40th Year has Begun

May 26th I posted "Name that Date" July 7, 2011. On that day I will have completed 40 years in transit. I had just dropped out of my Senior year of college, due to finances and one child. Hard to believe he's 40 now. Got a temporary job driving a city bus. I left there 33 years later with a full retirement, less any medical. To stay there after age 55 and 30 years, would not have increased my retirement any. Moved to Charlotte NC and started work on their new Light rail line. They needed an experienced person in Safety, and I needed medical insurance. The attached picture, is the one that was taken when I finished training on July 8, 1971. I was 21. It looks just like me, only younger. My current picture looks just like me only older. I'm somewhere in between.


A glass lens can only print what it sees!

In 1971 I dropped out of my senior year of college, due to $0 and a child. My first wife and I moved to Denver and I got a job at a furniture store. I was unloading box cars and assembling furniture. I didn't see a future in that business. I saw an ad for a truck driver at a local brick yard. I called in sick and went to apply. The address took me to an area that had a driveway with a building and a lot of bricks stacked behind. The bricks were across a RR track and I missed the driveway that went across the tracks. I went into the building that was up front. It was the wrong place. I walked down the hall and saw a door that said "Personnel". I walked in and a man at a desk asked me "Can I help you?"
I replied that I was wanting to apply for a job.
He said, "As a driver?"
I said yes.
He replied, "They would kick my ass right out of here if I'd hire a guy like you".
I asked why.
He said, "Look in that mirror".
I said that if he was talking about my hair, I could cut it.
He said,"What is your name".
I told him and he replied, " Hear fill this out, get your hair cut, and come back tomorrow." As I was filling out the application, I noticed that there was a symbol of a tire with wings in one corner and a streetcar in the other. No bricks.
He said that it paid $3.77 per hour after training, but that training was paid at $8 per day for 4 weeks. He also said that I would have to buy a watch.
I told him that I had a watch.
He said, "It has to be a special watch".
When I left, it was about 8:30 am, and the morning rush hour buses were coming in. I then realized that I had applied for the wrong job. However; it seemed that he might be interested and the advertised pay for the brick yard was $1.75 per hour.
I went directly to the barber shop and asked for white walls around my ears.
I left the barber shop and went directly back to the bus administration building and returned to Personnel.
When I walked in he said to me, "May I help you"?
I replied that I had gotten a hair cut.
He said, "What is your name." When I responded he said, "The hell it is, sit down".
About a week later I started training. I completed training on July 7, 1971.
July 8, 1971 was my official first day.
At that company, then Denver Tramway, Now the Regional Transportation District (RTD), your anniversary date is the only guaranteed holiday. I never worked on July 8th until I got to Charlotte.
Come to think of it, I should have taken the day off.
I will not make that mistake again.
I turn 62 on July 27, 2011, and I don't want to be working in transit after that. Enough is enough!
So form what I can see now I think that July 7, 2011 is my last day in transit.