First Jobs 4.0 - Learning to enjoy work
In the spring of 1985, on the financial aid bulletin board at Motlow, there was a notice...Free summer school at UTM. I was all set to go there in the fall, so a few days after graduating from Motlow, I left for UTM. Me being the youngest of three, and the only one still at home, my mom was not happy about this.
With the old truck backed up to the front door, I threw a bunch of clothes in the back under a mis-matched camper top. The drive took a little over four hours. I remember being really excited and really sad at the same time. My dorm room for the summer was Austin Peay D243R. My roommate was a fellow named Gary Hughes. Once I got unpacked and registered for classes, I started looking around for a job. It had to agree with my class schedule, and not get in the way of making decent grades.
Hauling Hay
There was a big family owned farm called, Garrett and Sons, in Gleason. They were in their busy time for alfalfa hay.
The rest of the crew was from McKenzie, about ten minutes further down the road. They all knew each other. The biggest guy was nicknamed PeeWee. Growing up, I was blessed to have lots of friends, and played a lot of sports. It wasn't the first time I was the only white guy somewhere. It didn't bother me to be different, and it didn't seem to bother anyone else.
We were unloading into a big barn at night, and stacking bales way up high toward the ceiling. One of the guys saw a big wasp nest, kind of screamed, and everybody scampered down and stopped working.
From that moment on they thought I was little crazy, and a lot tougher than I really was. I tried to keep my mouth shut and not ruin their perception.
The Garretts started baling hay about lunchtime, and we started working about 2PM, and worked into the night until it was all loaded up. I remember the afternoon heat, and the transition to the cooler night, and the night sky and stars and how peaceful that was. When I got back in the dorm, I'd get cleaned up, then either study, or go out to the back parking lot and play basketball.
Selling Sundrops in the dorm
My fall dorm assignment was to Ellington Hall, 3rd floor. Bill Lowry was my roommate. This was during the time we both worked for the UTM police. Bill and I both made friends easily. The rodeo guys and baseball team also lived on the third floor. Harold Zonder was our Resident Assistant, and the assistant baseball coach. He was a great guy. Bill and I fished a lot. If we took Harold some fried fish, we never got in trouble for cooking in the room. Billy Schwabb and Neal Hardin were rodeo guys and became good friends too. The rodeo guys were tough.
Prescott Bottling still has a small plant on North Atlantic Street. People in and around Tullahoma are basically addicted to Sundrop. In earlier days the bottling process used cane sugar which costs a little more, and gave the drink its unique flavor and kick. There were a lot of Tullahoma people at UT Martin, and several in my dorm. I started bringing 12 packs back with me to sell.
S&L Chimney Sweeps
S & L (Stone and Lowry) Chimney Sweeps, Bill was my room mate, and to this day is still one of my best friends! He and I had to make some money to pay our way through college. I had known Bill since we were kids. His family owned and ran Tullahoma Hardware. My family owned and ran a grocery store, The Minit Saver. We also went to school together, and played a lot of baseball.
Bill can fix just about anything, and is really good with his hands. I can talk to just about anybody, and like to create things, specifically, income. Bill and I decided we would bring some chimney cleaning equipment from his house, and see what happened. We ordered some business cards, then drove four hours to Manchester, got the equipment, and drove back to Martin.
One of the first jobs we got was for a fellow that worked at WCMT, the local radio station. He wanted to pay us in radio ads. We really needed cash, but we agreed. That bit of advertising helped us get started. Our business picked up, and for two years, we cleaned a lot of chimneys. This was way before cell phones, and we operated by using the land line in our dorm room, and an old answering machine.
Bill was the outside guy, and I was the inside guy. We unloaded the ladder and cleaning brushes and ropes. Bill went up on the roof while I knocked on the door and let the people know we were there. I took a five gallon plastic bucket, whisk broom, dust pan, roll of paper towels, and some Windex cleaner. Sometimes the roof was was really steep or had slippery moss on it. The taller the roof, the more we charged. Bill had to go barefooted once on a steep wood shake roof and crawl up the valley backwards using his hands and bare feet. Once Bill got to the chimney, he dropped one of his spring loaded cleaners down on a rope, and with a quick yank, the metal edges popped out and he pulled it back to the top.
