When Steve started working at Briggs,
He barely made enough to buy cigs
He confided in our mother
And likely many others
That it was worse than eatin’ waste from pigs
The foundry process is die cast
The heat from the furnace just blasts
Molten metal is shot
In the cast while it’s hot
And the die is cooled kinda fast.
Now, “Cooled” is a relative term
Its solid metal but it still burns
The operator trims
The parts from the limbs
For the meager wages he earns
They cast 6 pistons on a tree
Two little rows of three
They count your production
It’s simple deduction
If you can’t keep up, you’re set free.
Steve had the competition in tears
Cause he had practiced for years
Pluckin’ ‘lumin’ cans free
From a 6 hole plastic tree
He had honed these skills with BEERS!
It’s good he hadn’t spent the Eighties
Sippin’ wine coolers with the Ladies (like Dan)
Cause he’d be back at Packs
Sellin’ them Carpet tacks
Or hauling flat-bed loads of freight.
Steve knew that to get out of this pig sty
He’d need to do the job of the next guy
He made up a plan
To become setup man
That plan succeeded by and by.
He knows that we all benefit
When hard working staff don’t quit
As he rose through the ranks
He’d stop and give thanks
So the job didn’t stink like – -it.
Benefits are an employer’s snare
Peggy & the kids got insured, Briggs had Steve by the short hairs
It cost a pretty cent
A watershed event,
But he still won’t vote for universal health care.
Brigg’s Safety tape – Steve’s voice all through
All staff watched it when they were new
He said “If we can’t make these motors
For less than all the world over
Then we certainly won’t get to.” *
*Paraphrased. He was referring to the high cost of injury accidents & stiff competition from offshore production.
Steve knew where the casting were bossed
Proposed die cast changes to cut cost
His own changes he sees
In knock offs made overseas
On Steve the irony is not lost
32 years of a 30 mile commute
Is half a million miles out of the chute
On trucks, Steve likes to skimp
Makes Jed Clampett look like a pimp
I should know, I bought one to boot.
The miracle of today’s celebration
Has much to do with Steve’s transportation
Briggs has a strict 3 tardy rule
He’s on time? I’m no fool.
How did he ever get off of probation?
There’s a list of chores & stuff
For you to do, it’s enough
Your a bit behind
But you’ve got the time
You don’t have to drive to the Bluff
Pop pop, husband, Dad, mentor, brother
These titles you keep, you don’t need no other.
You’re needed on the farm
That won’t do no harm
It’s in your blood like a mother-
