Comments by "spaceflight101" (@spaceflight1019) on "Rainman Ray's Repairs"
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Work, like love, is a relationship and when they fail, it's natural to wonder if it's because of something you did. As you get older, your skills improve, and when you change employers or become self-employed that doubt diminishes.
It gets worse when the places you've worked at close permanently. I retired last year, and three months later came the news that the place would be closed and torn down. I took great pride in my work and wondered if it was something I'd done or not done. In the end, it was absolutely nothing that I had any control of.
Here is the list:
Union Switch and Signal, Swissvale, PA. Closed when operations were moved to another plant.
Westinghouse East Pittsburgh. Closed when operations were moved to other plants.
U.S. Steel's Homestead Works. Closed due to economic change in the steel industry.
WISCO. Bought by Siemens. Closed five years later as operations were sold off or moved to other plants.
Elrama Power Station. Closed after 60 years of service due to economic unviability.
Cheswick Power Station. Closed after 52 years of service due to economic unviability.
There was nothing that I did or didn't do that influenced any of those closures. Sure, it took time and analysis to get rid of the "maybe it's me" gremlins, and our friend Ray will move on too.
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In Pennsylvania, oil companies were not allowed to own gas stations. Consequently, all of the stations were independent, family owned businesses.
Then, in 1975, I think, the law was changed. Self-service was also introduced, as you said, to save a few pennies. The indies couldn't compete and many stopped selling gas but kept their garage open for the state inspection business. As the years passed they died off and a new business model of convenience stores replaced the old garages.
That local gas station family often supported local things like scouts and baseball leagues. When they ended the support dried up.
They also provided starter jobs for kids. I pumped gas in high school. You learned a lot about people and cars, and sometimes made a difference...
I was pumping gas overnight at a Boron gas station in Columbus in the winter and spring of 1975. A 1971 340 Barracuda with extremely dim lights rolled in. Its driver was a kid about my age, trying to get home on leave from the Army. He bought gas. I commented on the low lights. When he tried to start the car it just chattered. He was at his wits end, but I said "let me try this". The "this" was an extra voltage regulator that I kept in my Fury. Installed it. Jumped the battery. Fired right up and the ammeter needle was in the charge zone. His eyes brightened as he knew he could get home. "What do I owe you?" he asked. "Nothing" was my answer. Sometimes you do things just because you can.
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When I was working for Westinghouse in the mid eighties the catchphrase was "two weeks", as in "you'll only be gone two weeks."
They sent one guy to Taiwan. When he came back six months later his car, which had been parked at the airport, needed to be taken out on a flatbed because (a)it wouldn't start, (b)the registration and inspection had expired, and (c), all of the tires were flat. He also had a ginormous parking bill receipt.
Trains. Norfolk Southern and CSX trains used to routinely block the main entrance to The Waterfront, a shopping and housing complex built where the Homestead Works steel mills once stood. The police played nice for years, calling the dispatcher every time they did that and usually getting blown off. Fed up, Homestead police began citing the train drivers. The problem was fixed when they arrested a few of the drivers and charged them for obstruction of police, fire, and EMS personnel.
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