Letters to the Editor
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Daughter of Ma Bell here...
My parents met and married while working for Ma Bell. My dad started out climbing poles, back in the mid 50s, and was recruited out of his high school electronics class.
He survived the divestiture of Ma Bell, stayed around long enough to get a hefty buyout offer after 37 years with the phone company (which by then wasn't the Phone Company any more).
Stories like his don't exist any more. A technician job like he had, out of high school, is nonexistent. They'd at least want a 2-year electronics degree (on the student's dime), and who knows how long the job would last?
My dad had the kind of loyalty to his employer that doesn't exist any more either. He was a phone company man through and through, until the divestiture chewed him up and spit him out. He still tells stories about the depression (told by the company "old guys" when dad was young), when the phone company cut everyone's hours equally, but kept everyone on. No one got rich, but no one starved. No one lost their jobs. Try that today, as a corporation, and they'd be laughed out of the marketplace.