Monday, May 5, 2008

My New Job Begins

A few days later, after returning to my job on the east coast, I decided to accept the
Delta offer. I had several other companies interested in hiring me, but none had met as
many of my requirements as did the Gamma Supplies job. Gamma Supplies was offering me in writing a responsible management position, a good salary, a small company atmosphere and a new technology field that would provide a base for fulfilling my longer term objectives even if
the Gamma position fizzled out. I took the position knowing there was a calculated risk
involved concerning my career future, but the advantages far out-weighed the
disadvantages. Besides, in my almost two years in my current position I had mad a lot of
outside contacts , and I knew I could always get a job just by contacting some of those
friends. In fact, several of my outside contacts had discreetly inquired about switching
companies while I was in my current position. If things did not work out at Gamma, I could
always get another job and my career would suffer only a minor setback.

In June 1976, after my wife and I watched our belongings loaded onto a truck, we
hopped in our car with our dog Fluffy, and headed for Chicago. We arrived two days
latter at our temporary accommodations at the Holiday Inn. This location was convenient to my work place and was in the northern section of the city. Since we had decided on our previous trip that we would seek a house in the northern suburbs, the accommodations were also convenient for seeking a new residence. The next day I went to work and Anita commenced looking for a house.

The first day at work I moved into my office and Ravi gave me some literature to read
about the foundry industry. I was totally ignorant about the foundry industry and knew
only that Gamma Supplies supplied products to that industry. I had been told little abut the actual product lines sold by Gamma Supplies, but I had gone to the library at my former company and copied several reviews concerning the chemistry involved in foundry binders which was the major product line of Gamma Supplies.

The first few days I read and educated myself abut the
practices of the foundry industry. Interestingly, and somewhat disturbing to me was the
fact that during my first week I was not introduced to a single Gamma employee; I came to
my office, read, learned, asked Ravi questions, and when the day was over, I went home.
It is highly unusual for a company to hire someone into a management position when he
has no experience in that field, but I naively rationalized that Gamma Supplies was not a major
research center, and I felt they were fortunate to have someone of my educational
background and ability to fill the position.

Among the deficiencies at Gamma Supplies was the lack of any library and an absence of
sophisticated instrumentation. The former need was partially satisfied by the use of the
Chicago Public Library which has an amazingly complete selection of chemistry books
and a fairly complete set of U. S. patents. The need for sophisticated research equipment
was primarily satisfied by the use of equipment at two State Universities – The
University of Wisconsin, Blackwater, and the Chicago State University. Fate
had placed my former office partner at the University of Florida on the faculty at
Blackwater and a former student of mine at Florida was now a graduate student at Chicago State University. As a result, I was able to gain access to the research instruments
at those institutions. I also had access to their technical libraries. Access to the facilities at
these two universities was a major asset and coupe for me since chemical analysis done by
outside laboratories can be very expensive and a small company like Gamma Supplies could not
afford it.

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