A blast from the past

When I first moved to Massachusetts 10 years ago I worked for a company called Chase Thermographers. It was a sister company to Carlson Craft where I had worked during college typing wedding invitations and other social stationary. They hired me as a supervisor but I didn't know what department I would be working in until I arrived in June 1999. It turns out I was going to be a Production Supervisor and would be in charge of the Shipping and Cutting departments. I was 21 years old and a week before I started they fired the previous supervisor who had been there for 27 years. My Group Lead had been then longer than I had been alive. About a month after I started they brought back the previous shipping supervisor to work the press line as a regular employee. I had to see him every day. Awkward!

Working there was probably one of the most miserable years of my life but without it I would never have met Lincoln since one of my employees was the one who set us up. And I learned a lot about the "adult" world and how to supervise employees. I made a lot of mistakes but I also like to think that I learned from them and that they made me a better boss today.

Tonight I stopped down at the gas station in Upton. It's a full-serve gas station (there are no self-serve stations in Upton) and so I gave the attendant my credit card after he filled my tank. When he gave me back my card he asked me if "Snow" was my maiden name. I get this a lot in Upton since Lincoln and his brothers grew up here and I figured that is what it was about. I said "No" and he asked me what my maiden name was. When I told him "Lentz" he asked if I had ever worked at Chase.

It was a kid who had worked for me when he was like 14 or 15 years old!!! His mother was another one of the long term employees in the shipping department and he worked for me briefly when he was in high school. I couldn't believe that he remembered me! I certainly wouldn't have remembered him although I did know that his mother lived here in Upton. I mean not only am I 10 years older but also substantially heavier than I was in 1999.

We had a nice little chat and he told me about some of the people that had worked there during the same time period I had been there. The company closed down last year so I guess his mom is out of a job. It's sad because she was probably there for 25-30 years and now she is looking for a job and has absolutely no computer experience. For 25+ years she packed shipping boxes on an assembly line that probably was never updated with modern technology. It was certainly behind the times when I was there 10 years ago.

I was telling Lincoln the story of seeing this kid and was marveling at how he ever recognized me.

Lincoln: You never forget someone who used to boss you around. I'm sure he could tell it was you by your imperious tone when you told him to fill up your tank.

Me: Hardy har har.