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| Applying |
I wasn't actively looking for a new job, but in 1967 and newspaper ad caught my eye for a Records Clerk position. So I applied. I don't recall the interview(s) at
all but I do remember that I had to pass a typing test. Luckily, my mother gave me a typewriter when I was 10, so even though I didn't type "properly" I could still type very fast,
It was weird being the only male sitting the test on May 4th. But I was good enough for the minor typing required by the position. On the 5th I had a physical. |
| The Job |
There were four or five us young men and we would store boxes of files sent to us from all departments together with computer printouts and punch cards. We would glue book tape onto the large printouts (and once in awhile do the wrong side!).
Seemed like we were always pulling and pushing pallets of boxes around. We also had to type the location onto the index cards we maintained. People (mostly women) would come to get a a particular file which we would sign out to them, like a library really. Sometime we would make a copy.
The XEROX machine used toner that gave out a wicked fume. We would also take calls and mail requested files/papers out. We never made deliveries. |
| The Crew |
When I arrived Don Kylberg (Dawson, MN) was the supervisor. Also on hand were Dan "Dunker" Daline (Madison, MN - drafted), Les Johnson and Darrell Johnson (Robinsdale) who I was replacing as he was moving to the legal department. Over the years we were joined by Tom (a young dandy), Wayne Berg (drafted),
a fat lazy ex sailor (forgot his name) and a young ladies man from up north, David Norlock. Interestingly, I ended up being roommates with Darrell, Dan and David. |
| The Others |
Lois Loveless was our manager and she had a group of ladies (Edna, Hazel, Bina...) who did something in the office next to us.
Later on Lloyd Johnson (yes, "Johnson" is the most common name in Minnesota) was made our supervisor in a sideways move out of marketing since he was a useless lush. Ed Olsen was the older mail "boy" who we saw often. Sad man who lived with his mother. |
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| The Pay |
May 31, 1967. First paycheck = $34.07. |
| The Book |
Jul 18, 1967. Dan bound Don's paperback so it couldn' be opened. Don always had a paperback in his backpocket and would read it at every break. |
| The Softball |
Aug 30, 1967. Keg game at Minnerec [Honeywell recreation center south of the cities]. Darrell wanted to impress a girl, so I let him use my convertible and I went to the game with Dan.
We Honeywell records beat Engineering Chem Lab 52 - 6. After the game they sat around trying to finish off a 16 gallon keg of beer. Les got supremely drunk. |
| The Scrap |
When documents became obsolete we would put them onto a pallet and move them to the boiler room using a hand truck and the work elevator. |
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| The Cards |
Jan 3, 1968. Cards with Darrell Johnson and Dan D at Wayne's. I lost the cribbage tournament by 4 points to Wayne.
Wayne and I won in 500. |
| The Cement |
Feb 7, 1968. Lloyd stepped in the wet concrete at work so I put his name and date next to it and like lightning its the talk of the building. We, Honeywell Records, won our game 55 - 37 but I still haven't scored for the season. After it was Les' for poker and I lost 87¢. |
| The Note |
Feb 15, 1968. I forged a note from Lloyd (our supervisor) to Les and left it on Lloyd's desk. He never caught on saying he must have been in a hurry when he wrote it. The man is a complete idiot. |
| The Meeting |
Feb 23, 1968. Today we had a meeting for the Record Coordinators. Lois was good, but Lloyd bumbled through as his glasses kept sliding down his nose. Les, Dan and I were introduced and had to march up front. Sherry Fraser bought a '67 Barracuda and she doesn't have a license! |
| The Pokeno |
Mar 1, 1968. After work Darrell, Dan, Les, Judy and I ate over at Dee's and played Po-ke-no and I was the only winner ($1.45). Met Dee's son, Tom, his wife, Ann, and their boys, Casey and Mike. |
| The Apt Idea |
Jun 11, 1968. Cards at Dan's who is living on the second floor of his Grandmother's house. This put the idea of moving from home into my mind along with Darrell's. Les and I beat Darrell and Dan in cribbage, coming from behind. |
| The Newsy |
Jun 21, 1968. Steve got Darrell's job. |
| The Girls |
Jul 24, 1967. Dunk called Sherry, pretending to be me and asked her to come to a party. Then I asked Gloria to describe Sherry and Linda S. Then we called and asked Linda how much Sherry weighed because of a rumor that she was fat. The girls in Customer Services are trying to drive me crazy. |
| The Farewell |
July 26 1968. Dan's last day. Lois [ed. - our manager] brought a cake that we had at break while talking about career opportunities in the military services (he had enlisted in the Army). |
| The Picnic |
Sept 15, 1968. Let Darrell use my convertible to impress his date, Patty, when he brought her to the picnic at Honeywell Park. I went with with Les and Judy.
