.
g

I took six months off to work and become a Michigan resident, which
reduced my tuition by 2/3. I was trying to stack up so money so I
could go back to school.

I first had a temp job at Oldsmobile, part of the summer
tooling-change crew, for $7.50. We were not union, obviously. I hoped
to get a regular production job when that was over but I didn't have
the right connections.

Then I tried to get a job at White-REO trucks. No go -- they had a
temporary slowdown when they merged wih Diamond.

A friend had a job with Penn Central making $9.40, and told me they
were advertising for a telegraph operator (!!! No kidding.) So I
applied, and found out that the ad was just for appearances, that
those jobs went to old, broken-down employees who were waiting it out
to retire. But they had a job opening on a crossing crew. I grabbed
it.

I couldn't believe how much money I was making. But I barely made it
through the first week. Most young guys lasted no more than two days.
I made it through the weekend, went to work on Monday, and then came
home and fell asleep in a chair, with my boots on.

'Woke up the next morning at 9:00; called in, and quit. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress