During the war my dad worked at a Chrysler defense plant making wings for the F4U corsair. After the war, they went back to making Plymouth automobiles. It was a time of great unrest in the manufacturing industry. Dad was a charter member of the UAW and during this time there were a lot of work stoppages due to strikes. The final straw was the year dad worked sixteen weeks out of the year. Thirty six weeks without any income and three small children put a heavy burden on my parents.
Fortunately for them, the neighborhood grocery store was owned by a Mr. Bridges who took pity on us and carried us. Dad finally got a job as a janitor in the local charity hospital. The pay was low compared to the factory but was consistent. When they were able to have some left over, they gave it to Mr. Bridges toward the bill that they had run up. the process was very slow.
Then as luck would have it, the supermarkets began to gain strength. The neighborhood grocery stores fell on hard times. Eventually Mr. Bridges went out of business and retired.
Dad had worked his way up at the hospital and eventually became an orderly which he remained for the rest of his working career. one of the facets of his job was installing and changing catheters.
Mr. Bridges fell in ill health and required that he wear a catheter full time. The expense of this was beyond their reach. My dad finding out about this took care of him for the rest of his life. Mr. bridges told him to forget about the grocery bill they were still paying on.
Life is good.