He repeated this several times, and the creosote that was stuck to the sides fell to the bottom. If it was a round pipe, we had brushes and flexible rods. We took everything apart and did it right. Inside, I was waiting with the dust pan and bucket. While I swept and cleaned, I talked, and listened. Then I wiped everything down with some good strong smelling Windex and paper towels. By the time we got paid, Bill was loaded back up and waiting on me in the truck. We tried to get an appointment first thing in the morning, and before that person paid us, offer them a $5 discount if they could line us up another job. Most were really happy with us, and they would get on the phone and call their neighbor or sister.
We repeated that all day. It was not unusual to clean ten or twelve chimneys a day. In our busiest times, we split into two teams, and paid our friends to help us.
Strange things...We got a dried out wood duck out of an old fireplace damper. And there was one really big fireplace at a house on South McComb Street. I was standing up in the fireplace, and reaching back and cleaning out the damper with my hands, and the little lady said...We got a big chicken snake out of there last year. All righty! That one looks clean enough to me!
RD Gulf
RD Gulf was a full service gas station in downtown Martin, It had two service bays, and a island with two self serve and one full service premium pump. My buddy Jeff Parmley worked there, and he was about to graduate. They told him to find and train his replacement. Jeff had the best sense of humor, and a great laugh.
UTM Police
Also called Safety and Security, and Campus Police. The UTM Police was the law enforcement on campus. Bill and I both worked there for awhile. This was one of those jobs that was more a necessity than a passion. But, I learned so much from the sergeants, and the other people there.
During training, they pushed us to our point of frustration / breaking point, to see how much crap we would take. Then they eased us back down from that adrenaline rush, and helped us recognize where the line was. Part of our training was, we had to fight each other, to show we could handle ourselves, and not allow someone to take our weapon. I'm not sure the administrators knew about the intensity and extent of our training. The sergeants prepared us to do our job and be counted on when we were needed. I'm thankful they pushed us.
Many times since then, I've leaned back on that training to navigate difficult situations. Most people have no idea about their personal limits, or what to do when the adrenaline is turned up. There are lots of options in bad situations, other than "fight or flee."
We had to pass the shooting range test with our weapon. I had my dad's Smith and Wesson 38. It was small, with a short barrell. I had no problem hitting what I aimed at, because we shot guns all the time growing up.
Once we were trained, we mostly walked around and locked up buildings every night. That was the 8PM to 2AM shift. The hours were perfect for a college student. On rare holidays, we got a car shift. We got 24 or 30 hours a week. For ballgames, and big events, we stood in the middle of roads at crosswalks with a flashlight and a whistle, and stopped cars for the walkers. I always enjoyed that. Bill and I knew every back door and short cut into every building.
When locking the buildings, we had to radio in to the dispatcher...10-6 into a building, and 10-8 out of that building. We were allotted a generous amount of time for each building, and the walking to the next one. I found out that it didn't take me that long, and I did it the right way. So I'd write down the times that I should be in and out, and just keep walking, and working. There were certain doors that were supposed to be locked, and all the lights were supposed to be off. We had to know where all the safes were, and enter those offices, and rattle the handle on the safe. If it was open or unlocked, we had to call the Sergeant, and together inventory the contents, and file a report before closing it and locking it.
So, I'd get ahead, then take a break and keep calling in 10-6, 10-8, till the times matched back up. One of my favorite places to take a break was Coach Ray Mear's office.
The second shift custodians were working at the same time. We got to know each other, and I always looked forward to talking to them. Bill, the guy that cleaned up the PECC or Physical Education Complex was super nice. These men and women were hard working people that did a great job. The only other people I saw inside buildings, were students practicing their band instruments in the little practice rooms, or professors staying late to finish their work.
