I am adding this to the top…I already had this written down. Tuesday Night 8/5/2014…I went to Bowl for Big Brothers and Sisters at Fast Lanes with fellow Cox Communications Employees. There were several there. One of the higher ups started talking with me and asked Why I had stayed so long working for the cable company….I told her My Dad worked 30 plus years for SWEPCO my Mom had at least 20 plus years at First Federal Savings. I guess it was ingrained in me….and that I didn’t like change so I stayed….She pushed for more she said there must have been something you Loved about the Cable Industry to stay this long…..I said well……it was the people I worked with…..she might think I was talking about the people I work with now….and as I have mentioned there are several I like and I have fun every week….but really it was the people I started with and the ones that came along soon enough that I still felt like we were family…..I have worked 40 years for the Cable Company and I have posted my favorite memories and stories and the people that were involved in those stories and the vast majority of the stories were from the first 20 years and the earlier co-workers…That tells you something right there….Either I am Old enough now that I remember the time 20 years ago to 40 years ago better than I remember the present to 20 years ago….( and I am not ruling that out. ) or much more likely is I was Blessed by the people and the times in those first 20 years….I cannot say Thank You enough to all that live in my cherished memories. If times get too tough at work….I can always bring back one of these memories and smile and that should get me through until I retire and beyond…. OK Now to wrap this Up: Nick Names: The First Nick Name I had was Goober….Now they told me it was because I put peanuts in my coke and I also would buy a can of peanuts and keep on the break table….but after these stories of the old days…..just maybe there was another reason……When I started on the Little Flock Volunteer Fire Department, Larry started to call me Gus the Fireman ( the old fireman that was on Leave It To Beaver ). When Tom Hank’s movie came out in 1994 I became Forest Goebel for awhile, John McGuire Called me Rosserronie……and of course since The Dukes of Hazzard came out I have been called Roscoe P Coltrane and shortened to Roscoe. I have been called Roscoe so much…..I think the guys that have just known me since I came into the office in 2008 think that is really my name…Ha Ha….Even John Sampson ( the ex-public relations guy ) made a sign for me that I still have and display on my Cubical that says “ Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins…when he found out more about my story of working to come back to work….My newest nickname is Willie….Dwight Thompson started calling me that and is the only one that does call me that, for the song ( Little Willie Won’t Go ) since he would ask me to come out and help walk the plant for the audit and I would always say that sounds too much like work….I am not going….Tina calls me Gumball because I got started chewing gum at the office and since I buy the gum at Sam’s I have the buckets and Gumball machine on some filing cabinets for any and all….Looking back on the nick names….I would have to say there was a fairly common theme and so I would say there WAS ANOTHER REASON they called me Goober…… Finishing: When David Bromley left the Cable company that let me know that some of the heart and soul of the company had left. I remember us guys standing in our area in the back, all of us sad, and not much talking…..I finally said well that tells me something. We no longer have a future here. David had 30 plus years of work in for the cable company I think at that time and in my opinion was pushed and pressured until he snapped and quit. I guess Troy Welch agreed with me about the future, because very soon after….. he left and started to work for TCA in Bentonville…..A Good Move for Him I think…..I didn’t take my own advice and stuck it out and over the years ( and this is just my opinion ) I have been there when others also were not treated like I felt they would have been working for Rogers TV Cable. They include but are not limited to: David Bromley, Rodney Deason, Jackie Robinson, Rick Bassett, John Lee, Ed Martin, Alan Bryant, and John Sampson…..I hope that each of them can/could look back and say it really worked out for the best for them….. like it did for me when the company didn’t let me return to my old job and I got the new job in the office and that worked out very good for me……I don’t feel like it was the best for some to most of them myself though….I know I got lucky…..All I know is each time one of them left and I would hear a little about it……I could see a little bit more of the heart and soul of the company seemed gone to me….I am SOOOOOOO THANKFUL to All the Great People I have worked with and for…. and also for all the “ special “ memories I have…That has helped more than I can say to keep me going in the bad times….One thing I have learned that even the ones that I didn’t like and some of the things I didn’t think were right…..were valuable too…if for the only reason they made me appreciate the Good People and Treatment I had seen in my time…..I miss so many of the ex-coworkers and wish youall were still here…..but that is for me….maybe after you left…..it was the Best for you….I hope so….and maybe it is the fact I have worked 40 years at the cable company… it is just I am So Happy I am near the end of my career and not the beginning….if I was at the beginning….I wouldn’t have seen how close co-workers can be and I wouldn’t have most of my “special” memories now….so I might think that now is a Great Time….But I would hate to lose either of those things ( how close co-workers can be or any of my special memories even the ones that were painful at the time like the ladder story and the broken wrist story )…And speaking of being at the end…..this is the end of my postings…out of stories I can remember and think are worth posting…..Thanks to Facebook for giving me a place to put these stories out there….I cannot tell youall how much FUN I Have Had remembering and sharing these stories…it was almost like I got to live them again…I cannot imagine anyone being as lucky as I am to have worked 40 years with so many Great People and to have as many “ cherished memories” as I do…..If Facebook is still here…. and I am in 5 years….and I remember these stories I may post them again…in closing…Terry Frank….I promise that if we are both still here in 5 years ( or if I decide to retire early and you are still here )….and if I can find the tape…..I will bring in my Star Trek Tape and let everyone that wants to……. see it……That is a lot of ifs I know but……I promise. And who knows I might find the hang glider tape too while I am looking and I would bring it also before I send it to AFV and try to get an extra $5,000 for retirement…I would have to give Scott his half….though really he would deserve it all…..
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:45:08 +0000