[OPLINTECH] Going off the payroll soon and Who was that masked man?

[Bob Neeper]

Keep in mind:

1) Nobody ever accused me of having a sense of humor.

2) You can stop reading anytime.
*
GOING OFF THE PAYROLL SOON*
Social Security finally caught up with me.
No more "Mister Nice Guy" from them. Last month received a letter saying:

"...you should apply now for monthly Social Security retirement payments."
And this "... it is time to file an application for Social Security payments."
And this "You should contact us right away to apply for your retirement payments."
And this "You need to complete an application..."
And this "You should apply now..."

SSA seemed serious about me applying and wanting to pay me not to work, so I 
applied.

Don't plan to leave Chauncey completely up the creek, then again he may be happy 
I'm going.
He has options, one being, me still doing some things (gratis).

Anyway he's stuck with me as a patron, at least for genealogy work and reading 
books.
Our library is the best place for an internet connection. (Thanks OPLIN).
Mine at home is pitiful at 896/448. Years of complaining to CenturyLink only 
got: “we will likely never be able to offer anything better”.

Also plan to do more personal history writing for our 3 kids and 7 grandkids. 
This email was written in LibreOffice Writer to add to my other stories for them.

Might work more on the Travis McGee story I started a while ago.
Based on events during the, almost 10 week, 1982 Ukraine start up trip.
We had our own personal KGB agent, Alex, keeping tabs.

And if not kicked off the OPLIN lists, might still contribute on occasion.


Don't think I've really asked too many questions on the lists. Mostly gave 
answers or suggestions.

Hopefully helping some people along the way.

Learned a few things too, You always can learn.

It's been fun.

Most of you probably know nothing about me, or care.

Some may know my name, and still don't care, or think I'm just some computer guy.

I'm not by the way. Well, maybe now, but not before.


Others may know a bit more about me. If you want, read on for, the rest of the 
story.

You might be surprised maybe slightly interested or amused. Or not. I have pictures.


It's a long email, I've worked 53 years. Please excuse errors in spelling, 
typing and so forth.


By the way, I don't think I've ever intentionally tried to offend anyone. But if 
it happened, I'd like you to imagine me being very contrite and giving my 
deepest apologies.

You can always imagine it......


*WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN ?*
Born the day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was buried, you "celebrate" my 
birthday every year.
















Worked a tad over 53 years but may have a bit left. Longevity runs in the family 
genes.

1996 Semi-retired and 2010 formally from Toledo Scale (Mettler-Toledo). (AKA TS 
or M-T) 2009 retired from Community Library.

January 1962 Toledo Blade Newspaper Station Helper at $12.75 per week. Big money 
! Best job I ever had. Spent $20 a week on old coins the paperboys turned in.

June 1964 hired by TS as summer help running a blueprint machine in Standard 
Engineering. Only incentive was make more prints today than yesterday. Did too 
good as fall came and was asked to remain, with any schedule needed to continue 
classes at University of Toledo (U of T) business school.
Best job I ever had. Could daydream and work at the same time.


Spring 1965 applied and won a 4 year electrical/electronic drafting 
apprenticeship in the Systems Division. Switched to the U of T Community & 
Technical College. Completed and received a journeyman's card. Later promoted to 
designer & senior designer. Received an Associate Degree in Electronics from U 
of T. Best job I ever had.


1973 Drafting boring after 7 years so asked about engineering. TS did OJT and 
promoted from within.
Told “Go back to school we will make you a technician and a few years later an 
engineer”.
Technician bid was posted (union shop) and what do you know? I got it. Unusual 
for a union job.
Back to University College in U of T to take every computer course available.

First program I ran was punched on a IBM 029 Card Punch and submitted to run. 
Didn't work.
More OJT, learned a lot more electrical and mechanical and had fun.
Plant scheduling deficiencies usually meant little work the first half of a 
month and OT the last.

My very first troubleshooting trip. Flew to Joplin Missouri to work at Shrieber 
Cheese.
Very small airport. The jet taxied to a fence where a man wearing a suit was 
waving the paddles.
He also opened the gate in the fence, answered the phone, took tickets for the 
return flight, etc.
Best job I ever had.


