Southport Prison 1988-89

By the end of the Biotech job, I had been employed by the same contractor for over 18 months, but it was time to go! They were moving in professors and students within the week; I was even able to meet a few and show them around. In later years, when I worked in the Cornell Pipe Shop, it was fun to look at piping I had installed and do the maintenance on it. So there I was--laid off again! But then I was hired to work on plumbing in the addition at the Southport Prison. It was my first and last time being hired mostly because I was a female. As a state (public funded) project, they were required to have a certain percentage of minorities, but by the end of the job the fact that I was female didn’t matter. They knew I could do the job. The superintendent had what you might call a bit of a drinking problem. He rarely showed up before 9 and at least twice a week when we went to lunch, we never made it back to the job. He would hand me the keys to the company truck, so I could go back and lock up our tools and hand in our security badges. The next workers hired after me were my husband and his friends Jack H and Joe B. Luckily for the Super, they were very good at their jobs and we managed to get the project completed on time and under budget. By the end of the job a year and a half later, I was divorced and I am sure no one would have used my liver for a transplant organ! The job itself was very interesting. We installed all the plumbing from underground to the roof drains. The roof drains were a trip! The specifications had us using galvanized piping that used lead and oakum joints. This is almost unheard of today, but for you non-plumbers, it involves winding the oakum (rope like) around the pipe inside a socket, then pouring molten lead on top. After it hardens, you tap it down with a special chisel-like tool. The theory is that when water hits the oakum it swells to prevent leaks while the lead holds it in place. Working with hot lead is dangerous and difficult. Most of the workers who joined us had never worked with it before. I was designated to teach them the technique and all the tricks of the trade. Some of the journeymen did not take kindly to a “girl” apprentice teaching them anything. One disgruntled jerk spit his chewing tobacco into the lead pot as I passed it. The lead in the pot exploded, but luckily I had my back to it. My whole back was covered in a thin sheet of lead, I was unhurt but shaken. He claimed it was an accident, but I know better! I was also asked to keep track of any piping changes we made to the original plans. I learned a lot about blue prints on that job and even got to draw the “as-built” drawings. I definitely was coming into my own and feeling more confident in my knowledge and abilities. School was still frustrating. I didn’t feel like the curriculum was relevant to what we were doing in the workplace. They were very lax and we mostly sat around and talked about hunting and cars. Not exactly a good use of time for me, but I hear it is better now.