Hardware Wholesalers Inc. staff work to stock the building as the construction people tried to finish it.
Having no main office or lunch room meant the staff member would eat where ever they could find a comfortable place in the center.
There were holes in the walls for overhead doors and at each of the door opening there was a pit. The pit would eventually be filled with cement and then a dock plate would be installed. It was not uncommon for staff members to sit at the door opening around the pits to eat lunch. Unfortunately some staff members thought it was ok to toss their watermelon rind and other trash into the pits.
Dick Satorieous worked for the architect and was in charge of the entire worksite. He happened to see Lonnie and Dawson toss some let over food items into one of the pits. He then explained how that garbage would affect the cement when it was poured and suggested that the garbage be removed. (These two employees were later promoted to lead Person, Supervisor and Manager. They also moved multiple times for the company.)
There was a period of time when we were working nights. The offices were still not completed so we placed our lunch boxes on an empty rack near the center of the building.
Being in the center of the building, this location was a good place for our breaks and lunch. We had 30 minutes for lunch/supper. One particular evening we all gather as usual to eat and talk. During this lunch break Lonnie lay down in the rack and went to sleep. This was not unusual since we ate in about 10 minutes and had 20 minutes more to BS.
The building still had no PA system and no bells or buzzers to tell us when to start and stop work. As time drew near for us to return to work the group decided it would be funny to leave Lonnie sleeping. Everyone quietly moved away from the rack and went back to work while Lonnie continued his nap. It was about 10 minutes before Lonnie woke up and then only because a fork lift went past his location and honked his horn.
This building had a tow line installed. The tow line is basically a large chain placed in a groove in the floor. This chain is connected to a very large electric motor which propelled the chain on its way around the building. The original Cape center was 200,000 square feet and the tow line went through receiving then through several order filling areas on to shipping and returning to receiving. The tow line took 22 minutes to make one trip around the building.
On the tow line chain there were links that would allow a tow line cart to be hooked in and the cart would be pulled around the building. Initially the tow line had spurs (shipping, receiving, trash compactor and order filling areas) and the carts could be set to divert off at certain spurs/areas of the building. As an example, if you had an order for shipping and you were in the back of the building you could put it on a tow line cart and set it to divert at a specific door where a truck was being loaded in shipping.
For a short period of time after the tow line had been installed and before it was used to transport freight some of the staff would get on a cart to eat lunch. As you ate you had a tour of the center and 22 minutes later you were back where you started.
It didn’t take management long to decide that riding the tow line was an “unsafe act”.
As the construction of the building progressed, some of us were working nights and we were still not allowed to operate the fork lifts due to union construction workers. These union people did not want us non-union employees to do what they considered “their work”. Fortunately the overhead doors had been installed and all the walls were in place.
Pete, the warehouse supervisor would have us shut and lock all the doors then he would take the wires off the hour meter on the lift and he would mark the floor where the wheels were so we could park the lift in the exact spot that the union people had left it.
We were able to get more work completed having a fork lift and although they thought we were using the lift they could not prove it.
As I had stated earlier the union operators would sit on a lift and watch us work then they would haul the pallets from one place to another. The tow line was being installed but was not complete. There was a pit about 4 feet deep, 6 foot wide and 10 foot long in the floor near the receiving office. This pit is where the electric motor would be installed that would propel the tow line. They had temporarily covered this pit with plywood. As luck would have it the union forklift driver backed onto the plywood and into the pit. Only his pride was hurt.
Don Ford
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