1975 Friday afternoon in July called into the Systems Division manager's office, 
with my boss.
Feared the worst, as TS was relocating to the Columbus area..
But offered the Publication Supervisor job, with relocation to the Westerville 
plant.
Asked about my options. Told "Don't have any, the plant is closing".
Asked when they needed to know”. Told "Monday". No-brainer so we moved to 
Westerville.
Lots of deadline stress and responsibility without authority.
Luckily (?) only 6 feet to the cafeteria with the candy, snacks, pop and coffee 
machines.

Not quite the best job I ever had.

1977 promoted to Associate Engineer, then Engineer and Senior Engineer. Designed 
H/W, wrote S/W (DEC Assembly Language), usually installed the equipment, 
customer training, misc. troubleshooting and so forth. Many RR track scale 
systems or glass batching. Best job I ever had.












1978 we moved to Sunbury.

1979 In August transferred to Installation Engineering doing the same thing and 
more travel.
Neat trips, including foreign travel, different companies to work in, OT, 
frequent flier miles, etc. Best job I ever had.

1982 October the Engineers were moved to various states, 2 of us now Technical 
Support Engineers.
Doing same as before, also supporting the Engineers and the plant. Less travel now.
Did more troubleshooting via telephone/fax/email etc. for TS (and distributor) 
techs and customers. Best job I ever had.

Later they expanded our group of 2

Summer 1989 Our back yard wearing my HanKuk (Korea) Glass jacket.











1992 Worked for Toledo about 28 years so far, always with good to excellent 
reviews. Then our group combined with the standard product support.


Disaster! The group was now transferred to another division.

Still doing the same job, the same way, but my reviews started tanking year 
after year.
Systems Division still had me travel, but the new supervisor and manager weren't 
happy with it.


1996 April On a UPS Barcelona trip I left Saturday morning, worked over 55 hours 
returning Sunday and because of the time change got back Monday morning.
Over 80 hours travel and work but, no OT, and reprimanded for taking Saturday 
afternoon off instead of flying immediately back, making me late to work Monday.


In that years review was asked "Why didn't you retire when you had the chance?" 
My answer: "Not old enough". I was only 51 and never even had an opportunity to 
retire.


1996 October Seeing how my career was headed under this group, I quit, starting 
an S-Corp to do process control.

Youngest son Chad (AKA Level9 Networks) was leaving our library and I offered to 
volunteer.

Polly (director then) wouldn't hear of it, insisted on hiring me for 5 hrs/wk.
Well, before the first work day, it went from 5 to 10 to 25 and then as many as 
possible.
Like a fish, she reeled me in.

The S-Corp ink was barely dry when the Systems Division had me contract back in.
Next 10 years until 2006 was double duty. Either working for Mettler or the 
library and usually both.
10 years of fun, less stress, saw more countries and companies, met more people 
and made a bit more money. No reviews, except Polly gave me a few.
Even asked to work in my last M-T job quite a few times, by the supervisor, not 
the manager.

Saw the manager occasionally. Looked at him and smiled, but he never 
acknowledged me.


2001

$65k + SpaceWeigh 2000 unit installed at UPS Shanghai. Usually a week to 
install, commission, and train the customer.
 From the left, packages are separated, go through a dimensioning frame and 
across the scale.
Blue overhead box is a bar code scanner.
Wood on the scale is a meter long stick for calibrating the frame. QNX (Linux 
type OS) controls.











The Bund (Zhongshan Dongyi Road) Shanghaii








2006 From here on, just at Community Library.

2009 Retired and rehired at the library

2010 Retired from Mettler Toledo


2015 Always been outstanding in my field(s) !











Anyone still reading? Any questions? I'll try to anticipate.

*What countries **and how long**?*
Spain, England, Korea, Taiwan, USSR ( Moscow, Urkaine, East Germany), Canada, 
Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Norway, China, Canada, Malaysia
Touched down in Japan (a lot), Amsterdam, New Zealand. A day in Denmark, couple 
in Switzerland.
Many multiple trips to 7 of the countries.

Months in Hong Kong, China, England, Taiwan, USSR, Canada. Weeks in the others.

Total time out of the US, pushing 2 years, or more.

Copenhagen








*Worked at what type companies and/or industries?*
Multiple trips to common carriers (RPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, TNT, Loomis, HACTL).
Glass, chemical, feedmill, steel, cheese, canning, beer, food, truck scales, RR 
Track scales, Air terminal baggage handling, mushroom farm, GE nuclear batching, 
rubber (tires, etc.), NASA wind tunnel, oil refineries, garbage transfer 
stations, power plants, Casino's, etc.

