I started early in life working with some really awesome people that didn't need a four-year degree from college to make a living. They make it in life with talent, intelligence, and hard work.
My first job was working at a gas station with a talented mechanic who had some of the best customer service skills of anyone I've ever worked with. Harry Hjortshoj loved sending me out for warm donuts from the store a couple blocks away when certain people brought their cars in for service. Or we'd take his old pickup with a tire-covered front bumper to collect their vehicle right from their home. I'd drive their car back to Harry's station, and he liked to bump into me at stop signs. I was a new driver and it freaked me out! He'd smile and wave. What a character that guy was.
When I graduated from college, I landed a job (during a depression no less), at a grocery wholesale biz. There were lots of smart, creative people working there. They taught me about working in an office, banking for businesses and how to get along with a bunch of women in an office. The sales staff and the drivers were pro's. Except the ones who weren't - and everyone worked together to either work around them, or eventually ditch them. Face it, there are losers in all levels of occupations.
After we got married, Paul and I moved to northern Iowa and there I experienced my first factory job - Fox River Mills in Osage. I was in the computer department where Karla Smith and I had entered orders. I've always been fascinated by factories - I think it came from those early kid's TV shows where they showed how to make pencils and stuff. And touring the Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling plant in Atlantic. The people working at that factory were (and are) good hardworking people that make excellent socks and gloves right here in the USA.
Fast forward to the mid-1990's when I worked in Creston at Gits Manufacturing as a production planner - one of the most stressful jobs I ever had, (not so) magically making purchased parts and manufactured parts come together to complete a complex part to sell to the automotive and other industries. Workers would take pressed sheets of steel and make them into parts. Others would had bolts and vents. It was tedious work, and could be steamy hot. Some of the people at that shop could fabricate anything. How cool is that? These people, and all the service people make our lives possible. We thank you!
I love Sundays when we have Monday holidays. Yesterday our friends Bobbie and Jeff came up and we rode bikes down by Cumming. Fun time - seeing friends and having a couple beers. Later we sat on our deck and chatted, then watched that exciting Texas Longhorn victory over Notre Dame. Life is good!
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