1999-2001 Sullivan Park

I was at Corning Glass’s Sullivan Park Research facility for almost 2 years. It was a fascinating place to work. I started in the clean room. As the name implies, it was to be a sterile environment that would enable the scientist to develop products without fear of contamination. Most of the piping was stainless steel, either welded or put together with mechanical fittings. It was very precise work. At the end of the project, when everything had been tested, we were labeling the pipes. Some of the pipes were going to be filled with gases that were deadly if inhaled. I was up a ladder putting on labels as my foreman identified each pipe. One of the scientists opened a valve to a line that had not been capped off properly. The temporary cap blew off, alarms started ringing, and chaos erupted. After it was all over my foreman asked me how I managed to get out before he did since I was up a ladder. “I have 2 babies at home, just knowing that makes me move like lightening”, I replied. Since that project was complete I was transferred to another crew under the leadership of Bud W. A lot of people didn’t like working for Bud. He was a stickler for doing things right. He expected people to work along steadily. If there was a problem getting something done, he wanted to know why. He was also very religious. At one point I told him that he was actually putting people off religion by preaching so much. He was always so happy that I felt that was testament enough to having God’s love in your life. I think he agreed with me because he never preached to me. What he did do was make me a foreman in charge of a two million dollar project. I was called into Mike A’s. (the Superintendent) office at the end of the day. Mike and another GF told me Bud wanted me to be foreman. They asked if I thought the guys would listen to me. I knew it was really up to them. If a guy refused to work for me and they said okay and put him in another crew; that sent a message. If they said okay and laid him off, that sent a message as well. As it turned out it was a moot point. I had no problems with my crew. I had between 8-10 workers on any given day. It was supposed to have been a 40 hr a week job, but there was a huge delay at the beginning that put us on 60 hours. All the underground had been installed before I took over. Due to the chemicals being disposed, special plastic piping called Fuse Seal was used. It is a socket joint that has wire in the fitting. You slide the pipe into the socket; hook the wires to a machine which melts the two plastics together. Well, we had gotten a bad batch of fittings and there were dozens of leaks. Bud and I worked 24 hours straight trying to get a satisfactory test. After consulting with the manufacturer’s rep it was decided to pull out all the piping and start over with extra heavy CPVC. There I was, my first day as foreman, ripping out and reinstalling what had taken a month to put in. Once that was done, we had to install process piping to over 30 labs as well as heating and cooling units, plus all the sanitary lines. It was a complex project that took 6 months, but we came in on time and under budget. It really gave me a chance to prove myself. I loved coordinating with the other trades. I felt like I could do anything after that job. At the end, I walked into Mike’s office and tried to hand in my white hat. I didn’t want to work so many hours with my girls still so young. He wouldn’t take it. He promised me that I could work 40 hours for as long as possible. Instead of having my own crew I was given a rolling tool cart. My job was to coordinate with the scientists for their special needs. If I needed help, I could have a people assigned to me once I had set the project up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately my mouth got me laid off. They had discovered lead in the paint in some of the areas of the plant. They held a meeting to tell us that we were all going to have our blood tested to see if there were any problems. I made the mistake of asking if we were going to have the results mailed to us since we were temporary employees. The contractor took that as a lack of faith in them. I didn’t mean it that way, and my fellow workers were glad I had asked. Three days later Bud had to hand me my layoff check. I thought he was going to cry, but I was okay. My BA had another job lined up closer to home that was just fine with me.

1999 Toshiba & Separation

At the end of 1999 I asked for a layoff from the pipe shop at Cornell. My youngest daughter was over 3 years old and still wearing diapers. I felt that I was being a terrible mother because I was working so much I didn’t have time to toilet train her. My mother-in-law watched her during the day. She also watched another little girl as well who was much younger. I really felt she wasn’t doing it right. In reality, kids toilet train when they are ready! After a few months with both of us being frustrated as I tried to push her into big girl panties, she decided it was time. She went from diapers all day and night to never wearing them at all. I went back to work feeling much better about my role as a working mother. What I didn’t feel good about was my role as wife. While there are always two sides to every divorce, my side was that I felt like I was caring for three children. I paid most of the bills for the house including insurance, taxes, mortgage, groceries, clothes, and feed bills. He paid the utilities. I did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping. He cut the grass with the riding lawn mower I bought. Our fights about little things began to escalate. He seemed to think I should be able to do everything his mother did around the house with no help from the “man” of the family. I was working 60 hours a week and was exhausted. In May, I asked him to move out for a trial separation. When he refused, I was forced to file for a legal separation. It was a really tense time. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pay the utilities that he used to cover. But I found that without him in the house my expenses actually went down. I had more free time as we had worked out a shared child custody arrangement. My employer agreed to let me come in an hour late twice weekly, so that I could bring the kids to school and child care in the morning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the spring, before the separation, I had been working at the Toshiba plant installing a new line. It was a great job, clean and relatively easy. I was partnered up with my old friend Cora Lee who was the first female in our local. We were installing stainless steel lines to some sort of robotic machine. They were connected using a technique called Pro-Press. Basically it was a socket joint with an O-ring inside. You put your pipe into your fitting and then place the machine around it to crimp it. You had to be careful to have everything lined up properly or you would have leaks. The machine was awkward, but not tremendously heavy. We were working along, singing, telling jokes and laughing the whole day. About 2 weeks after we started we had a union meeting. The Business Agent called us over and said, “You two are in trouble! The General Foreman called today”. I was sure we were having too much fun or not being productive enough and were about to be fired. Instead he informed us that the GF wanted to know why we were out producing the guys by three times as much. Apparently when you have a good partner and get into a good work rhythm, pipe gets installed without you even realizing it! But alas, like all good jobs it came to an end.

1998 Cornell University

For most of 1998 I worked at Cornell University again. I can’t emphasize enough about how much I love working there. Your physical surroundings are beautiful. Buildings were done in architectural styles from 1860 to modern. Oh and the greenery!!! I would spend my lunch hours walking around Beebee Lake or through the sculpture garden at the Plantations. If the weather was bad, I would go to the Johnson Museum of Art and look at new exhibits or old favorites. On the top floor, which also holds Asian Art, there are huge windows with views looking up Cayuga Lake and across Ithaca. The majority of the professors and student treat you (a common worker) with respect and in some cases awe. I don’t think it was just that I was female either. Cornell is such an open liberal environment that was never a huge issue except for some of my co-workers, but not many. I worked with some great guys! Joe I the pump guy. Smiley who was always ready to help and yes, always with a smile. Paul E the new pump guy who became a very good friend. My old buddy Tom S who was an apprentice with me. These are just a few of the guys I worked around that I knew had my back. The bean counters didn’t like you to work in pairs, but if you needed a hand there was always someone you could call for help. Some days were crazy with emergency calls from overflowing floor drains in the Big Red Barn to no heating/cooling in a Dean’s office. There was glass, PVC, cast iron, steam, chemical, and air piping. You could be fixing toilets one day and helping a grad student build a flume the next. You never knew what you were going to walk into when they handed out the work tickets in the morning. That’s what made it fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What made it not fun was sometimes things couldn’t get fixed in an eight hour day. I would have unexpected overtime. With two little kids at home, that can be tough. At the time I was still married, but he really hated it when I was late. I hated missing bath and story time with my girls! Looking back this was one of the calmest times in my life. I had a steady 40 hour job that not only paid the bills, but allowed me to put some away for college educations. My house got paid off. My kids were well cared for and happy. I was done with school and the future was looking good. But as the saying goes, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. By 1999, things had changed drastically.