*Places concerned about safety?*

A trip to Turkey was in the works, right after Midnight Express was released. 
Really didn't want to go and luckily the customer came here instead.

Steel Mills, Kodak film plant in Rochester, Cleveland (Motor) Casting Plant

Hooker Chemical (Love Canal area) Very nervous guard told me if he starts 
running, follow him.

Flat River, Missouri Glass Plant– Arsenic an ingredient. Attendant poisoned from 
sweeping.

Taiwan to Singapore trip since “In the area”. When you give the airlines your 
bag, you lose all control and anyone could add anything inside. Worked with a 
guy in China who was there a few times and asked the customs inspector what 
really happens to drug smugglers. Emory was told, “First day, we catch you, 
second day we try you, third day we hang you”. Emery said he was dead serious. 
So I was nervous going through. You press a big button and a light turns on. 
Green go, Red “Step over here sir”.

Got the Red, but just a cursory search and all was good. Actually had a great 
time there.


*Best, worst, strangest, memorable food, dining situation?*

I'm game for about anything. One M-T marketing guy, that sent me out a lot, 
would joke “We'll send Neeper and pay him in food”.

*Best*

Oslo - Shrimp cocktail starter, reindeer main, special dessert, drink was 
Aquavit: water of life.

England - Full Monty, one heck of a breakfast. Can't beat the fish and chips or 
hotel dessert trolley.

Moscow - Full blown multicourse banquet with many different liquors by Ministry 
of Glass for successful installation completion. Many speeches and toasts for a 
job well done.

Omaha – Brother Sebastion's, Excellent Steak stuffed with crab meat

Barcelona – Diced squid or octopus for dipping in a brown sauce. Also fish or 
steak dinners.

Petaling Jaya and Kuala Kumpur Malaysia – Stingray, shark, great fresh fruit.

Rovno, Ukraine - Beluga black Caviar with Champagne, home made borscht


*Strangest or memorable*

Changzhou China - Guangdong province, a specially best described as deep fried 
June Bug. Initially resisted, then gave in to save face. Rather bitter and 
noticed no one had seconds.

China – White rice with every meal

PanYu, China – McDonalds Wanted an egg McMuffin, Nah, they had better things to 
do with eggs.

Berlin – McDonalds Cheeseburger, fries and a beer. Makes sense.

Kowloon , Hong Kong - Eating in the street in Temple Street, some sort of sea 
creature. Think of a hot dog with a thousand legs and half inch wide bands of 
shell. You worked it like a slinky to break and peel the shells to get the meat. 
Not worth the effort. But fun to see tourists expressions.

Hong Kong – Ducks feet. Always 3 dinners ordered by Boon Ping Lim. His, mine and 
one to share. By the way real Chinese food is usually different in the US.

Korea - Maybe dog. A lot of Kimchi, very spicy. US Korean food is about the same.

In Seoul, waitress went out the front door to get some brown water from 
somewhere which she poured over the food that we could cooked at the table.

ChuNan, Taiwan - Walked at lunchtime with Glenn from Circleville past a place 
about 30 foot square made from cardboard and plastic cloth. Didn't think much 
until we heard “Grenn, Grenn”. Had lunch inside with 3 interpreters. About $6 
total including big OB's (Oriental Beer). Washed our hands in the 'kitchen' 
using a community towel, possibly not dry since previous week. Dirt floor, other 
amenities.








Rovno (Rivne) Ukraine, Mir Hotel - Usually first 2 tries pointing on the dinner 
menu got a head shake NO from the waitress.
Third choice was always beef Stroganoff. Don't remember getting anything else.

Weisswasser, East Germany. - You pointed on the menu, they went and cooked it.

Kostopil, Ulraine – Evening picnic with plant men in the woods.
They rolled out plastic, set down food and bottles of water and vodka for all.
Vodka bottles have two states, unopened or empty.
A few hours later, after a lot of toasts, Yuri, interpreter, started speaking 
Ukranian to me and English to the plant manager.


*What's been learned along the way?*

3 guys and a girl (Al's older sister) in about a 60's hardtop Karmann Ghia 
causes claustrophobia.
His oldest sister owned a Hillman, but it was quirky. Actually, Effie was too.

