There was a compelling story in yesterday’s Billings Gazette about the Stillwater Mining Company laying off employees. Particularly interesting to me was the story about the young man who moved from New York to Montana and spent one whole day on the job and was then laid off.
His situation brought back memories. Many years ago as a young man, I applied for a job with the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW) in the Midwest. They were hiring people because the C&NW had purchased tracks from the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad.
After putting in my application, I was called and asked to show up at a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. They gave about 300 of us a couple of tests. Those two tests cut the 300 down to about 40-50 applicants. Then we had a personal interview with one of the Human Resources people. After that, they said they would call me if they wanted me to take a physical.
A day later, I was called to take the physical exam the next week. I passed the physical and was cleared to start work.
The call came and they told me I would start “brakeman” school in two weeks. I was going to school to be a brakeman for the C&NW out of Des Moines, Iowa! The money was very good, so I was looking forward to a new life.
I gave my two weeks notice at my current job, and I prepared to move a few hundred miles to my new job. The day before I left, the railroad called and told me my class was delayed for a week. That was no problem. At the end of that week, they called me again and said school was delayed two more weeks. At the end of the two weeks, they called me again and said I was officially laid off.
I attempted to obtain unemployment benefits but because I had quit my last job voluntarily and never worked even one day for the C&NW, I was out of luck. I called the head of the Human Resources department for the C&NW and begged him to let me work there for one day, so I could at least draw unemployment. He said, “Sorry, I can’t do that.”
Hopefully the young man who was laid off from the Stillwater Mine on Monday will at least be able to obtain unemployment benefits.
As for me, the C&NW never called me to go to work. I guess after almost 25 years, I should give up on ever being a brakeman for the C&NW. After being laid off, I enlisted in the Air Force, which was by far a much better choice.
But every so often I hear a train in the middle of the night and think, “What if…”
The Western Word 
Steve: That is correct. I guess that’s why I don’t take off across country on four bald tires in an old beat-up car and with $5 bucks in my pocket, too. In my younger days, I’d say Hell-Yes! -Jack
Auntie Lib: Thanks for your comments and you are so right about the deja vu momments. -Jack
Jack ~ Pretty much the same thing happened to me in 1970 with United Air Lines. They did finally call me back – about 9 months later. By then I had another job and had gotten married and could not relocate to Chicago. There are so many deja vu moments in this economic crisis.
The older we get, the more we have to risk. Ergo, why we become conservative.
Carol – Seems that sometimes the older we get the less chances we want to take. -Jack
Wow, that would have been great to get that brakeman job.I knew a guy who had been laid off from the Milwaukee Road and retrained as a cook. He got a call from his old co-workers when MRL started up, and he was really tempted but was afraid to take a chance. That was 20 years ago and I think he still could have been working there.