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My father was a collection representative for the local electric utility company. In the 1960s & 1970s, he drove around the mean streets of Newark, NJ collecting delinquent utility accounts. He was instructed to get any money he could from the customer. Those that didn't pay got their utilities cut off at the pole. Many people gave him cash. It wasn't unusual for him to have thousands of dollars on him later in the day.
He'd knock on the door and identify himself. Tell the customer that they were delinquent and needed to pay their bill or get cut off. Many claimed they didn't have any money on them or in the house. So up the utility pole they'd go. Once the lights went off, the customer most of the time found some money and would run out in the street with a handful of bills. By them he'd be back on the ground. Then to reconnect you had pay up and go through the office to get juice. People would plead with them for a quick fix. They'd do it but after warning them to not let the bill go past due.
The only issue he had was getting bit by a few dogs over the years. I think the process today is all automated, so nobody has to go to the address to connect or disconnect utilities.
His job kept a roof over our head and put food on the table. I was 1 of 7 kids. Try that today. 9 people living on a single income with no assistance of any kind. My parents set a good example. All the kids became home owners and didn't get in any legal trouble.
FWIW, my dad got my sister a job at the electric company. She's been there for over 30 years.
I was also one of seven kids, and it was the same. Mom stayed home, Dad supported us on his salary and his veteran's disability pension, and they were frugal. If we left the lights on, my father would yell, "Do you think I own stock in Public Service?" Didn't know what that meant until I grew up and got my own PSE&G bill.
Funny you should mention them (and you didn't, but I know who you mean because Newark). When retiring from the public agency for which I worked for 37 years, I was looking for post-retirement work and applied to them. Just yesterday I was getting rid of old emails, and I deleted their rejection letter.
Installed and maintained industrial equipment in a metals plant (WWII war efforts). Stay at home mom (mostly); six kids on dad's tradesman salary 40's-70's in the good ole USA. He died at 65 and that was ~47 years ago. I can still smell his pipe and feel he is with me at times. I enjoyed my parents so much; but, had them such a short time...
Another vote here for linotype operator, for a major Philadelphia newspaper.
Another vote here for linotype operator! My dad worked for our local newspaper, The Duncan Banner, for years as a linotype operator after first starting out as a paperboy for the Banner as a youngster.
Later, he became the Circulation Manager for the Banner and retained that position for many, many years.
His last job after Circulation Manager was with the Oklahoma State Unemployment Office. He helped many people find jobs during his years there.
He was always working. He was a good father. I miss him.
My father, first in his family to go to college, started out as an industrial engineer. He eventually became plant manager and director of operations for a manufacturing company that made industrial light fixtures. Later he bought a struggling mirror manufacturing company, got it very profitable and sold it for a great deal of $. He started buying commercial property through the years and at 89 is still managing those properties.
My dad was there from startup, as a machine operator making rivets. In 1930, few people knew what a rivet was, but his super-high security company made nearly every rivet for US warplanes in WW2. Dad walked to work 8 to 4 M-F every day for 38 years; shipping foreman at retirement.
He helped European colonial powers keep control of Asia, for about 15 more years.
My father graduated from high school, which in some areas, was a rarity, in the 1930s. He then attended a 2 years college program, and was then hired by a chemical company. However, I'm not sure what he did, there. He married my mother about a year later, and after 2-3 years to get settled, they were starting to plan a family. Fate intervened, though, and WWII had begun, and my father was drafted into the Army.
He served for 3 years, as a front line combat soldier, and returned as a highly decorated veteran. He went back to his original employer, looking to get his life back in gear, but they had replaced him, when he got drafted, and weren't hiring anyone, when he returned. And the economy was still geared to military production, at that time, which didn't help the situation.
He worked a few part time jobs, to generate income for survival, and eventually he was hired as a sales representative for an industrial equipment distributor. They sold scales, conveyor systems, and small hand trucks. From there, he moved up to being the sales manager for a couple of the major scale companies.
Sadly, however, the mental stresses of the war, then struggling to find and retain employment after he returned, took it's toll, I think, and he died at the age of 58. May he RIP.............
Wow. I thought my dad would be one of a kind here!
Nope, I've done it too as an apprentice printer...Dad was an Vertical Printing Press Operator
or Pressman for a company that made labels for fruit cans.
Last edited by gemstone1; 01-24-2022 at 06:05 AM..
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