Right after I graduated high school, I had no intention or means to go to college. So…I went to work at the local Mead factory. It was where my dad had worked for 20 years and my sister and my brother in law.
My job there was horrendous. I made Trapper Keepers. Remember those? Yep, I made those. But, the horrendous part was not the fame and fortune of being the producer of something so famous and well used. I mean lets face it, the Trapper Keeper was not just school supplies. It represented style and status.
No, the horrendous part was the process to make a Trapper Keeper.
The Trapper Keeper was made in a section on the 6th floor in the middle of the entire floor called the Heat Seal. It was called that because of the machine which bore its’ name. The heat seal was a death trap. There were so many fires generated in the heat seal that they literally sealed it off from the rest of the floor. The reason there were so many fires is because to make the Trapper Keeper you had to lay a piece of plastic down, put cardboard down, then another layer of plastic and then “heat seal” the plastic around the cardboard and that created the flaps and binder we all know and love as the Trapper Keeper.
However, slight flaw in the machine. Two of them. But they were closely connected. First, there was no margin for error. The seal had to seal so closely to the cardboard because who wants a floppy Trapper Keeper. That meant that if the seal hit the cardboard…well…you can imagine when 350 degrees hits cardboard. Fire!
The designers of this machine were so very concerned about getting your hands caught in the heat seal that to fire the machine you had to hit two buttons, not just one, so as both hands were occupied. Which leads me to the second flaw. The placement of the buttons. They were about thigh height. Which put your face about…yep, you guessed it…heat seal height.
Result…
No eyebrows for 6 months.
Why do I tell you this….because of Pipe Ball.
During breaks at Mead (and I worked the night shift, midnight to 7), me and some guys would play “Pipe Ball”. We would take a roll of toilet paper and wrap it in duct tape and essentially walk around the factory and play HORSE.
And…we always bet. Sometimes it ended up in the hundreds of dollars. And…I always won. Well one night, this guy, I’ll call him Frank to save his reputation, decided to keep going double or nothing thinking I’d have to miss eventually. I didn’t. So a 5 dollar bet turns into a 640 bet with only about 7 shots. And the rule was, when the break bell rang and break was over, you paid your debts. The bell rang and Frank owed me over $600 dollars! The other guys were getting on him pretty good and given I was about 1/3 the size of Frank, I decided NOT to get on him pretty good.
Frank had a solution to the debt he owed though. He knew I didn’t like the foreman. The foreman didn’t like me. How is that possible? Who doesn’t like me??
Frank pulled me aside and offered to kill him for me in exchange for the debt. Not kidding.
Next day…I quit. And THAT’S what inspired me to go to college!
What’s the point of Pipe Ball and Trapper Keepers??
I don’t know. I’ve had a rough couple of days with waking up to nightmares and one night waking up to blood all over my pillow after having a bad headache…so I thought I’d share some funny stories because…I’m tired of the heaviness.
Laughter is good medicine.
Brint's Blog 