There was one professor in the engineering school that slept in his office when he didn't want to drive home. The sergeants made sure we knew that he drove a station wagon, who he was, and where he might be. Outside, there might be a few students out for a walk, or returning from a party somewhere. I never had any problems with them. I understood what it meant to be antsy, and in need of a late night stroll. I mostly remember the warm beautiful nights, and the cold rainy nights. During a six hour shift we walked six or seven miles.
Less than a year after I started at Safety and Security, they put up a sign up sheet for bullet proof vests.
Everybody was supposed to get one. I told the sergeant that I didn't need one. I was a business major, not a criminal justice major. He said he understood. And I turned in my notice.
I met some awesome people there. William "Bugg" Edwards, and Vester Jones were there when I started. They always found ways to laugh and not let things get too serious. Bill and I put a three speed floor shifter in Bugg's old 65? Ford truck while we were up there. You have to trust a person to allow them to cut a big hole in your floorboard. Bugg is still teaching and coaching in Memphis. Vester went on to the Tennessee Highway Partol, and the court system. He is retired now. These guys are special, and they made being in Martin a lot of fun. They are both good family men. I still enjoy talking to them and catching up.
Ray Coleman and Bobby Rogers were the sergeants. They were both no-nonsense, and tough guys. Bobby went on to work for the state, and had an ability to grow his beard out and disappear for months at a time working on a case. Ray stayed at UTM Police, and retired from that department. UTM was lucky to have him there. He still lives in Martin.
Lt. Simmons, Captain Bob Johnson, Asst. Director Steve Jahr, and Director Ted Council oversaw everything. Greg Walker, also from Manchester worked there. two married couples, Steve and MaryBeth, and Jeff and Candy worked there. Michael Prowell was a part time guy like me. We were the last of the student part time officers. They went to full time only after we left.
The very best thing to come out of the UTM job experience is meeting Terri Jolley, one of the student dispatchers. They worked 4 to midnight, and midnight to 8. So she worked a lot of the same shifts I did. She was the voice on the other end of the radio. We have been married 32 years and have three grown kids. We tell people we met at the police station.
Typing research papers
Another thing I did at Martin was type research papers. I charged $2 a page, and only did this for upper classmen. My Brother work processor memorized a few lines.
UARCO
With the bullet proof vest and the UTM campus police job behind me, I went looking for another job. This would be the last job I had during my time at Martin. I signed up with Hamilton Ryker, a temporary employment service ran by an older fraternity brother, Crawford Gallimore. The job they sent me to was at a big printing company in Fulton, Kentucky, called UARCO. They had been printing the Columbia record deal for years. They only stopped to update the details.
My first night there, they had me drag one empty pallet over to a row of full pallets. Then I had to pick up the boxes, turn them over, and restack them, using the same pattern. Then the next pallet, and the next. For some reason, full boxes were coming off the line upside down. I didn't mind it, and each night got done all they asked me to do.
One day as I got there, someone said the plant manager wanted to see me. Oh no, I thought, what have I done? I'm about to get fired! I went where I was told to go, and knocked on the frame of her open door, and looked inside. She said come on in. Then she smiled big and stood up from behind her big desk. She stuck her hand out to shake mine. She was about five feet tall, and stocky. She told me to sit down, then she said, "I had to meet the Son of a bitch that's been doing all that work in here." So I didn't get fired. Now I thought for a moment I might get a raise, but that didn't happen either. We talked for a few minutes, about work and other things. It was nice to meet her and be able to consider her a friend.
For almost a year, I worked there. Then winter quarter was over, and all my classes were completed. I went back home to Tullahoma.
My now pretty serious girlfriend, Terri, was staying there to finish up a second degree. And my buddy Bill was still at UTM, and dating a girl from Martin, Susie Shore. They got married, and have been married almost as long as Terri and I. They have three children too, and they still live in Martin. Susie followed her father's career path, and serves the people in the Martin community as a medical doctor. Susan Lowry, MD, and Bill also have some rental property, and Bill can still fix just about anything.