A Career Change

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"I did have a job at the same place where my father worked. But I wasn't really too happy with it. I did hear about Bethlehem Steel, which is outside of Buffalo. It's about 45 miles away. And I felt that, with my education and smarts, I could do well over there. So, I did write a letter to the employment office, listing some of my qualifications and I got a response, that they forwarded this to a department head and he was very interested in talking to me. So, what I did, was I went there, and I was immediately hired. I served as a planning engineer. I did have an immense background in mechanics. And before long I was rapidly promoted to supervising groups of hourly workers. And I worked for 30 years and I was 55 then, and at the time, they were offering lump sum pensions or else continued to work and it was gonna be a one-time offer. And you could work on until you wanted to retire and be on a monthly pension. Well, Marie told me, to retire. Well, I made good money at Bethlehem Steel. She didn't have to work. There was absolutely no sense at all in her finding a job, even though she had worked before, after leaving high school. And her job was to raise the three kids and provide good, sound meals and do whatever it had to do. And it worked out really well. I am so glad that she didn't have to work. But she did have a lot of friends. And they used to go out for dinner and do all sorts of things, which I was very well pleased with.”