My Days at Pfizer

 

I reported for work at 8 AM and then to an orientation room where they explained what I would be doing.  The plant ran 24/7 which meant there were 3 shifts.  7 day shifts (8AM – 4PM) and 2 days off; 7 mid-shifts (4PM-12Midnight) and 2 ½ days off; and 7 midnight shifts (12Midnight – 8AM) with 3 days off.  I would work with another man – he on one side of the filtering platform, me on the other side.  The filters were a series of heavy milled frames one inch thick, 2 feet wide, and 4 foot X 4 foot square.  In the center of the frame was a canvas filter.  Raw Terramycin was pumped through the frame and, when the space between the canvas and the next frame was filled, we would open the first frame, pull it back about 1 foot and scrape the canvas clean.  Then we would move on to the next frame.  There were about 50 frames per filter.  The company supplied us with a one piece, long sleeved, jump suit, rubber boots, eye protection, mask and gloves.  I don’t think this chemical was safe to touch.  

One hot summer night (the plant was not air conditioned), we had all the windows open and a mosquito bit my arm – through the jump suit.  I kept rubbing the bite and by the end of my shift, my arm and hand were swollen twice their size. The foreman sent me to the hospital.  I had staph infection.  I was placed in an isolation room for 9 days.  The company told me to stay home for 2 more weeks.  I told the foreman I didn’t want to handle any of that chemical anymore, so they moved me to a new job.  

Now I would fill a huge storage tank 4 stories high and 100 feet wide with that same chemical.  I don’t remember how many 100s of gallons it held, but I didn’t touch any of it – just opened and closed valves.  When the tank was filled, I opened a valve and sent the Terramycin to be filtered.  When the tank was empty, I opened a valve and let live steam into the tank for about 2 hours to kill the bacteria.  I figured out how to open a couple of valves at once thereby dumping the tank much faster and then turn on the steam.  I would then climb up on the top of the tank.  The weather was getting colder and it was nice and warm from the steam.  I would go to sleep and wake up before midnight to go home.  Lots of times I wouldn’t wake up until daylight and have to sneak down to the locker room, take a shower, change clothes, and go home.  I would go through the guardhouse and not punch out.  The next day I would come to work early and take my timecard into the office.  I would tell them that I forgot to punch out at midnight and they would sign my card.  I would take it back to the time clock and punch in for my shift.  After 2 months of this job, I went to see my Uncle. 

I told him I hated the shifts.  On day shifts I was okay; on 4-12s I had diarrhea; and on midnights I was constipated.  I couldn’t sleep when it was light out, so I kept falling asleep at work on the night shifts.  I couldn’t eat a sandwich at 4 AM.  Often, after our 4 AM “lunch hour” the foreman would come looking for me and find me asleep with my head on the table and my face in my sandwich.  Nighttime was for sleeping – not working.  An opening came up in a different building – steady 6AM – 2PM shift.  I worked 2 years on this shift.  A man I worked with had a landscaping business, putting in lawns for new home construction.  At the time, there were lots of new, expensive homes being built in Connecticut.  He needed someone who could drive a dump truck.  I told him I could drive anything with wheels.  I just needed a quick lesson and I could do it!  I worked for him for the next 2 years.  After my 6AM-2PM shift was over, I would work for him from 3PM – 6PM.  Then I would eat something and go to college from 7PM to 10:30 PM.  College was 3 nights a week.  Somewhere in between, I would study.  After 2 years of this, I decided my social life was nonexistent.  All I did was work and go to school.  I called my Mom – quit my job and went home!

My mother was born in Ireland and, if you know anything about Irish mothers, you’ll know that their first born son is like a god.  No woman is ever good enough and he can do nothing wrong!  All I had to do was tell my Mom I had been in the hospital because I had reacted to the chemical.  It didn’t matter that her brother worked for Pfizer for 47 years and I only lasted 2. She loved her prodigal son!  Thanks Mom!