The other day I was talking to Gerry, a person I used to work with over 10 years ago. He told me that the place where we'd worked is a shadow of its former self. It was a growing business with four production locations and a fifth in the start-up process when I left the company. Shortly after that it was sold and the new location never started. He tells me that they started shutting down three of the other four locations and that the one where we worked has no resemblance to what we left. The workforce was deemed too highly paid so they were replaced by people accepting lower pay; Gerry says many of the employees are now illegal immigrants and that there is almost no one there that I might remember from my years working there.
I left that place behind and rarely if ever thought about it over the years. When I did think of it, I pictured it as status quo, fully expecting that all the people that worked there would continue there until they retired, that the place would look the same, that the products would remain consistent. I can't believe I was so naive! Maybe that's not the right term. Oblivious? Unaware? I simply never thought about it. I wish I could say that my main issue is that I'm worried about the people who have been displaced and while I am, I have to admit I hadn't really thought of these people in years so that would just be an exaggeration to make myself feel better about being so thoughtless. I have to admit that what upsets me most is that things in my past are not supposed to change!
But now that I've found that this has happened, I find myself curious about those who may still live there but no longer work there. What are they doing? Gerry told me that pretty much all the industry in this largely blue collar town has left leaving behind low real estate prices (in hindsight, it was a very good thing I sold the condo there when I moved out of there rather than keeping it as an investment property), lots of poverty, and an economy likely dominated by Sprawl*Mart.
You'd think from my curiosity that I miss the place and have a fondness in my heart for the time I spent there but I have to admit that I pretty much hated the place and the job equally. I didn't regret leaving in the least so it's surprising to me that the conversation is lingering in my mind but it is. It'll take time to come to terms with it.
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4 comments:
Is it Mattoon that you are talking about? Whatever it is, it must be very strange that it's gone now...
That is the way things seem to be going everywhere.
Ten years ago in WI we had 20 percent of the population earning over the national median now the figure is at 3 percent. People are hurting everywhere.
is this your NJ location when you were a flatlander?
Yup, it's Mattoon. And I know it's happening everywhere because of the global economy and bascially, our own purchasing behavior and expectations but it's easy to forget about it living in the bubble we do here.
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