Also joining us were the Klybergs, Phil with his "Vet" and Darrell's sister, Patty with Chuck (he roomed with us a while). Played softball. I played horseshoes with Les. |
| The Christmas |
Dec 22, 1968. Darrell and I went to Les' for a Christmas party. Judy gave us a Playboy and PB calendar. Laurie was also over.
After a meal we watched the Vikings lose their final game 14 - 24 to Colts for an 8 - 7 season. Then we played hearts. |
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| The Cards II |
Jan 2, 1969. Cards at Johnson's with Dunker who was on leave from army. We continued our 500 mastery over Les and Judy. |
| The Lake 1969 |
July 18: Drove up to Darrell's lake home with Darrell and Klyberg in my car. We raced Storlie, Dunk and Evets. Too fast on a right-angled corner on gravel road and we both ended up in a ditch. But easy to get out and no damage. First thing out the car and Darrell dove into the lake. July 19: Klyberg and I cruise the lake on a pantoon boat playing cribbage. We all played basketball in the evening. |
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| The Golf |
Aug 9, 1969. Golf tournament at Honeywell's private course at HoneyRec. Made a foursome with Les, Darrell and Dan. Bob let me use some old clubs. Fellow there asked me what my hanidcap was and I
said I didn't know, so he said choose one, so I made up one. The course is very hilly with great ravines and some very long holes. I did alright and had 105. Did well on short hole where the tee and green were on opposite sides of a gorge and I parred the last hole which was over 500 yards. |
| The Last Day |
Oct 3, 1969. Cake, speech by Lois - they gave me a Papermate pen and pencil set (still have the mechanical pencil).
Final paycheck = $126.06. Went to Les' in evening for a farewell party. |
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| The Party |
Oct 12, 1969. Another farewell party, this time at Klyberg's with the Honeywell gang. |
| From a letter |
Remember our stint at Honeywell's headquarters? We got you Darryl's job in the law department when he quit. I was in an air conditioned office in the basement but worked up a sweat when I was in the bowels finding documents or putting them back.
I was a Records clerk with three other guys and an old geezer for a boss. You're right about the electronics but there weren't any computers back then. Honeywell's computer operation was in Boston. They offered me a job there when I graduated but I didn't want to move there, so I turned it down. Next to our office was a small room in which a fellow used to test faulty components which customers had complained about. We always thought it strange and found out that he had mental problems and couldn't work with others, so he was probably a bit upset when we moved down to the basement. Basically our job was to store every document (and computer punch cards). So we were the archives. When someone needed a document they would tell us and we would look up the box number, go to the box and dig through it to find the document. Some of the time a copy would do and we'd photocopy it. I can still remember the smell of Xerox machine fumes. We also would bind computer printouts (large multi-fold sheets off dot-matrix printers into "books"). That was the coolest and easy job so we would plot and scheme to be able to do it. I remember more than a couple times that someone would glue the backing onto the wrong side making it impossible to open. We had a special tool for scratching the dried glue off and that was a laborious job. I went back in 1972 for a visit and found out that quite a few documents were being micro-fiched. |
