and the Big Boss told him to go ahead and he caved in. It was in the parking lot and I overheard it.
I turned to the Big Boss and said to him, "If I ever say that I will mean it. I'll just pack my bags, shake your hand and leave. I don't like the new policy either but it's not worth leaving over."
He grinned and said to me, "I would expect nothing less of you. In fact I like to hear you're looking for a better deal."
"Everybody looks for a better deal," I replied.
I think that was the day we shared mutual respect. We were open and frank and for the rest of the time we worked together we got along fine. He was a straight shooter and that's good for a LOT.
Some time later we got an extra piece of equipment added to the boat and we were responsible to run it. Both crews figured we should get a raise for the added responsibility and we approached him over it.
He agreed we were accepting more responsibility and said he'd look into it, saying he'd see if the money was there.
Shortly afterwards he went out of his way to meet both crews at once with a folder and sat down and 'opened the books'. The company wasn't getting any more money for the piece of equipment, it had been installed by the customer we had the contract with and we were not getting any extra for having it aboard. We took it on just to continue having the boat on contract for the next two years.
The company was generous with things like that as a whole. Had they gotten extra for it I'm sure we would have gotten a piece of the pie. We asked him for time for a quick conference that just took a couple of minutes. To a man we decided that being the only crew in the company we'd get job security for being able to run said piece of equipment and another thing to add to our resumes. We agreed with him.
It actually proved profitable because of two things. We mysteriously discovered that our paychecks got a few bucks in it under 'misc' and eventually when a downturn came and there were layoffs we were not laid off. We had increased our value by knowing how to run the inert gas machine. Over the next year or two we got tossed a few choice bones we would likely have not gotten.
As far as quitting went, until the day I retired I still considered it as an option but never really considered it because I looked at the big picture. There's more to a job than a daily pay rate.
I probably could have made more money in my check but the expenses entailed with working elsewhere would have eaten whatever pay differential I would have made with stupid petty stuff like looking for a place to park and a million other small things that add up.
Then there were the working conditions and the general company generosity. When you throw in the fact that I got along pretty well with almost everyone it was actually a fairly profitable and comfortable workplace as a whole.
I always respected the Big Boss because he was a straight shooter and was always fair and reasonable. That says a lot for him and the company.
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