3 people can ride in a 62 Vette, if 2 are small, good friends and the ride is 
short. Driving it from Toledo to St. Louis is a long harsh, noisy ride.

Sometime you need to follow instructions. The 62 Vette Service Manual states 
“Remove gear shift before pulling engine and transmission” for a reason.

Building houses can be fun. Mixing mortar by shovel and hoe is not.
Roofing is easier with a nail gun. Always hit the metal nail, not the other one.
Don't step back to admire your work. Never happened.

When shipping a package it's may not be wise to mark Fragile, Handle With Care, 
This Side Up, etc.
It doesn't matter and may really be a red flag.
If it needs all that, deliver it yourself. The goal at a hub is, get it in, get 
it out.
All packages, except oversize and irregulars go on conveyors that go up, down 
and around.
May have rams to transfer items. May be jams, items falling off and so forth.

Getting to a job site can be really long, really tiring and really boring.

Depending on the country it can be disconcerting to surrender your passport.

USA is probably the worst customs to clear.

Americans should be really nice when in another country. Be careful speaking, 
you probably will be understood.

Best to eat the countries food, They cook it better than they do ours and you 
make points. Sometimes, don't ask what you are eating.

You can learn to drive in England, cricket can't be learned by watching the telly.

Do logical troubleshooting and try simple solutions first.

It''s alright to talk to yourself while troubleshooting code, just tell the 
customer to ignore you.


*Memorable events*

Wearing a 3 piece suit on a NW Air flight to Seoul to attend meetings.

Riding the back of a motor scooter in Kowloon, Hong Kong traffic. Getting the 
helmet back off. He was a small man.

Attending a funeral in Taipei.

Sitting in the bathtub in Hsinchu, Taiwan when the maid comes in and starts cleaning

Showering in the Berlin hotel gym shower with Paul when a drop dead gorgeous 
blond Fräulein joins us two spots down.

Participating in a religious ceremony blessing the batch house in Kunsan, South 
Korea. We actually talked to a pig's head that was on the table.

Thinking I could get from Kunsan to Erie, catch the train to Seoul and find the 
hotel, all by myself.

Watching a Korean change an IC with a tinning iron and soda straw.

Exiting the plane in Barcelona, by the tail ramp, seeing 2 soldiers with guns, 4 
more on the bus and more going into the terminal. Also having no idea who would 
meet me or any contact information.

Travel to the Ukraine. A day in Copenhagen, another in Moscow then 22 hours on a 
train to Rovno.

Riding to a banquet in a chauffeured Zil with a Soviet Generals daughter (wife 
on an OI contractor) in Moscow.

Co-chairing a meeting with the Chinese customer for HACTL (Hong Kong Air Cargo 
Terminal) and assigning work to an Area Regional Manager and a Vice President of MT.

Ticking off 3 levels of RPS management by saying “Why doesn't everyone not 
contributing to solve the problem get off the line?” They did, or at least kept 
quite, and we solved it in 20 minutes.

A 15% raise and a few months later 10%. Losing an engineer a month for 8 months 
worried them.

Sweating for 5 weeks in Taiwan.

In the NASA wind tunnel control room at Moffett Field when deflector vanes let 
loose destroying the fans worth millions of dollars.
Amiel and I discussed making T-shirts saying “ I was there the day the stuff hit 
the fans.”
Or something like that.

Landing at the old Hong Kong airport.
They flew low over the city, turned right at the big checkerboard on the 
mountain, quickly dived, landed and really quickly stopped, to keep out of the 
water.
This was 747's and the runway was short.
Pilots liked the challenge.

As a contractor being sent to China I was in the hot seat at the end of table 
across from the corporate attorney.
He was trying to pin me down to guarantee I'd solve all the problems.
I was using weasel words to skate the issue.
John, MT President, was there and as he got up to leave said words to the 
effect: “Since Neeps is going I'm not going to worry about the job”.

Being regularly responsible for installations costing as much as $250,000. Some 
much more.


Gotta stop as I keep remembering things.

Hope you enjoyed this. If not, Just Imagine...


Bob




-- 

R. W. (Bob) Neeper
Community Library  <http://sunbury.cool-cat.org>
44 Burrer Dr.Map  <http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.243961,+-82.863007>
Sunbury, Oh 43074
Tel:  (740)-965-3901

cool-cat.org  <http://info.cool-cat.org>

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