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After nuke school, my first job was at a chemical factory in Lima, Ohio (pronounced /ˈlaɪmə/). This small city was part of the “Rust Belt” in the 1980’s (which when I was there). The last time a train rolled into town was in the early 70’s. There was a Tuberculosis Center, which served five counties that eventually shut it’s doors. The population dropped 8K people and there was a bit of fan fare around the amount of affordable housing available. This was a great little town to live in! Not.
The job I was on was in a factory that utilized uranium dust at a catalyst in one of it’s processes. There was a breach in the system and uranium-238 was everywhere. I was one of the crew that had to clean it up. It was a miserable job. Wearing a tyvek suit with a full face mask in the middle of the summer in the mid west was hot and sweaty to say the least.
About a month into the job, I was accused of sleeping on the job in an area I was never in by a site manager. When I denied it, the site manager yelled, “My lead man caught you. Are you calling my lead man a liar?”
At which point the lead man walked toward me and stopped when our faces were about three inches apart. Something about the lead man. He was ranked the 2nd best boxer in the state at the time, so I new the sleeping accusation was just a ruse to get my ass kicked for the entertainment of others. That guy would have taken me apart so I quit on the spot.
When I went to the changing room to get dressed, I ran into a guy I had made friends with over the last several weeks. I told him my story and he replied with, “Man I’m really going to miss you Dave. I really enjoyed you and your stories.”
I said thanks “Me too.”
As he was getting dressed I noticed that his ankles were painted green from the top of his foot to the middle of his calf. I asked him what that was all about, and he replied that he didn’t have any clean socks and he didn’t want anybody to know.
Wow!
