Job History 1

Okay time to get a job. I was told that Union Carbide is looking for young engineers so I applied. I was hired as a trainee, to train for what I do not know. UC makes dry cell batteries. They have three sections in the plant along EDSA. Going there using a bus and/or jeep took about 2 hours and I arrived soaking wet from the heat. Welcome to the real world I thought. I was assigned to a section comprising of a carbon black plant, aluminum smelting plant and manganese ore milling. I was going to be a supervisor there. I am not sure which is the dirtiest or most dangerous section but all of those working there seem to be in big danger of being killed or maimed. The place is dirty, noisy but the workers are happy because they earned a lot on overtime. I was in the callot milling plant (callot is an aluminum coin that is pressed into a battery container) and wrote something that one of the workers was lousy, not paying attention. Well the idiot read it and he was up in arms about what I wrote. Anyway I hate this job and should have quit long time. I learned later that the plant underwent an upheaval. The plant manager who didn't have a degree and didn't like me got fired by the vice president who hired me. Karma. Poor guy he is uneducated and will not be able to find another job. Three area supervisors left or got fired too. Wow. How do I know? I met one of the supervisors in Seattle, Washington later. 

I got a job at Cynamid Inc. a small plant making resin. It is a long way from home in south superhighway. The plant head is Florentino Vicente, remember him? He was my professor in Mapua in Stoichiometry. Very bright guy and went to school at Cornell Univ. and now head of a small resin plant in the Philippines. Hurrah! I lasted three months, this is a dead end job. It seemed my longevity is pegged at three months. I was glad I am out of there. That plant could have blown up anytime. One day this worker was cleaning the plant and washing the floor. Instead of using water the fool was using varsol which is highly flammable liquid. A spark could have blown the plant to smithereens. I don't think anybody appreciate what chemical manufacturing is so I left. 

Okay job hunting again. I read the Sunday newspaper perusing for job openings. I got an interview with Consolidated Foods in Pasig. For two job openings there were a hundred applicants. One of the hurdle is an IQ test which I thought was not a good meter stick for a good candidate. When I was walking by, I heard somebody make a comment that they don't have a chance of getting the job if I am applying too. I was hired. I was being paid 300 pesos a month which is not much. As an engineer in the R&D I do various jobs none of which enthuse me. There are girls in the R&D department graduated mostly from UP. They do all kinds of tasting, test, recipes, etc. During lunch hour we would play poker with the manager of the production department making powder coffee. In late afternoon we play at the production manager's office which we kept closed. My boss was a danish engineer named Paul Pedersen. He invented this device where he summon somebody with a ring of a bell. My ring is four bells. Poor guy was sent by a company in Denmark making atomizer for plant production. He was offered a job to stay in the Philippines with his wife. So he stayed. Here I met a chinese fellow named Eduardo Yu. We were together where Ed acted as my superior since he is older and has been there a while. 

Meanwhile I continue looking for another job. I got an interview with Esso Standard Eastern and they brought me over to their refinery in Limay, Bataan. I was interviewed by three managers simultaneously. The interview went well I believed. Months passed and I have not heard from Esso. So I called the plant and was told the head guy was transferred to Manila. I called him and he called the refinery. They have not filled the job and they are interested in me. I quit my job at Consolidated Foods. So I was hired by Esso and started working in Limay, Bataan. You have to give these guys a little push for them to make a decision. The place is far from Manila and we have to take a boat (Sampaguita) on Monday morning to go across Manila Bay and arrive at the refinery for breakfast. Then I return Friday afternoon to Manila. I was a process engineer. I later learned that this position is given to operators in the plant as a promotion. So there is some resentment that I was hire for this position coming from outside. I got a boost of salary though earning 600 pesos a month. I stayed in a room and board in Lamao owned by this old woman. There were half a dozen of us living in there all working for Esso. I got a bed and bring my lunch to the company in a pumbrera, a metal container of food. At night I get to eat with two viands max. I go home in the Sampaguita boat to Manila to stay the weekend and then go back to Limay for work. That went on for almost two years. Let me see what did I do while I was there? I was monitoring heat exchangers of the plant. I go around the plant measuring temperature in and out of heat exchangers, looking at furnaces all the hot stuff nobody wants. I even go up the tanks to the top and take a look at the boiling gasoline. That one is quite dangerous because of climbing the circular stairs and also opening the holes where gasoline fumes comes out. I designed a TEL (tetraethlylead injection system), participated in the annual turnaround where we inspect equipment. All of these close to chemical engineering which I studied. There is a company car that I like to drive around as I was learning how to drive. The engineering building is always cold. Richmond and Whelan were the two head honchos from the States. My boss was Tony Francisco just returned after a year assignment in Esso in the States. 

One evening I was talking with our board and lodging owner and I told her my parents came from Orion and Dinalupihan. She asked me what is the name of my father and his father and mother. When I said my grandmother's name is Emilia she exclaimed, "Kilala ko siya. Siya ay si Emiliang doling!". She said I know her, she is crosseye Emilia". She is right. But not crosseye. My grandmother has a lazy eye but close enough. She said they were classmates in kindergarten. I wished I asked her for more informatioin as I do not have anything on my grandmother, grandfather, nor from my father. Just bits and pieces of stories. The old woman has a grandaughter who is cute and friendly to me. I wonder what happen to her. 

I heard about immigration to the USA. Jorge Gonzales my brother's friend and my patrol leader in boy scouts went to the US. He worked at Boeing and wrote that he bought a brand new car a Mustang. Fred was very envious of this. Wow. Just working and you can buy a Mustang. My friend at Consolidated Foods applied for immigrant visa and was close to immigrating. At the period of time the USA enacted a law to allow professional engineers to immigrate to the United States. This was later expanded to nurses, doctors, accountants, all sorts of professional because of the lack of manpower in these areas. I got hold of an application, filled it up, and send it in together with some documents. In three months I got a letter back from the US embassy stating that my application has been approved. It asked for several supporting documents and a physical exam. I was not very enthuse about this but grudgingly continue to get the requirement papers. After a while I was called for an interview at the embassy. A young embassy employee interviewed me. I am now ready to go to the United States and start a new life.