Kirk (Shorty) Alexander discusses his career at the Fisher Body plant in Lansing, MI Doreen Howard: [clicking] This is Doreen Howard. We’re over at UAW Local 602 and it is [rustling] September 16th, 2005, and we will be interviewing Kirk [Lee 0:22] Alexander today. [tsk] [rustling] Um. Can everyone at the table please introduce themselves? Linda Johnson: Linda Johnson. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. Marilyn Coulter: Marilyn Coulter. Michael Fleming: Mike Fleming. Kirk Alexander: Shorty. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: Make sure you put that in there ‘cause they don’t – people don’t know me by that name other than Shorty. That’s all they know me by. It’s the truth. Doreen Howard: Well, since ya started with that, tell us the story of how you got your nickname. Kirk Alexander: [tsk] I was hired into the spray shop and, uh, everybody in there was about 5’2” and I was, um, 5’10”, so they said, uh, we’re gonna nickname you Shorty and that’s the way it’s been for 36½ years. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Okay. Um, [papers rustling] I see that you’re from the DeWitt area. Have you always lived in DeWitt or have you…? Kirk Alexander: No, I lived in North Lansing. Doreen Howard: In North Lansing. Kirk Alexander: That’s where I was born, yeah. Doreen Howard: Okay. Um. [tsk] And, uh, could you tell me what your seniority date is? Kirk Alexander: It’s 4/25/63. Doreen Howard: 1963. So you’ve been a long time with General Motors. Kirk Alexander: They wouldn’t hire me for the first 4 days. Doreen Howard: Why? Kirk Alexander: I t-, I came and I slept with a sleepin’ bag at the front door… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …and plant protection used to let me in to go pee-pee at night. You know [laughter] what I mean? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And I stay right there and I wanted a job and I went all through the paperwork and everything and there was a doctor in the hospital, his name was Dr. [Osner 2:03], I believe is how you say that. And he turned me down for bein’ too tall. He said they weren’t hirin’m to 5’10”. They were only hirin’ to 5’8” or somethin’ like that and he turned me down. And the next mornin’, there I am again ‘cause I slept all night in that sleepin’ bag right at the door. They didn’t hire me until Thursday, the fourth day, and he said haven’t you been through here before? I said I’ve cut 3 woods just for the paper that you’ve wasted on me ‘cause it’s that thick by the time you get to the door. Four days straight. He said you’re gonna be here tomorrow? I said yes, sir, I’ll be right here tomorrow. He said you’re hired. You’re hired. Go down with this. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And he hired me. Doreen Howard: Hm. Well, that, that’s… Kirk Alexander: And I worked days. They hired me in on the day shift Friday and bumped me to nights on Monday mornin’. [laughter] Doreen Howard: Yeah. So, so how tall are you? Kirk Alexander: Now? Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: I grew a little since then. I’m 6’5”. Doreen Howard: Oh, wow. You grew a lot… Linda Johnson: And you were 5’10”… Doreen Howard: …since then. [laughter] Linda Johnson: …when they wouldn’t let you in? Kirk Alexander: I was 5’10” when they hired me in and… Linda Johnson: How old were you? Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 3:11]. Kirk Alexander: I was, uh, 19. Male: [Inaudible 3:14]. Kirk Alexander: And when I turned 21, I grew 7 inches. Doreen Howard: Wow. Kirk Alexander: And then they thought the pituitary gland was shot and they did tests like ya never imagine. They said you’re gonna be 8 feet tall. I said 6’5” is bad enough. I hit my head on all the pipes in my dad’s basement now. Linda Johnson: [Mm-hm 3:32]. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: But I never grew an inch after that; 6’5” is what I stayed. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Back then, I weighed 2 and a quarter. Doreen Howard: Okay. Um. Kirk Alexander: Now I weigh, uh, 373. [laughter] Doreen Howard: Wow. Kirk Alexander: Too many hamburgers [laughter] over at Harry’s. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Linda Johnson: Tell people what Harry’s is. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Yeah, Harry’s Bar, [laughter] bar and grill. There ya go. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 3:59] [tsk] Um. What, what’s your birth date? Kirk Alexander: My birth date? Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: 12/8/43. It’s December 8th, 1943. Doreen Howard: Okay. So that makes you how old? Kirk Alexander: Do the math. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 4:14]. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 4:16]. [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh. Doreen Howard: Old enough to know better. Kirk Alexander: I’m 61. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: Yeah, I’ll be 62 this year. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 4:22]. Kirk Alexander: I just signed up for old peoples’ money, social security. I went through that mess in the last 2 weeks. What a mess. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. And you’ve retired from General Motors? Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Doreen Howard: In, in what year did you retire from General Motors? Kirk Alexander: Uh, I retired May 1st, uh, 1999. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: Been out 6 years. Unbelievable. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: I don’t know where the 6 years went. Doreen Howard: Uh-huh. [Inaudible 4:46]. Um. [tsk] Do you have any, um, military background at all or…? Kirk Alexander: No, they turned me down. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 4:54]. Cheryl McQuaid: Too tall? Kirk Alexander: I, I went down – no, I, I always wanted to be in the state police [sighing] and so when I graduated high school, I went out to Michigan State and I passed their physical test and then they – where they make you climb all the ropes and junk and, and th-, then I did the paper test and I passed that. And they said you’re 17 years old. You need to do somethin’ for 4 years ‘cause ya can’t start the academy until you’re 21. I told’m I was gonna go down and join the marines and, and, uh, go into military police and the guy said I’ll take ya down. So he gave me a ride to Detroit and, uh, I went in and volunteered. I couldn’t pass the physical. They said that bein’ born flat-footed, you’d never be able to take the marchin’ is what they said. And they put me down as 1-Y and bein’ they turned me down ‘cause I couldn’t march, then the state police turned me down. I mean, you know, things just – when they start one way then goin’ the wrong way, they just – it catapult. You know what I mean? I went crazy almost. That, that was always my dream, so I had to find somethin’ to do. There wasn’t no work in ’63. The shop wasn’t hirin’. Or in ’62 I mean; ’61, ’62, shop wasn’t hirin’, and so I sacked groceries in a grocery store, Wrigley's Supermarket in Frandor, for a while and then I worked at Michigan State for grounds maintenance. Then I worked with a guy layin’ ceramic tile in bathrooms and all that kinda stuff. Then I did roofing. Then I [finished 6:33] cement. Then I laid blocks. I mean… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …I cut pulp. [laughter] Linda Johnson: You did this all between 17 and… Kirk Alexander: [Oh 6:39]. Linda Johnson: …19? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I – all that. Linda Johnson: Wow. Kirk Alexander: Th-, then I – when, uh, they laid me off from the shop, then I’d go to Muskegon and cut pulp with – for, uh – cut red pines is what ya did for pulp for the paper mills. I made more money there than I did at General Motors but they didn’t make no – he didn’t pay no benefits there, you know, so it wasn’t – was fun for the summer but [sighing] I don’t know as it’d been fun in the winter. Doreen Howard: So what brought you to the steps of General Motors? Kirk Alexander: Fisher Body? Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: Big money. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 7:11]. Kirk Alexander: Lot better money than I was makin’. Doreen Howard: [Oh 7:14]? Kirk Alexander: Grocery store was $1 an hour. Then I worked at Michigan State for $1.90. I thought was – I had the world by the tail, you know what I mean? Double the money. And General Motors, I started out at $2.22 an hour. Doreen Howard: Wow, so that was a big increase for you then. Kirk Alexander: In 3 months – I think it was either 2 or 3 months, ya got a – like a 30-cent raise, you know what I mean? And, uh, everybody got that. They wanted to stay, have more money. You know what I mean? More money… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 7:44]. Kirk Alexander: …yeah. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 7:45]. Kirk Alexander: Make your car payments and your insurance payments, [laughter] you know. It seemed good. Travel all over the country. Had a lotta fun. Michael Fleming: Did ya have the opportunity to work any extra hours at General Motors or was it a straight 40-hour week when ya came in? Kirk Alexander: Well, when I hired in, day shift was goin’ 10 hours a day, night shift automatic [10/4 8:05]. Doreen Howard: Hm. What department… Kirk Alexander: Ev-, every night. Hm? Doreen Howard: …what department did you come into? Kirk Alexander: Paint. I hired right into Paint and I was… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …always in paint. Doreen Howard: Tell me about that first day when you came in and started up in the paint department. Kirk Alexander: Oh, it sucks. Takes ya 2 hours just to find it. Ya hire in the front door, they make ya come in the back door and ya don’t even know where you’re at for 2 hours and everybody ya ask lies to ya. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh, yeah, right down here and go right and ya get down there and ya didn’t know where ya was at and nobody down there knew [laughter] where ya was at – supposed to be. You know what I mean? They all lie to ya when ya first come in. It’s funny. Yeah, I was lost for 2 hours. My first foreman was [Ray Durham 8:46] and he said where in the hell have you been? We start at 6 in the mornin’, not 8. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I said [laughter] I came in the back a the plant, that’s the best I can [laughter] tell ya. You know. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Hadn’t buzzed in yet. I hadn’t found the clock! I didn’t know where it was at. Oh, it was funny. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: The clock was down near wet deck. Oh, they bring ya in, show ya where your locker is, which was funny back then. Nowadays they got lockers that open and ya put your stuff inside. Down there in wet deck, they didn’t have that. You had a hangar that was on a pipe. Ya had a little box that ya – just a little screened thing that ya unlock and put your shoes in and stuff your pants in. Y-, when ya got your clothes out at night, ya looked like a wrinkled mess, ya know what I mean. But, uh, it was down near wet deck and then if ya had a jacket, ya hung that on this little hanger but people’d steal it, so there was this chain hooked on the box and you ran that down the sleeve, hooked it in the padlock and then hooked it on that little box. That was your locker. That was different. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: People’d come by and put crap on your coat… Doreen Howard: Oh, yeah? Kirk Alexander: …shove stuff in the sleeve, you know what I mean? Like nasty stuff. Linda Johnson: [Inaudible 9:58]. Kirk Alexander: Yeah… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …you get out at night and you take a shower and – shower room was right there. Take a shower and get all clean, come down and shove your arm in, [inaudible 10:06] from there, you know, ‘cause… Linda Johnson: [My god 10:07]. Kirk Alexander: …somebody decided to do ya a little while ya weren’t… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …lookin’. Yeah. Fun times. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Michael Fleming: So those were some a the practical jokes that you… Kirk Alexander: Oh, they… John Fedewa: …were exposed to? Kirk Alexander: Th-, y-, you get caught in all kinds a things. Michael Fleming: When – uh, go back to when you first walked in and the 2 hours that you spent. Kirk Alexander: When I was late? Michael Fleming: Did that happen to most new hires that came in the back door? That it was, uh… Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Michael Fleming: …uh, something that they did to them just so that… Kirk Alexander: Some fool’d tell’m to go the wrong way. You know what I mean? Instead a just tellin’ ya to cross the [sealer 10:36] line, hang a right, and go up the main aisle to the office – I mean, it was simple after ya learned it. Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: They didn’t do that. Oh, yeah, you go down here and ya – you know, and they’d get ya. Doreen Howard: Totally different department. Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Michael Fleming: [Inaudible 10:48]. Linda Johnson: Did you pass that along when a new hire asked you? Kirk Alexander: No. No, I didn’t. I didn’t do that to – I didn’t do that bad thing to people. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Supervisors is the ones I shafted. I didn’t shaft none a the… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …line workers. Michael Fleming: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: They were, they were like brothers, you know. [laughter] Michael Fleming: Well, you know, it really isn’t hard for that to happen because it’s a very large facility. If you – you know, if you’re not familiar with the Fisher Body facility, it is huge and we’ve got, uh, 3 floors and it just covers an awful lotta area, so you could get lost very easily if ya didn’t know where you were goin’. Kirk Alexander: If you, um, if you’ve hired in and you’ve been in one a those areas and then you go to another plant, we’ll say, and you ask somebody where to go and you see these guys with smirks on their face, you know they just stuck it to ya. You know what I mean? You get so you can read people after a while. Ya might just as well sit down and wait for somebody to get tired a the joke and tell ya the right place to go. It’s strange. Well, it’s fun, I suppose, to them, you know. They can see ya wanderin’ around way over there somewhere and ya don’t know where you’re [laughter] goin’. Uh, for – I’ll bet it was for a week. I was lost the second day. I didn’t do any better. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And, and I made Ray Durham laugh, my foreman, even though he was unhappy with me for not bein’ there on time. I told him I was gonna bring a hillbilly compass and he said what’s that? And I said it’s a big ball a string. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: When ya get outta work at night, ya tie it on your locker. [laughter] Ya just let the ball unwind until ya get [laughter] to the door and ya tie it there. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I said the next day, ya follow the string in and you’ll, you’ll be there on time. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: That’s a hillbilly compass. [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: We always called it that. [sniffing] Doreen Howard: So you worked in the paint department. What job did they put ya on? Kirk Alexander: Uh, well, I was down in the front offices and – they took ya to the front office finally when they found ya and I set down there. I remember some a the guys I hired in with, um, settin’ there with me. It was [Doug Hawley 12:49]. Ya all know him… Doreen Howard: [Mm-hm 12:51]. Kirk Alexander: …probably. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: [Russ Bauers 12:52], he was down there. [Roger Stark 12:55]. Uh, myself. Who was the other guy? Hm. One a them senior moments. I can’t remember th-, who the other guy was. There was 6 of us and the 1 guy quit 2 days later. [laughter] Yeah, yeah, he said he’d had enough. He wasn’t comin’ back no more. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: But when they come to get us, you’re in a pool there like and they come and got Russ Bauers and they took him to wet deck. He hired into wet deck – or they put him in the wet deck area. And they come and got Doug Hawley and they took him to the body shop. And they come and got myself and, uh, Roger s-, uh, Roger – wait a minute. Roger Stark went to wet deck and then myself and the other guy I couldn’t think of, what’s his real name? Oh, man. [Marvin Shade 13:49]. Marvin Shade and I went to the [glaze booth 13:53] and a course we all – them are the ones we know and so now you all come to the same area to eat lunch, you know what I mean? ‘Cause, whew, it was almost like somebody ya knew. You know what I mean? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: All them other people, ya – you know what I mean? You know, all them people, all these eyeballs lookin’ at ya, you know, like you’re a [laughter] criminal when ya walk… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …down through there. Uh, they know they can rip ya. That’s why. Ya just know you’re vulnerable, vulnerable. You know what I mean? It’s scary. Yeah, it was fun though. I actually enjoyed the whole experience. Especially toward the end, I guess. You know it’s gonna end and you really don’t want it to because in a big plant like that, the biggest problem with all your friends that ya know there, um, they all come from all over the country. You know, different towns and stuff. Ya never see anybody again. You know what I mean? You just don’t. I go to auctions, I go to [all those 14:51] shows around different places and sales and you never see nobody. Even though I knew 5500 people [laughter] there, you know, and I knew most of’m. Not every single one but a lot of’m. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: [tsk] When I retired, they have this little book that guys sign, you know what I mean, and they take that around for ya. Well, they took it around part a the way and then I came in and took it around the rest a the way. But I took it all through the plant, uh, on day shift and then I came in and I took that book through the whole plant on night shift ‘cause I knew a lotta guys on nights. And they said that was the most anybody had ever had was a book that thick and a half of another one. Linda Johnson: Wow. Kirk Alexander: And they said there musta been over 4000 signatures in there. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And they didn’t all know me like close enough to say let’s go get a sandwich or somethin’… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …but they knew who I was. They knew my name and they wanted to sign… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …the book and that’s why ya do it. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Two days later, ya can’t remember any a their names. Just faces. Uh, th-, that’s all I really… Linda Johnson: [Inaudible 15:55]. Kirk Alexander: …remembered was faces. I don’t – and I’m worse now now that I’ve been out. I ask other – few retirees that I see. I said I gotta problem. And they say what’s that? And I say I think I had a li-, small stroke after I retired and they say why’s that? I said see people that I worked with 25 years and I can’t remember their name. And I, and I, I cheat. I go up to’m and I say hey, buddy, how ya doin’, you know? Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And ya give’m the buddy thing about 4 times and ya got the br-, your wheels in your head crankin’, just smokin’, tryin’ to think… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …a that guy’s name and before he walks away, I tell him oh, I don’t know how to tell ya this but I can’t remember [laughter] what your name is. Uh, I said I don’t know why but I just can’t remember. I said I think I had a stroke after I retired and I didn’t know. Just a little one… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …you know. But the other fellas that are retired said the same thing. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: They worked with guys 30 years and they haven’t seen’m for – I mean, we ain’t been in the area for 4, 5 years and all of a sudden, you come face to face with one and then they can’t remember the guy’s name and they said I wonder what makes that? I told’m senior moment. Somethin’. You know what I mean? Brain fart. I don’t know. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Somethin’. You know? You try to think of a, [laughter] a reasonable thing but you can’t think of anything… Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …and it really – in your own mind, it, it, uh, well, you wanna bonk yourself with a wooden mallet ‘cause ya know ya should know that guy’s name. You know what I mean? And it just – it won’t… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 17:23]. Kirk Alexander: …come out. Ya can’t spit it out. It just won’t come out. Three days later, while you’re doin’ somethin’ at home, ya think damn! That’s that guy’s name! All of a sudden, it [came] [inaudible 17:34]. It only took… Cheryl McQuaid: [Inaudible 17:35]. Kirk Alexander: …3 days, you know. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Michael Fleming: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [It 17:37] fell outta the filing cabinet. [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Yeah. I don’t know. It’s the craziest thing. Uh, just all of a sudden, you’ll be thinkin’ a nothin’ and boom, that guy’s name would come to ya. Marilyn Coulter: So Shorty… Doreen Howard: Hm. Marilyn Coulter: …you s-, you know so many people. How many different jobs did you have in the paint department? Kirk Alexander: [tsk] Oh, my gosh. [sighing] Uh, there’s a good one there. You did have to ask that wouldn’t ya, huh? Marilyn Coulter: Did ya move around a lot or… Kirk Alexander: Well… Marilyn Coulter: …like were in the wet deck or were ya in the… Kirk Alexander: I was… Marilyn Coulter: …[painter] [inaudible 18:01]? Kirk Alexander: …I was utility a couple a times for, oh, like 2, 3 years at a, at a shot. When they first started utility, um, they wanted people to take the place of sick ones, you know, around the way and they called it utility. They were gonna pay a quarter more per hour. Oh yeah, that’s for me. Yeah, you know. Uh. [laughter] Anybody. And to get a raise, I mean, it’s great. Twenty-five cents an hour was a lot. ] Marilyn Coulter: So [inaudible 18:27]… Kirk Alexander: Huh? Marilyn Coulter: …when they started utility? Kirk Alexander: When they first started utility and s-, called it utility, um… Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 18:34]. Kirk Alexander: …they, they gave that as a heading with your name, you know, like a special part a the job or somethin’ and, um, yeah, I went on and 4 or 5 other guys, finally coaxed them in to goin’ on. I enjoyed it. I mean, you… Cheryl McQuaid: Do you remember what year that was? Linda Johnson: What year? Kirk Alexander: Oh, brother. I don’t know that. [Inaudible 18:50]. Marilyn Coulter: Was it shortly after you hired in or… Kirk Alexander: No, I’d say about… Marilyn Coulter: …early ’70s… Kirk Alexander: …maybe… Marilyn Coulter: …late ’70s? Kirk Alexander: …16 years later, 15 or 16 years. Um. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: ‘Cause I was on days when it – well, there was a good one too. Had about 10 years. Lotta guys was on days. Went to days, you know, that was, uh, younger seniority [to me 19:09] and I said, uh, maybe I’ll give it a shot. Hate gettin’ up early in the mornin’ but, uh, I said I like nights better. So I gave it a shot. I went to days and I was good for 3 days and they bumped me back to nights and, uh, I said well, this is wonderful. I shoulda stayed here in the [laughter] first place. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: ‘Cause then all it does is mess up your eatin’, your sleepin’, and all the other things, you know. And so I stayed there until I w-, I had 16 years, I believe when I went back to days again. I was good for a week that time before they bumped me back to nights. I said I don’t think I’ll ever go to days again ever. I mean, it just messes ya all up when ya do that. And – but I did, um. They had utility and that’s how I got bumped the first time. No-, nobody wanted utility. It was a new thing and nobody wanted it. I jumped in and I liked it. I mean, you know, they put ya in wet deck and well, maybe you run a wheel on top a the car, you know, down there then they’d slip ya over in lacquer and y-, and you, you had a exterior lacquer or interior lacquer. Next day, you’d be in [rubber] [inaudible 20:18] and it, it made it – kinda mixed it up a little bit so that you just didn’t go to sleep while doin’ your job. You know, otherwise sprayin’ paint, it was like – I, I enjoyed sprayin’ paint. That c-, them cars – this sounds funny but them cars comin’ to us, the thing that really irked me was we sell our iron ore to Japan and then we buy the steel back from them and all this steel that was on the cars there said made in Japan right across the cars, you know, and th-, and they didn’t have front ends when we were doin’ it. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: They just had, uh, the firewall. They didn’t, they didn’t add that till later, doin’ the front ends. But there it’d be right across the front a that firewall, you know. Made in Japan. Man, I can’t wait to get that paint and cover that up. That just irked me. They want ya to buy U.S. and here it says made in Japan right on the front a the car. But I enjoyed sprayin’ paint. I don’t know what there was about it. And now he may a lied about it but Ray Durham used to say I was his best sprayer. There was 2 guys, d’ya ever jo-, know [Joe McGee 21:26]? Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Big black man. Huge black man. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Well, he was a good sprayer and ya, and ya just had to have a loose wrist is the best I could say… Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …and we could fog each other to death in here, Joe and I could, or we could not cover each other with paint at all. Just mattered what kinda mood he was in ‘cause if he started it, [I could] [inaudible 21:48]. But, um, you either had it or ya didn’t… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …and it was our job to break the guys in on each line when they’d bring a new model in because ya had to – well, there was different little ways ya had to turn your wrist to get the paint and him and I, we just look at the job and it came natural. I mean, it was just easy to do it. But we broke all the other guys in. Doreen Howard: Did you ever work in any other department other than paint? Kirk Alexander: Yeah. [sighing] Um. Well, in this utility thing, I worked in the body shop. I got a horrible job down there one day. A guy broke his leg. They took me down and put me on a spot welder that weighed… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …84 pounds. [laughter] Now, you didn’t have to hold it up all the time but you had to lift it up and then it’d hold it in place for ya and you go around the windshield and do the spot welds and it was hard on T-shirts down there because ya burned holes in’m on the front a ya here. Plus, it was hard on other parts a your body when one a them big sparks rolled down too far. I mean it – it’ll make ya dance. It w-… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …it was hot. I mean, I ain’t kiddin’ ya. It was hot. And now that was a horrible job but I worked in body shop, um, I worked in trim. They put me on window regulators up there. That’s an exciting job. You got the window regulator and ya poke it in a hole. You shove your arm in a hole. The line’s movin’ all the time. You got this bolt and you gotta line up that window regulator and that nut in the back and all the while, the line keeps jerkin’ like this. You get done in the afternoon, all ya are is solid blood and scabs where it keeps cuttin’ your arms all the time. So then I tried puttin’ them little – you know, that little thing they give ya to cover your wristwatch up in the paint department so ya don’t scratch the cars? I don’t know what it’s called but it’s a little… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 23:42]. Kirk Alexander: …cotton thing. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 23:44]. Kirk Alexander: I put them on my arms and I said oh, I got it made. It never hits the cotton. It always cuts ya above or below. So then I got stupid and I went down in the body shop and they got sleeves you can put on to keep ya from gettin’ burned? I cut one a them down and then I taped it on each end and I said there, that’ll be good. I got the sleeve caught in a car and I couldn’t… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …get my arm out. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I went 3 cars down, you know. I mean, you just can’t… Doreen Howard: Oh. Kirk Alexander: …you, you tryin’ all kinds a goofy little things and they don’t always work out. And another thing, late in the day, when ya had to take the tape off, oh, it was like one a them bikini waxes. Rip! Doreen Howard: [laughter] Male: [Yeah 24:21]. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh, man. Never had any hair on my arms from here down. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Pull it all off, you know. That was crazy. Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Yeah, that was fun times. I worked in the cushion room. Um. They put me [up 24:34] there in one a them – what did they call them? Hog nose rings or somethin’? They’re scary. You, you got all these springs and they’re makin’ the seats is what they’re doin’ and you put another hunk a wire on there. Ya bang, bang. Ya hit this thing and it – it’s got wire shaped like this and where you – uh, say, like you lay 2 wires together, this thing goes over the top and pinches’m together and it, and it, it ends up formin’ the seat. But they were scary. I mean, th-, why you could shoot’m near the wall and stick’m in the wall. Boom, boom, boom! You know? Guys are shootin’ at each other all the time down there! Ya had to duck! You know what I mean? ‘Cause they’d… Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …you’d hear’m ricochet next to ya. Yeah, that was… Female: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: Well, then, uh. Well, another fun thing that I did out there. Guy gave me a hard time. They put me th-, doin’ that and then the next day, they put me sweepin’ out there. Sanitation guy was out and ya have to clean out under – where the ends a the line had come down, it’d pack with cotton in there. Ya had to pull that out at lunchtime when everybody had the line down. Well, there was an idiot used to sleep down there right where I had to clean that out and I, and I bump him with a broom, you know. He was nasty. And I didn’t wanna argue with him so there was a pallet layin’ there and the one day - they said he really sleeps hard. I said good. I love that. I went over there with one a them hog nose jobs and where his shirt was open like this, I nailed him right to the pallet… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …on both sides. [laughter] Yeah, and then I’d tie his shoelaces together and then them guys, you know, they holler line’s runnin’! And he goes to jump up and [bang] on his face ‘cause both, both feet won’t go, you know. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Ya can’t get your feet to go with your… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …shoelaces tied together and he ripped his shirt off because he… Michael Fleming: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …I’d hog-nosed him to that… Michael Fleming: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: …pallet. Yeah, that took care a that. Michael Fleming: [coughing] Linda Johnson: [Inaudible 26:23]. Kirk Alexander: Yeah, he didn’t sleep there no more. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And then they put me feedin’ the line with one a them little, uh, forklifts that ya kinda pump the thing and push it along. We used to do that. I used to feed the line. That was a fast job. Somebody’s always hollerin’ [inaudible 26:38] we need [inaudible 26:38], you know, and you’d tear around there pushin’ this little thing and it ain’t as good as them ones that you push the gas pedal but we’d feed the line. Then in the – the only thing I can think of that really ever happened was – one was that when I hog-nosed that guy to that pallet. Well, one night, they had a rainstorm. The cushion room was downhill, I don’t know why, but all the water always ran down in the back a the cushion room down there. Not so much where ya worked but where all the stock was back there, water’d get like, you know, that deep. That one night, it got about maybe 5 foot, I would… Doreen Howard: Wow. Kirk Alexander: …say in there and it was startin’ to get the stock. They kept it up on pallets but it was startin’ to get up there and the boss said I don’t know what we can do. I tell him I know what we can do but they might not be happy with ya. And he said if it, if it ain’t gonna kill nobody, do it. I said okay. So I went around. I knew other guys from bein’ utility workin’ different places and I went over to the, uh, [tsk] what do you call that? Where they work on the trucks. Body trucks and stuff. Mechanics? Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: They had a big finger truck over there. I mean, it was huge. I don’t know, maybe 8-foot forks and thick, really thick up near the front. I got that baby. They won’t on-, they won’t go – only go so fast. I mean, you can make’m wide open and well, it’s about like a semi backin’ it up. It’ll only go so fast, you know. So here I come around the corner and into the cushion room and he said what’s that for? I said keep watch. I drove it right through that 5 foot a water and I drove them 2 forks right through that brick wall. All the water ran out on the ground [laughter] and he said hey, we’re home free. I said no problem. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Just crazy… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …ideas. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Kirk Alexander: You know what I mean? I knew that wall wasn’t very thick, so them big forks I figure outta go thr-, well, you got like, um, 18,000 pounds a iron on that forklift. Cheryl McQuaid: [Mm-hm 28:35]. Kirk Alexander: You gotta be runnin’m wide open. Takes a little bit to stop but yeah, I drove them forks through the wall and all the water ran out the back. And he said hey, we’re in business. We went right back to work. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Just somethin’, you know, crazy. That’s a crazy deal there but that.. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …ain’t a bad one, you know what I mean? There was bad things that I did too. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Now that I – I set and thought about that the other [laughter] day with [Jeff Andrews 29:00] and ooh, man. Yeah, I pulled some bad ones [inaudible 29:04]. I didn’t hurt nobody but, I mean, [laughter] yeah, you upset – I upset a few of’m. Bosses, you know. Always white shirts. No… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …fellow employees. Just, just supervision. Michael Fleming: Shorty, how long did it take… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Michael Fleming: …before you seen, um, protective equipment? Like when you and your friend were spraying in the booth… Kirk Alexander: Right off the bat. Michael Fleming: You guys had protective equipment? Kirk Alexander: I wore a respirator. Michael Fleming: Okay, they had respirators… Kirk Alexander: [Inaudible 29:30]. Michael Fleming: …back then [inaudible 29:31]. Kirk Alexander: Nobody wore’m but me. I was the only one that wore’m in the whole booth and there was… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …13 guys in each booth. Uh, twenty-six guys and I was the only one that wore them respirators. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: They brought ya big box a filters so you could keep changin’ it, you know, ‘cause it’d get, uh, painted. Then you’re [sniffing] – you can’t get no air through it. You know… Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: …you know when it’s dirty. It tells ya. You can’t get no air, so ya rip that baby off, unscrew that thing, and put a new filter in there and screw it back up. And I wore, um, ear plugs too in the booth. There was a lotta noise in there. You had [side 30:05], you had roof guns, ya had your own gun. But later on, I went away from them ear plugs. It caused me to have a ear infection… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …and the doctor said it was from wearin’ the plugs, so I wore the – [inaudible 30:21] muffs or… Linda Johnson: Muffs. Kirk Alexander: …whatever ya… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 30:22]. Kirk Alexander: …call it. Yeah. I still got my muffs. [laughter] They’re at home on a shelf. Well, they told me when I retired, they said they don’t give them to anybody else. They just throw’m away. Said you can have’m if ya want’m. I said okay. I took’m home. Linda Johnson: So your hearing’s held up really… Kirk Alexander: Huh? Linda Johnson: You’ve taken care of yourself… Kirk Alexander: Oh. Linda Johnson: …so… Kirk Alexander: Oh, it’s, it’s amazing. Um. When I did the hearin’… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …test when ya – oh, ya first hire in, within the first week or so, they give ya a hearin’ test to see how you’re doin’ and they said I had supersensitive hearing. I – ‘cause I could hear that little [hum] a lot lower than, I guess, other people did. And when I went to retire, it was about a week before I went to retire. They had a group a them come in, you know, to do that hearin’ t-, well, they were tryin’ to sell hearin’ aids or somethin’… Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …and, um, I still got supersensitive hearing they said. They said that it’s amazing to keep it all those years workin’ in all them different places. Michael Fleming: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Especially droppin’ them cars with them forklifts, scarin’ those guys to death. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 31:28] Kirk Alexander: Coulda blown my eardrum, you know. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I had the muffs on. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Were you ever, um, laid off or [sighing] involved in any strikes or anything like that while you [inaudible 31:42]? Kirk Alexander: Both. Doreen Howard: Oh? Kirk Alexander: Um. When I was laid off, I wasn’t laid off for a long time. I think the longest one was about 6 months I was out. But, uh, it was a – it was considered a changeover, a model change. They were just doin’ a super model change I guess you’d call it. And then they cut’m down to about like 4 months, then 2 months. Pretty quick they charged ya for a week and then let ya have a week on unemployment. That was cute by the time they finally got down that far but oh, I, I used to work other things when I’d be laid off. I’d, uh, cut pulp up north and, uh, make better money than I did in the shop. You make $55 a day if y-, if you worked at it. You know what I mean? I worked about 12 hours. The guy that I cut pulp for said I don’t care how long you work for me but that at noon, you stop for an hour and don’t start that saw again for a whole hour. I want ya to just leave that saw alone. And they’d come and get’m. Pick up – pick your saws up so ya couldn’t use’m. And ya just lay around and sleep. When the, the lunch hour was over, he came through with a pickup and blew the horn and gave ya a heart attack and put ya back to work. You know. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: But we’d cut red pine and, uh, that was different. You know, somethin’ different to do [inaudible 33:09] and then ya had a pole, ya cut it in 8-foot lengths, then ya just sorta drug it over to the side. I forget what they call that pole with a hook on it but ya either hook it and slide it real easy over, then that – and then the skidder’d come down through and pick it up. He gave you a can a paint every mornin’ and you’d spray the end a the log with that color paint and that way it showed you were the one that cut that log. I didn’t know what it was for for a long time. Didn’t even come to me. [papers rustling] But, uh, the guy that had me workin’ up there, uh, work about 12 hours a day, and he’d pay ya cash each day just in case, he said, you wanna go to the bar and not come back… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …no more. That night… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …he gave ya the $55 a day. I made the full – uh, he said… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …I made the biggest money for him. Linda Johnson: [Yeah 33:54]. Kirk Alexander: I just worked at it, you know what I mean? I want money. Doreen Howard: Durin’ the – that layoff, during that time, did you receive any benefits from General Motors during that time? Kirk Alexander: No, ya got no SUB pay. Doreen Howard: [Yeah 34:05]. Kirk Alexander: All ya got was unemployment and it was $33 a week… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …[inaudible 34:08] the lady [like 34:09] you. Doreen Howard: Do you remember when that came in? Kirk Alexander: No. Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: That’s like tryin’ to remember your buddy’s name ya worked with 30 years. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I don’t remember the [laughter] date a when that happened. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 34:20]. Linda Johnson: I-. Doreen Howard: Okay, um, [tsk]… Kirk Alexander: I don’t tell none a those good stories when ya got it on. Doreen Howard: Oh, okay. [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Um. [tsk] You worked in the paint crib for a while. Tell me, tell me a little bit about that job. Kirk Alexander: Coverall crib? Doreen Howard: Coverall crib. Kirk Alexander: Yeah… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 34:38]. Kirk Alexander: …in the paint department. Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: Well, I had a, I had a problem back in the old building where, uh, they found out I got a vein disease and, um, it eats all your capillary veins up and your legs ain’t right and you can’t go very far, walk very far, so I had to have a job settin’ down part a the time and walkin’ the other part a the time, just keep your legs workin’. And so they gave me – they to-, well, they laid me off. [Jerry Brooks 35:08] laid me off and said he didn’t have a job for me, so I come in and walk through the plant lookin’ for a job and then on the sealer line down there, they had a job sealin’ quarter windows and you set on this little seat that you made out of a hunk a wood and then a hunk a cushion room material on there and a bunch a tape and then you set on that and, and sealed the quarter windows. So I ask him if I could get that job and they brought the doctor and stuff in and the doctor said it looked fine to him and Jerry Brooks wanted to put me upstairs, um, doin’ headliners. You can’t do headliners. Not a guy 5’10”. You don’t fit inside that car. By the time I got in there, the car was past the, you know, and then gettin’ back out, that was terrible. So finally, he knuckled under and let me have that sealing quarter windows down there. Well, then, uh, we got in the new building and they decided to take that job – eliminate that job, so they were lookin’ for work for me and they came through and they had the committee man, [Don Baker 36:16] at the time. You knew Don, didn’t ya, Linda? Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Uh, Don came through and he had a clipboard and he said if you wanna job off the line, sign the paper. Well, there’s about 4 sheets a peoples’ names there, you know, and so I signed it. And the next day, Don came through and he said how many, how many names do ya see on the top a my paper? They put the highest seniority on there. My name was the only one on the top. And, uh, he said how many years’ seniority you got? I said 22 years. And that’s what got me the crib job. So they put me in the crib. And it started out 2 guys that was runnin’ the crib [sighing] both went to paint mix and it was open, so that’s the reason they gave me that job. You could stand up part a the time and sit down part a the time. And you just handed out coveralls and made sure that they got turned in to be cleaned and, and come back and everything. Then later on, they added, uh, pants and shirts. Ya had to order pants and shirts for the people in the – just in, um, what do they call it? The clean room in there. They were the only ones allowed to get, get’m and then you kept track a when they got’m and a year later, you tell’m it’s time to order. Each month, I’d look and see who was ready. And, um, th-, oh, it was interesting because the sales reps for the clothes came into the plant, you know, and you’d go to lunch with him. Free lunch, you know. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Well, shoot, can’t beat that. Some of’m were pretty, you know. [laughter] Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: That’s how they sold their pants and shirts [laughter], you know. Send a pretty girl. But, um, the gal for the laundry, oh, her name was, uh, [Beth Yoxheimer 38:05], and that was, um – well, we had all different ones. We had, um, different kinds a coveralls and we had great coveralls when I hired in, I mean, when I took the job and then we went from there to bad, worse, worser. [laughter] They had cotton coveralls and those’ll, um, [inaudible 38:26] get the sweat away from your body, it’d be cooler. Then we went to cotton-polyester, 65-35s as they called’m. you sweat more in them because a the polyester. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Then we went to the worser… Doreen Howard: [Mm-hm 38:41]. Kirk Alexander: …100 percent polyester. Oh, man. Hot. Terrible things. And everyone a these coveralls had a different place to wash’m or clean’m and we went to a 100 percent rayon coverall. That was different. They, they called them [combinitos 39:01] and they were silver-colored and durin’ changeover one year, I – they had that crib made out a [tornado 39:08] fencing or whatever ya call it. You know? I told’m you outta make it solid walls because they were bringin’ a lotta contractors in to do work in there. I said one of’m’ll come up here and break into that and we won’t have anymore coveralls. ‘Cause you could see everything I had in there, you know. And they said, uh, oh, you know, w-, w-, like we’re worried, you know. And I said hey. They said he’d had to have [inaudible 39:32] either a cuttin’ torch or somethin’ to get in there. I said no, he don’t. He don’t have to cut it at all and he can save all the coveralls. And they said how? And I said take a finger truck, run it in under the wire, and jack it up. I said it’ll make a hole in there big enough to run a Mack truck through… Linda Johnson: [Mm-hm 39:46]. Kirk Alexander: …and it don’t hurt none a the coveralls. [They didn’t keep me from 39:50] model change. Came back after model change and there’s a great big hole in the wire there. All the coveralls are gone. Fifty-five hundred coveralls was gone outta there. And I told’m, I said well – this outfit was [laughter] outta Detroit. I said [inaudible 40:08] no offense here, but I said every black man in Detroit, they wanted to be pretty, has got him a pair a combinitos standin’ on a corner in Detroit. ‘Cause, uh, they were shiny, slippery, pretty, you know. Actually, not nothin’ to spray paint in but th-, they were nice, you know. And I told him, I said that contractin’ outfit, and they were all black men that was workin’ in the plant, and they kept comin’ by there and sayin’ oh, them are pretty. I said oh, man, we ain’t gonna [laughter] have no coveralls when I get back and I got back and there wasn’t any. They took’m all outta there. But it’s the way it goes. They came up and they said make a drawing a what you want here for a building. So I got to my boss and I said you really want me to draw that? And he said yeah, make it any way ya want it. And it was right underneath the line that came down outta the mezzanine comin’ down in the sealer line there. So I drew it up with solid walls and, uh, skilled trade, um, th-, some of’m are kinda a disaster, you know? [laughter] They, they made the walls and everything okay and we got that all put together. Then they’re gonna make the shelving to go in there to put my coveralls on and I told’m metal’ll be better than wood but if ya wanna make’m outta wood, it don’t matter. So they made half of’m outta wood in there and they decided there should be metal up on the top because they could follow the curve a that roof, you know, better with metal than they could with wood. And I said okay. So a guy come out and he measured it and he said you need 2, one for each side a the crib inside here. And I said yeah. So they brought the one up and they – 2 guys, you know, stuck it up in there and got it just right and I said yeah, that’s cool. They got the other one and went to stick it up in there. They didn’t put the curve in the back of it and it wouldn’t fit. And I said you didn’t [know I work 42:02] in the last 2 weeks and, and that one, you had your guy measure that, you know. It wasn’t like I measured it and they got it wrong. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And they said what are ya gonna do with that? And I said it won’t fit in the crib. I don’t know what I’m gonna – just set it outside? Let guys put cigarette butts in it, you know what I mean? That’s what’ll end up. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Garbage, you know what I mean? [laughter] They’ll come by and throw their milk cartons [inaudible 42:25]. I said I don’t know. I don’t know what to do with it. And he said – the boss come down from maintenance and he said could you do us a favor? And I said yeah, what? And he said come in early in the mornin’, like 5 or somethin’ before your shift starts, take your finger truck and take that shelving thing out and put it in that big gondola out back where… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …all the [metal 42:48] goes. He said I – I said yeah, outta sight, outta mind? And he said that’s right. He said somebody’s gonna get burned over that deal. And he said if you take that outside and it disappears, everything’ll be cool. I said okay. So I waited about 2, 3 days ‘cause I thought maybe they might be settin’ me up ‘cause they could be. They could wait for ya down there. So I went the long way down, [laughter] a different way, slipped out to that gon, dumped it in there. But – and then they never made another one like they said they were gonna do. Never did. It was never there. We go in there now and i-, I know there ain’t no shelf… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …in that one side. They just – once they, once they poop out, I guess [laughter] th-, j-, that’s it. Hm. No more. We ain’t gonna do that again. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Shorty… Kirk Alexander: [Inaudible 43:35] that crazy? Cheryl McQuaid: …you worked in that crib for a long time. Did, did you ever see any fatalities? Kirk Alexander: In the crib? Cheryl McQuaid: Or in the paint area or… Kirk Alexander: Yeah, there was one in the crib. My boss came in and caught me sleepin’ one time. That was a – I was the fatality. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doin’ paperwork. Y-, I don’t know. The [laughter] boss came in, you know, and he’s pokin’ and shovin’ me, you know, and I looked up at him and I said oh, hi boss. [laughter] He said was you sleepin’? And I said I think so. I’m not sure but I think so. Either that or passed out. One or the other. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh, he said you do this all the time? I said no. Just happened, I guess. Stayed up too late last night and paperwork is just – I mean, it can drag ya. Doin’ all them charts and I had 50 zillion charts to do every day and you had to keep track a everything. Yeah. I’d be doin’ like you are… Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …over there. I’d be yawnin’, yawnin’. Pretty quick, I guess, I fell asleep. I don’t know. Probably set down, I’ll just rest for a second and it was like 2 hours got by in a second. Yeah, I was a fatality in the crib. Cheryl McQuaid: You have so many memories. Anything that stands out? Kirk Alexander: The bad fatalities you want me to talk about that I told ya about the other day? Cheryl McQuaid: If you wanna share that. You don’t have to. Kirk Alexander: Okay. I can. When they redid down in the, um, marshalling area down there, [tsk] I don’t know what the reason is but they cut out a line and they put a little bobcat, I don’t know if you know what them are or not. They’re like a tiny bulldozer-type thing with a arm on it and they were holdin’ that end a the line and they had a bobcat on the other end. It must be – I don’t know, that mezzanine’s gotta be at least 150 feet long. That’s a lotta steel between there and they cut all the welds all the way and just left 2 on each end and then they had a guy up there cuttin’ that one off on this end [and they 45:38] cuttin’ the one off on the other end and they could – there was no way they could let it down easy. They were hurryin’ to do the job and they were gonna be paid extra money if they could get it done. So they just had them bobcat – they got everybody outta the area and I hid around the corner and I’m peepin’ between a big pipe and a, and a H-beam in a hole about that big. I was watchin’ and when them bobcats dropped that hunk a steel – I don’t know how many tons that’s gotta be when it hit the floor. And when it hit the floor, I seen there was about 6 guys over by the cafeteria. You ever know that area in there? Where the m-, where the marshalling area was? It was alco – also called 17? Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Building 17? Well, over in the corner, you go to the cafeteria, you go down the stairs. There was about… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …6 guys standin’ way over there. That’s a couple hundred feet away. When that thing hit the ground, I seen one a them hit the ground too. He just, boom, you know, went down. I thought oh, man, he got hit with somethin’. So I jumped on a truck and tore over there to see what it was. That wasn’t good. That was bad. When that hunk a steel hit the ground, there must a been a bunch a tools layin’ in there and a shovel went all the way from where that metal was and cut that guy’s head mostly off. Cheryl McQuaid: [gasping] Doreen Howard: Oh my goodness. Cheryl McQuaid: Oh my god. Kirk Alexander: He laid there in a pool a blood that big around. [Inaudible 46:58]. Linda Johnson: Uh, when was that? Kirk Alexander: Oh, man, that was that one restructurin’ they did. Oh, that was probably about the last big one they did. Linda Johnson: The last big one before the – when we put in the doors off? Kirk Alexander: When ya put in the who? Linda Johnson: When they put in the line that takes the doors off… Kirk Alexander: Oh, the… Linda Johnson: …and the… Kirk Alexander: …the… Linda Johnson: …[IP 47:15] and all that? Where they built the new body shop with the cement – new cement floor? Back then? That woulda been in… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 47:23].. Kirk Alexander: No, it was after that. Doreen Howard: …in paint department up in 17. Kirk Alexander: It was – this was up in the paint department… Linda Johnson: [Inaudible 47:25]? Doreen Howard: Up in paint [inaudible 47:27]… Kirk Alexander: …in 17 but… Linda Johnson: I know, but I’m talkin’ about that time period. Doreen Howard: Oh, yeah. Kirk Alexander: I don’t know if that’s when they brought in all them… Linda Johnson: All the contractors were in here workin’? Kirk Alexander: There was a ton a men there. Linda Johnson: Yeah, that was when… Kirk Alexander: That was it? Linda Johnson: …they redid the body shop and… Kirk Alexander: I couldn’t remember if they were d-, redoin’ it then or th-, they’d done it another time. But I, I know they were redoin’ that upstairs there b-, because they wanted to – instead a – let’s see. How was it? The cars used to hang on a arm comin’ down around there and they wanted to take that all out and have’m on, uh, body trucks and bring’m up through instead but boy, droppin’ that hunk a steel, well, they were way ahead, head a schedule. They, they had so many, um, what do you call’m, steel cutters in there with cuttin’ torches. I never seen so many. Uh, they must a had 50 guys workin’ in there. And they were bein’, um, well, as far as… Linda Johnson: Yeah, those steel cutters were only in for a couple a weeks and they cut everything outta the body shop and… Kirk Alexander: Yeah, th-, they did all up there… Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …but they wacked one a… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …their own guys up there. But they were crazy up there too. I don’t know – down in the body shop – I didn’t go down there and watch’m but one a your safety things, when you, um – usin’ the cuttin’ torch with [all 48:39] them big long hunks a hoses, you make sure nobody’s cuttin’ back behind ya and droppin’ fire on your – and they had fire on hoses everywhere in there. They just – they were careless. They were really careless. When they let that big hunk a steel down, that whacked that guy over on the corner. Linda Johnson: And he was one a them? Kirk Alexander: He was one a theirs, yeah. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And I just happened to see him go down. I mean, they’re all standin’ over there lookin’ this way. They weren’t lookin’ at him either. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Boom. I seen, you know, the one on the end go off and I said oh, he had to be hit with somethin’. Doreen Howard: [Oh 49:10]. Kirk Alexander: So I hurried all the way over there and there he laid on the floor. He got hit in the face with a shovel. Cut most a the – most a his head. Just chopped it. And there was more fatalities than that. The one, um – I don’t remember how much [sighing] seniority I had then. Coulda been 8, 9 years, I don’t know. It was before I got to the 16 years when I went on days. But in the old building, in the back a the spray booth, everybody came outta the spray booth and there was a smokin’ area out there and what it was was a train well. They brought a train in there and they could load stock out of it; steel for the body shop. And the girl that did the wagons, we had a 6-minute wagon break in the mornin’ and in the afternoon. I liked that way better than what they went to but the girls’d come around that little end a the aisle down there and, and then go around this, um, train well and they’d stop and sell us stuff and then they’d go over to small parts and sell them, you know, stuff. But this girl, when she was goin’ back – and you knew all the girls. I mean, what the heck, they – you see’m every night. And she was goin’ back and most all the guys had went in the plant and I was gettin’ my last drag off my cigarette, you know what I mean? You didn’t get’m often in there. And, um, this girl screamed and I thought what the hell, you know, ‘cause she screamed bloody murder, you know, over there. So I ran around – couldn’t run now but I did then. Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I tore around there to see and there was a door that went in the main offices back then and, uh, that’s where it was b-, that it happened. And what there was was, um, quarter panels all stacked up in the air and they were banded with steel bands. Well, one a them steel bands had broken and that – all that metal came down and there was a man layin’ on the ground with the whole top part of head layin’ right off beside his head. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Kirk Alexander: He was in a big pool a blood. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And she came around the corner and there, there he laid, you know what I mean? And yeah, that was, that was pretty nasty. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: That was pretty nasty. I wasn’t in on the deal where the, the guys, um, durin’ changeover died in that pit. I knew the guys but, I mean, I, I wasn’t, you know, right in there when that happened. I seen all the ambulances that came and all this kinda stuff. Too late. That was a bad one. That paint is really strong and they’re down there chipping that out, you know, with them jackhammers and stuff. It’s probably that thick down in there that just solidifies in the bottom a them tanks. Yeah, that was bad. Nobody checked them air tanks or nothin’. I mean, it was just a safety thing where somebody didn’t do their job. They put them backpacks on and them air tanks and went down in there and no air and they couldn’t get’m out. The boss went down to save’m and he died in there too. Doreen Howard: Hm. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Kirk Alexander: That was a bad one. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: A man died right in front a my crib one day. Um. Electrician. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: He’d go back and turn the lights on through the paint booths and stuff early in the mornin’ when I was in there gettin’ ready to do coveralls. And he come out and he, he looked kinda flushed to me a little bit. I never knew his name but I always knew his face and always talked to him ‘cause I see him every morning. And he, he come out and he said I feel kinda sick. And I said sit on the guard rail and I’ll call the ambulance. He said oh, I don’t need them. Uh. He may a not needed’m but I did ‘cause I didn’t think he looked that good, so I went in and called’m and they had a, what I call the [paddy wagon 52:55] comin’ up to get him, you know what I mean, for the ambulance and, uh, he just set there and he kinda teetered back and forth and I said you’re feelin’ really bad? If ya gotta throw up or somethin’, I’ll get ya a bucket, you know, butt bucket or butt can. He said no, I just feel funny. And he said I feel kinda weak. I said well, here, lemme get ya by the shoulders and I’ll let ya down on the floor and you can set on the floor rather than to fall off, land on your head. So he’s sittin’ down on the floor and then finally I just seen him kinda, you know, his head tilt back and he keeled over and I dove for him and kept his head from hittin’ the floor. I started CPR because I figured he was – I didn’t know if his heart was beatin’ or not. I couldn’t find nothin’ on his neck, so I started CPR. You do that for about 15 minutes, you got up a lather. I ain’t kiddin’ ya. That – it, it don’t sound like you’re doin’ much with CPR but, but it actually gets to be a – quite a thing. Then 3 other electricians come runnin’ outta the back and said what’s up? And I said give me a hand here, do one a the parts and so they s-, they took over for me. And I said the ambulance is comin’. I already called’m. I said they take their time sometimes. They are – they were slow. They, they had a l-, slow response time. When that ambulance comes to go up that ramp and stuff, I don’t care what trucker’s there, they, they outta have brains enough just to drop their forks and let that ambulance through. They don’t, [they’d hold guys right 54:25] up, hold that ambulance up, somebody could be dyin’ upstairs, you know? But they got up there and picked’m up and they had the ambulance waitin’ downstairs. I told’m that I, I wanted them to come back to the crib the next day and let me know how that man did. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And – ‘cause you don’t know. And they came up the next mornin’ and they said that when he got to, um – it was, it was the older plant. It was – uh, what I mean, it was, um, [tsk] it was when Saint Lawrence Hospital was still… Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …Saint Lawrence Hospital. They went right to Saint Lawrence… Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …and they said he was DOA when they got there and he was dead on arrival. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And I had the locker rooms downstairs, the women’s and the men’s and, um, when his wife came in – that was another one ya had to deal with. When different people died, you had to go down, they had the committee man and labor relations and the bosses and they – you’d go down with’m and open the locker and then give the lady or the man, whichever it was, all the belongings of the deceased. You’d take the coveralls and then you’d go upstairs and, um, take the cover-, take the coverall slip that they’d sign for and you’d mark on there, you know, refunded and stamp it and give it to the lady or the man, whichever was pickin’ the stuff up. But, um, that was kinda – I don’t know, that was a morbid part a the job, you know, ‘cause ya knew somebody had died. And different ones, accidents and stuff, but that man there, when his wife came in, um, I ask her – I said I, I don’t, you know, wanna get into your business or anything but could you just tell me what happened with him? If he had a stroke or, or heart attack or somethin’ and she said he had a massive heart attack. His heart laid in 3 pieces in his chest. And, uh, she said I, I heard you did CPR on him for about 20 minutes and then the other guys about 10 or 15. And I said yeah, we tried to, you know, keep him goin’. I said I couldn’t find no pulse but that don’t mean it ain’t there. You could be missin’ it a little bit and she said the doctor said that when he went to the – they figure when he fell over on the floor there, boom, he was gone just like that. All that work we did was just in vain but we were just tryin’, you know what I mean, to save him. But he – she said he died of a massive heart attack. Linda Johnson: Hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And he was like 39? I mean, he was… Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …was down there. Doreen Howard: [Uh-huh 56:59]. Kirk Alexander: He was a, a real nice fella. Real quiet. Real quiet sorta guy but, um. Doreen Howard: Um, movin’ into, um, another [papers rustling] direction here, w-, what’s your favorite memory of Fisher Body? Do ya have one? Kirk Alexander: Hm. [laughter] Doreen Howard: Do you have a best memory? Or favorite supervisor or…? Kirk Alexander: [Inaudible 57:18] best? I can think a my worst. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Two worst. [laughter] Let me see. What would be a good one? Hm. Let’s move onto somethin’ else. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: Maybe somethin’ll come to me. Cheryl McQuaid: Did you just share your 2 worst with us? [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: No. Doreen Howard: No? Kirk Alexander: No. No, no. No, there was… Linda Johnson: Is, is that something you’d like to share or, or, or not? Kirk Alexander: Ya shut the machine off, I’ll share… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …it with ya but… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [Inaudible 57:49]. Kirk Alexander: …I, [laughter] I don’t think it’d be good to put on the machine. Yeah, that was embarrassing, really. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 57:55]. Kirk Alexander: I’d overheated there to where I almost burn out I think [laughter] when … Linda Johnson: [Oh 58:01]. Kirk Alexander: …that lady embarrassed [laughter] me. Oh, my gosh. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: No, I’m not gonna bring that one out. I can’t bring that one out. Linda Johnson: How [about] [inaudible 58:08]? Kirk Alexander: I’ll tell ya [that] [inaudible 58:09] I’ll tell ya about that one. That was – oh, my gosh. It was awful. Cheryl McQuaid: Did you ever work with Mr. [Wiethorn 58:14]? Do you have any stories you could tell… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: …us about [inaudible 58:17]? Kirk Alexander: [tsk] Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: Oh, you remember that one too, huh? Cheryl McQuaid: I do. I remember… Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: …what you said, Shorty. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 58:23]. Kirk Alexander: [tsk] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Well, Mr. Wiethorn used to park out in the north lot sometimes instead of parkin’ in on his building where all the Goody Two-Shoes parked [under there 58:33]. Marilyn Coulter: Who is Mr. Wiethorn? Kirk Alexander: [Tom Wiethorn 58:35]. Marilyn Coulter: And he was who? Kirk Alexander: Plant manager. Doreen Howard: Plant manager. Okay. Kirk Alexander: And they called him high pockets ‘cause he was like 7 feet tall. He was… Doreen Howard: Oh. Kirk Alexander: …tall. [Inaudible 43] he was… Cheryl McQuaid: Taller than you? Kirk Alexander: …he was taller than I was. Uh, him and I could see eye to eye ‘cause we were right up there with each other but I know… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …he was taller than I was. Cheryl McQuaid: You had a nickname for him. Kirk Alexander: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did. I was gettin’ to that. He, he… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …parked out in the north parkin’ lot. We had a freezin’ rainstorm one day while we was at work. Terrible. I mean you could skate goin’ out to the cars. Tom Wiethorn went out to his car and he fell in the parkin’ lot and he sprained his right shoulder is what they said. I thought he just wanted to get outta paperwork. I – he was doin’ that all the time. But he had that in that sling for like 6 months, you know, or somethin’? Now, most people if they wear a sling, it’s, it’s a couple a months but it ain’t 6 months and it was from the winter until about June. And when he came – he’d always come in the back door, come through sealer, hit that main aisle, and that’s where all the guys’d set smokin’ or whatever out there before the line started. He’d walk past there and go up to the offices and he’s talkin’ and laughin’ and kiddin’ with all the people. And when he’d come by me, I stuck my hand out to him and I said, Farmer Tom, and he said why do you call me a farmer? And I said well, I knew you fell in the parkin’ lot a while back, like 6 months ago, you know, instead a 2 months. About 6 months ago. I said you’ve been milkin’ that shoulder now for about 4 months more than ya need to and if you’re milkin’, you’re a farmer, so you’re Farmer Tom from now on. I called him Farmer Tom the rest a the time. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I always did. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And if I seen him with a while bunch a dignitaries, that was fun. Cheryl McQuaid: [Inaudible 1:00:24]. Kirk Alexander: Hey, Farmer Tom! You know, I [inaudible 1:00:26]. [laughter] He’d wave. He’d come all the way down to where I worked in the spray booths and I’d be buried back there somewhere and I could hear him say to’m where’s Shorty? Where’s Shorty? And he’d come down there and talk to me. He’d, he’d kid with me, you know what I mean? He was a, he was a fun guy. Now, he always wanted me to be a supervisor. He’d had my foreman come and ask me to be a supervisor and they said you won’t even have to take the test. I’ll just put ya right on. And I told him no. And, uh, he said how many times you turned me down? I said I don’t know, 5 or 6 probably. He said why do you turn me down? So finally I told him, I said one day when I was out in the sealer line – they had these, oh, like park benches around that half-circle there where the people set in the mornin’ before the line started. Well, this was like at lunch. And my – one a, one a my foremans that I’d worked under was, um, [Max David 1:01:27]. You knew Max, didn’t ya? Short, bald-headed guy? Cheryl McQuaid: He was my foreman at one time. Kirk Alexander: Okay, well Max David was – I called him pretty boy. But, uh, Max David, uh… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …he was settin’ there at the, at the – on the bench and he’s talkin’ with a bunch a people and Tom came through, Farmer Tom did. And he walked right up to Max David and he grabbed him by his clothes and jerked him up out of his chair off that bench. And then he – he was makin’ a point and every time he made a point, he stabbed him with his finger like that hard in the chest, you know? You’d see Max kinda cringe. I said you yanked my supervisor off the bench out here one day and to make your point, you were pokin’ him in the chest, I said, about 6 times. And you want me to become a supervisor so you can do that to me? I said no way. I said if I’d a been settin’ there and you’d a jerked me up outta my seat and poked me with that finger, I said, I woulda told ya unless you want that finger broke off and drove about 4 feet right up your ass, do not poke me with that finger again. And he said you think you could take me? We’re standin’ there right then. I said yeah, I could take ya. And he said you come with a right lead? I said no, I come with – I’d grab ya on both sides a your waist, come with my knee right in your balls. I said that’d take care a ya right there. Cheryl McQuaid: [Inaudible 1:02:47]. Kirk Alexander: And Tom always was friendly with me after that but he never asked me to be a supervisor again. There ain’t… Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …no way… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …I’m gonna take that off a higher person, you know what I mean? He could come and talk to ya but he didn’t talk to his people. He was rowdy with’m and they allowed it. General Motors allowed it. They shouldn’t a never allowed it. That’s wrong to treat your people like that. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Hey, we’re all just human bein’s, we’re all workin’ for the same thing, we’re all buildin’ the same product, you know what I mean? I don’t see that. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:03:19]. Kirk Alexander: I don’t, I don’t see – well, that’s sorta like where a guy’s the boss and he tells his secretary either have sex with me or I’ll get your ass put in the street. It ain’t no different. Marilyn Coulter: That’s wrong. Kirk Alexander: It’s the same thing. Only it’s man to man instead a, you know, man to woman. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:03:34]. Kirk Alexander: But they didn’t stop that. They, they let them supervisors – well, what do you call’m, shift superintendent – manager. They let them – as long as they were over ya, yeah, the crap started at the top and went to the bottom. The bottom guy really got crapped on. I don’t want that. He said you’d make a lot more money. I said for why? I said I wouldn’t be very happy with the money. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:03:59]. Kirk Alexander: I said another thing, I might only work here a couple weeks. You come in here and grab me, [laughter] I’m gonna be in the street. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: All this, all this work all this [laughter] time buildin’ up… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …to retirement, you’d grab me, and I said, party’s over. Linda Johnson: Hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Yeah, he – and then he used to – like he’d come down [with 1:04:17] one a the guys out there when I was settin’ on the rail and he’d say watch this guy right here. He’d get to me and he’d say watch this guy right here. He’s like a mad dog. [laughter] He used to say that about me… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …all the time and so after that one, he’d come by [grr], you know, he’d make a little noise [inaudible 1:04:35]. But I got along great with Tom. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: Even [inaudible 1:04:39] told me one day he was gonna retire [at 1:04:41] Petoskey. I don’t know if he’s still there. I heard he’d had a heart attack at one time but I don’t know if he’s still there. Yeah, I’d go up and holler Farmer Tom at his front door just for the fun. [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] I – most people I got along with. Not everybody. There’s a – there was a couple guys at the shop there that… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …I don’t know, ya just couldn’t… Michael Fleming: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: …make’m happy. Then [inaudible 1:05:06] they went… Cheryl McQuaid: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: …one was a supervisor and the other one was just a what I call a fellow worker, you know. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Just couldn’t get along with’m. Doreen Howard: Yeah. Um. You have a lot of – lotta friendships, it sounds like, in there. Kirk Alexander: Tons. Tons. Doreen Howard: Any particular friendship stand out that…? Kirk Alexander: Close – one closer than the other? Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: No. Doreen Howard: No? Kirk Alexander: They were all – I don’t know, I always felt they were all the same to me really. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And I never – now, my wife and I talked about this couple weeks ago. I never had what’d you call a close friend, one that you could, oh, share things with that you wouldn’t a shared with anybody else. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I don’t know. I just never felt I had a friend like that. I tried that once when I was younger and found out it was blabbed all over the country and I don’t know, I kinda went hermit-style I guess you call it or somethin’. I just hold it in. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: I don’t know. I enjoy people though. I really enjoy people. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:06:11]. Kirk Alexander: I watch their mannerisms, look at their blue jeans, stuff like that. Cheryl McQuaid: [coughing] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh, sorry, Cheryl. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Cheryl wasn’t payin’ attention. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I caught her when she was [inaudible 1:06:22]. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:06:24]. Kirk Alexander: She walked out the door. I happened to notice her blue jeans, [you know what I mean 1:06:27]? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] I thought you were talkin’ to Doreen. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Oh, baby. Yeah. I was lookin’ [laughter] at both of’m, yeah. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Michael Fleming: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Well, actually, see, I th-, I thought you had buttons. Buttons on the back a your blue jeans till I re-, realized that was a reflection a my eyes off the seat a your… Cheryl McQuaid: Oh. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …pants. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Oh, no. Kirk Alexander: Ah. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: My wife said… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …that, uh, she tells everybody that she knew from – through Christian Women’s Club and [stuff 1:06:55]. Why she, um, tells’m that she married me because I was crazy. They said why would you do that? She said I never had to worry about him goin’ crazy. He was crazy right from… Marilyn Coulter: Yes. Kirk Alexander: …the get-go. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And… Cheryl McQuaid: That’s sweet. Kirk Alexander: …it’s probably true. It’s [laughter] probably true. I don’t know. It – I – an old guy a long, long time ago – now I’m old like he was. But, um, his name was [Bart Thompson 1:07:20] and he was up north. I used to fish with’m back in the woods. I ran into a shack back in the woods and there was a [laughter] man in it and we’d go fishin’. We started goin’ fishin, you know, and he told me, he says, um – and I ain’t pattin’ myself on the back but I think he’s right. I really feel he’s right. He said, uh, y-, you got a gift. [sighing] He said when people are sad, you can make’m laugh. He said people are down, you can get’m up. He said in everybody’s life, a little rain shall fall, and he said so laugh all ya can and bein’ ya got that gift, he said use it. Take it to old folks’ homes and stuff. So I started doin’ this. I went to old folks’ homes in, uh, Muskegon and I have down here went to 3 or 4 and ya just – there – they each one of’m have a little door in there, you know. Ya knock on the door. And the one that was funny was here in Lansing. Um. I won’t tell ya what home you’ll find that lady in. She’ll still cuss me out. Uh. I knocked on her door and, uh, I said would you like to set and chat with anybody or, you know, ya need, you know, company? And oh, she was nasty right off the bat, you know, and said don’t come to my door again! Boom! And she slammed the door shut. Well, that little area that she had, they got 2 two doors. They got one there and you go around the side, there’s another door. So I went around the side and knocked on the other door. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: She came to the door and I, I said, uh, [inaudible 1:08:50], I said I hope you’re in a lot better mood than that woman was on the other side. I said… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …no kiddin’. I said she outta go back and go to bed and try gettin’ out the other side even if it’s against the wall. I said she’d be in better shape [laughter] than she was when she was… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …at that front door. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And she just stood there glarin’ at me and, and then she started to kinda grin a little bit, you know. I said why don’t ya get in your wheelchair and hobble out here, I said, and we’ll race down the aisle. And she said you’re kiddin’ me. And I said no, I know ya got a wheelchair in there. So pretty quick she came out with her wheelchair. I jumped in a wheelchair and beat her to the other end. I told her I could. I was in a wheelchair year and a half myself. I know what it’s like. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: But, I don’t know, I just enjoy people. It’s, it’s just fun to be around – well, some people. I mean, some of’m suck, you know what I mean, but other than that, other ones are, are fun. Now Marilyn Coulter there, she laughs a lot. She’s fun. She’d be fun to be with all afternoon. You don’t think so [inaudible 1:09:50] Cheryl. Cheryl McQuaid: [Yeah 1:09:50]. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Michael Fleming: So Shorty… Kirk Alexander: Ah. Michael Fleming: …you, you, you talked about your wife. Um. Certainly, you have a family. How many children do you have? How long have you been married? Kirk Alexander: No children. Michael Fleming: [Inaudible 1:10:05]. You don’t have any children. Kirk Alexander: No. Michael Fleming: Uh, how long have you been married? Kirk Alexander: Oh, let’s see. I was married 4 t-, 4 years the first time and no children there. And then I’ve been married 31 t-, 31 years this time. Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 1:10:19]… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:10:19] say thirty… Marilyn Coulter: …31 times. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And, uh… Doreen Howard: Yeah. Kirk Alexander: …I was sterile. That’s what we found out way back a long time ago. But, uh, first one couldn’t stand me too long but the second one, she said she gonna s-, make me suffer until I die. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: That’s what she told me. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: Sounds like a sweetheart. Kirk Alexander: Oh. [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [Inaudible 1:10:38]. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: Shorty, were you from Lansing or what’s – uh, what – where are you, where are you from? Kirk Alexander: Yeah, I was born at Saint Lawrence Hospital right over here in Lansing. Marilyn Coulter: So where’d ya go to school? Kirk Alexander: I went to school at Lansing Eastern. Marilyn Coulter: Eastern. Kirk Alexander: Mm-hm. Well, first I – I grew up in the north end a Lansing and I went to Sheridan Road for kindergarten through 8th grade. And then they switched ya to C.W. Otto for 9th grade. And then ya went over to Eastern for 10th, 11th, and 12th. I told’m I figured the reason that I went to Eastern over there… Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …was that if you got to be a bad enough person, they just flip ya over the fence ‘cause Boys’ Vocational School is on the other side a the fence. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: So being that you lived in, um, Lansing, what was it like – because they said there was so much industry here and Fisher Body was here. What was it like – did you have any interac-, interaction with Lansing Fisher Body or [inaudible 1:11:31] before you came in? As a child? Kirk Alexander: No. Well, my dad worked here in the… Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 1:11:38]. Kirk Alexander: …body shop. Marilyn Coulter: Oh, okay. Kirk Alexander: Yeah, he was a metal finisher in the body shop for 25 years. Marilyn Coulter: Oh, okay. Kirk Alexander: But as far as Lansing goes, I had relatives that worked at all the plants. All the plants that folded. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: They worked at Motor Wheel. It folded. Well, he worked at REO, my uncle did. It folded. And my dad worked there. And then they come to Motor Wheel and it folded. They went over to, um, [tsk] oh, gosh, what’s the hammer shop there? It’s right next door to – Motor Wheel’s on this side and – it ain’t [Lindell 1:12:15]. Uh, that’s a different one. And I lived there all my life and heard them hammers all year, you know what I mean? Every night long and I can’t think a the name a that, that plant but they closed it too. Right, right across from Motor Wheel. There’s Motor Wheel and you kinda go through under the big viaduct that goes over the top and it’s – Melling. Melling Drop Forge. Female: [Inaudible 1:12:36]. Cheryl McQuaid: [Inaudible 1:12:38]. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: Um, I had uncles that worked at Melling and they went from Motor Wheel [laughter] over to Melling. Then Melling folded, so that ended that. My dad said he worked at, uh, REO and he worked at Nash-Kelvinator. They both folded. Then he worked at Fisher and, uh, then he retired outta here but he only had 25 years ‘cause he came so late after them other places folded late on him. Was that – that’s the only reason. The only reason I came here, money. Marilyn Coulter: Hm. Kirk Alexander: It’s the truth. I mean, you know, they, they offered big money compared to sackin’ groceries. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: I can tell ya how crazy I was. I used to work at Wrigley’s sackin’ groceries and I walked out there to put my application in. It was a long walk from North Lansing to Wrigley’s supermarket, so I got a pair a roller skates [laughter] and I roller-skated. When you went down Grand River Avenue, when you hit the top a that hill and headed for the armory out there, you were doin’ 60 mile an hour [laughter] by the… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …time you got to the bottom. You had to stop for Oakland, so you always ended up grass-stained ‘cause [laughter] you dove in the grass to get stopped. But I remember my feet almost burnin’ up ‘cause them steel rollers on them roller – they weren’t like them rollerblades today. Them babies got hot. Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: You could throw’m off in the grass and see the steam come right off’m. They were that hot. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Oh. Didn’t have a car, you know. Had to get there somehow. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Hitchhikin’ wasn’t a – wasn’t an option. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: No, that wasn’t an optio-, I didn’t – you heard a too many stories about hitchhikers, you know, wackin’ people and… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: [Inaudible 1:14:20] to end up dead in a ditch. I was just tryin’ to make a dollar an hour, you know. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Doreen Howard: You, you talked about coming to General Motors for the money. What about benefits? Was there, um, any particular benefit that you thought was better than the other or… Kirk Alexander: They had a lotta good…. Doreen Howard: …used more than another one? Kirk Alexander: …benefits but [inaudible 1:14:38] honest with ya, I came here for the money. I didn’t know hell of a lot about benefits really. I mean, it was – when you’re young, it’s get a car, pay your insurance, [laughter] buy tires ‘cause ya burn’m off. You know how that is. You didn’t think about benefits. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: I don’t know how many benefits we had right to start with. They kinda added those down the way, you know? Added glasses and that was good because, uh, you know, you get older, ya need glasses. And they added dental. Your teeth were all rotten out from not brushin’ your teeth, so yeah, that was good. And far as the lawyer thing, I didn’t, I didn’t need that one thank god. You know? [laughter] I wasn’t in no trouble. I didn’t – I was nuts in here but I wasn’t nuts [laughter] outside. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I didn’t break the law. I won’t say never ever but I didn’t get caught, you know what I mean? I didn’t, I didn’t cross the line much. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Just [tauntin’ 1:15:36]. That’s the only time I coulda got fried. Michael Fleming: You went from roller-skating to the armory to – what was your first car when ya got to General Motors? Kirk Alexander: My first car from General Motors? Michael Fleming: [Inaudible 1:15:50]. When you started workin’ at GM, started makin’ the money… Kirk Alexander: What was my… Michael Fleming: …[inaudible 1:15:53]… Kirk Alexander: …first car when I… Michael Fleming: …first – [inaudible 1:15:55] first – what was the first automobile you purchased? Kirk Alexander: A 1959 Ford Galaxy 500 2-door sedan. And it was 3 years old when I bought it. But it was new to me, you know. It was the first car I ever bought. It was Sherwood green I remember. And through the – it’s strange. Now in here, my nickname was Shorty but my wife says at home – she tells different people if somebody calls on the phone and asks for Kirk, she knows it’s a salesman. If they call and ask for Shorty, she knows it’s somebody I knew through the shop. And if they call and ask for Cork, it’s somebody through the family. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: They named me Corky a long, long time ago. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: My grandma did. Said I was a corker. So the first car I got, I had The Corker put right on the back [inaudible 1:16:46]. Well, that was a big deal back then, you know. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And, yeah, I had my name put on there. But, uh, it was fun, you know. Michael Fleming: Talk about some a the vehicles that, uh, you had throughout your time at GM. Kirk Alexander: You’re gonna love it. Let’s see. What was the next year Ford I bought? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Let’s see. I had a… Cheryl McQuaid: All, all Fords? Kirk Alexander: Um, well, not always but – there was other ones [laughter] in there. I bought a ’59 Ford. I’m tryin’ to think when the next one was. I bought a ’64 Ford Galaxy 500, um, station wagon. I love station wagons. Cheryl McQuaid: Shorty, are there any other fun stories that you can share with us? Kirk Alexander: None. Cheryl McQuaid: Ha. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: You’re funny. Kirk Alexander: Oh. You want the one with the coal pile. Cheryl McQuaid: Yes, I do. Kirk Alexander: Okay. Um. Mr. Wiethorn had called on the PA system and asked for – uh, s-, uh, some sales rep had parked his Cadillac in the train well and they couldn’t get the stock in and they needed it bad. And he had announced it and announced it, so I got a page and so I had to go to a phone and call and it was Mr. Wiethorn, Farmer Tom. And he said this is Mr. Wiethorn. I said is this Farmer Tom? And he said yes, it is. He said could you do me a favor? I said what? He said you drive a forklift. I said yeah. He said a big one. I said yeah, good one. I said we can haul trucks. He said I got ya – I got a car down here. You come down to, to dock 5, he said, and we’ll have a chat. I said okay. So I came down there. Hurried down there ‘cause ya don’t know what it’s gonna be. And Farmer Tom was there and I said what do ya need? And he said can you move that Cadillac? It was big full-size black Cadillac and he said can you move that? I said sure. And he said without hurtin’ it? I said yeah, pretty, pretty close. So we got rags and put’m in by the rocker panel so it wouldn’t crush it when ya picked it up and I said what do ya want me to do with it? I picked it up and I said what do ya want me to do with it? And he said take it out and set it on the coal pile. I said you got it. So I went around the building and out back there and set it on the coal pile. But I knew the guy that ran the dozer on the coal pile and I said burry that son of a bitch. [laughter] He – all he left was a hunk a the roof [laughter] stickin’ out. Yeah. The rep couldn’t find his car for 2 weeks he said and finally somebody told him it was the in the coal pile, buried in the coal pile out there. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: But, uh, I don’t imagine he was happy, uh, when he started it. It probably sound like he had [inaudible 1:19:42] Hollywood mufflers on there because w-, when you lift a car up with them forks, it crushes the exhaust system under there and he had duelies on there and it crushed both pipes. I looked under there before I set it in the coal pile. I run his car up in the air, well it was – you could see in there good. [laughter] Oh. Yeah, [inaudible 1:20:01] crazy things happen. That’s where that expression shit happens comes from [inaudible 1:20:07]. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Did that time. Doreen Howard: Do ya have any – some good stories that happened where ya didn’t have to do, uh… Kirk Alexander: Nice things you mean? Doreen Howard: Yes. Where you got to do nice things. Kirk Alexander: Oh. Let’s see. One a the nice things was they give me a written reprimand one time for missin’ too much time here at the shop. And they said in 6 months, we’ll pull that off if you’re nice. I said okay. I never missed a day, I wasn’t late. At the end a the 6 months, I said get the committee man. We’re pullin’ that written reprimand off and they said hey, that’s fair. So that was on a Friday and they pulled that written reprimand off and I took [recording pauses] Male: …[go back to your party 1:20:50]. Doreen Howard: Okay. Kirk Alexander: Some a the guys that came to the retirement party were some a the older, um, supervisors and, and, uh, they asked me if I’d ever had a written reprimand and I told’m yeah, yeah, I had and they didn’t believe it. Oh, I missed – I went 14 years without missin’ a day [sniffing] and, uh, that’s like a miracle. [laughter] But, uh, they said, uh, are, are you sure you’ve had a written reprimand? I said yeah, yeah, I’m sure. And they said how many written reprimands have you had? And I said 32. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:21:33]. Kirk Alexander: I said you could repaper the inside a the shit house a couple [laughter] a times. I said I had [laughter] a lot of’m. They said for what? And I said oh, bein’ late too many times like in a month and bein’ absent too many times within a 2 or 3-month period. Horseplay. [laughter] Few things, you know. Few things I got caught for but, uh, I said nothin’ real critical or anything. I never had no time off. They – they’d take ya – the – they’d give ya a verbal, they’d give ya the written reprimand. Next time, they’d give ya 3 days. I never got no days. I always got good until they took it off and then I’d blow that next Monday off. I loved it. [laughter] Oh. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:22:21]. Kirk Alexander: Quit yankin’ the table, right? Oh. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:22:23]. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Um. Kirk Alexander: Sorry. Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Male: It’s your table today. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Oh, geez. There’s so many, though, memories. Uh. Some good, you know, and some bad. In-between. But there was so many people. I really like the people. There’s been a lotta the people [sighing] pass away that were… Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …younger than I was. It, it amazed me. Lost good friend this last week here. Uh. Let’s see, what’s his last name? I think his name is [Ryan] [Inaudible 1:23:04]. Doreen Howard: Yeah? Kirk Alexander: But, uh… Michael Fleming: Yeah. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Doreen Howard: Just saw that in the [inaudible 1:23:08]. Kirk Alexander: He was a nice fella. He kinda quiet. Not, not real loud. He’d laugh. At least I could make him laugh anyway. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: But, uh, h-, he – good-natured guy. I, I never had no problems. I ain’t sayin’ he never got mad at anybody but I never seen him get mad at anybody. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: He was a nice fella. I, I felt bad when – you always feel bad when ya, you know, ya see them younger fellas passin’ away. [Tim McCoy 1:23:33], um, [tsk] he died of a heart attack over a year ago. I don’t know, maybe 2 years ago now. Time goes by. I was out to see him. He was goin’ up north deer huntin’. He wanted me to [hunt his 1:23:47] place and I said ah, wait till next year when ya – we’ll hunt together next year. And he said okay, we’ll together for a hunt next year. And he went up north deer huntin’ the next day and then – and, um, [Rick Hands 1:24:00] called me and said guess who died today? And when he said [Timmy 1:24:04], I couldn’t believe it. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I mean, he was younger than I was. Been retired 1 year. He was 51, I think. I think he was 51. Just amazing. I don’t know. [Jack Hunsicker 1:24:18], he was settin’ at a corner and a girl decided to run the stop sign and never saw him settin’ there on his motorcycle and hit him at 70 mile an hour right in the rear end. Oh, he didn’t die that day but he died the next day from a heart attack from the trauma that – well, he had broken ribs, broken pelvis, broken everything. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And I, I went over to Jack’s funeral – or, or visitation. It was over at, uh, Greenville. First time I’d ever been in Greenville. I didn’t even know where it was at. I had to look it up on the map. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: But I went there to – for the visitation. There was a bunch a guys there from the shop and one of’m I hadn’t seen in a while. Um. [Ron Selvers 1:25:06]. Yeah, John – let’s see. John’s his brother and Ron – and I always teased John. He was on, uh sanitation. I’d [musical ringing] kid him all the time but Ron said he’d, he’d, uh. [musical chiming] Throw that thing on the floor [inaudible 1:25:28]… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …if ya can’t the button. [laughter] Doreen Howard: Well, um… Kirk Alexander: Well, he, uh, uh, he t-, he had had cancer in his… Cheryl McQuaid: W-. Kirk Alexander: …throat and I asked him how it was doin’ and he said oh, it’s not doin’ too bad. He said it’s been a war with, uh, chemo. He’d been fightin’ it for probably 10 years. And, uh, he’d go into remission and come back [out 1:25:50] and go in remission. He was in paint mix. But, uh, I got home and I [inaudible 1:25:56] from, from over there to Jack and, uh, for his visitation, it was about maybe 3 or 4 days and [Nate] [Inaudible 1:26:05] called me and he said you lost a friend again. And I said oh, man. Who went this time? He said Ron Selvers. And I said I was just talkin’ to him about 2 days ago. He said well, he’d been so sick with, uh, chemo for so many years, he told his wife that he decided that – uh, well, I guess he called Nate and told him that – ‘cause that was his boss. He called and told him that he was just gonna pack it in. He j-, he was just tired of fightin’ it. And an hour later, his wife called and said he’s dead. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And he’d been walkin’ right around and was good. But bein’ he give up the will to life, boom, he was dead in an hour. Cheryl McQuaid: Hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: That’s amazing. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:26:51]. Lotta, lotta good, good times, good memories, good friends… Kirk Alexander: Oh, yeah. Doreen Howard: …over, over your time here. Um. Kirk Alexander: There was one better than that. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: You, you knew [Don Baker 1:27:03], didn’t ya Linda? Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Linda Johnson: Where’d he work? Kirk Alexander: Worked at paint. Little short committee man. Linda Johnson: Okay. Kirk Alexander: And, uh… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:27:10]. Kirk Alexander: …[inaudible 1:27:10] Don, I, I knew as kids all his life while he was growin’ up and, uh, Don and I fished together, hunted together, [I don’t know 1:27:21], run around the shop together, [laughter] you know. Goofy stuff. Eat lunch together. Different things like that. Different time. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:27:28]. Kirk Alexander: And, uh, Don says – well, he always wanted to shoot a bear and, uh, so we went up north in Canada and, and we didn’t see a bear. Then we went to Lake Gogebic [laughter] over there huntin’ bear again. And Don liked to set the bait. Terrible, settin’ the bait. Ya gotta set downwind, so all the rotten guts and cow heads and… Female: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …all the miserable stuff that bears think is a snack, you set downwind from it, [laughter] you’re about to puke your guts out while tryin’ to shoot a bear. Anyway, Don, he wanted to set by the swamp and I said oh, okay. I said I’m goin’ up on the edge a the mountain up there ‘cause I’d seen under the cherry trees lotta bear manure there. I said I’m gonna sit up there but I said where you’re down there, I’m gonna keep an eye on ya all the time. Don could shoot good the first shot and then he couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a snow shovel. He, he could shoot… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …all the way around the target but he could never hit it again. I had him shootin’ at a big cardboard box. Boom. He hit it the first time. Michael Fleming: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: Bang, boom, bang, boom. [laughter] You know, like this [inaudible 1:28:38]. I said if it’s a bear and you wound him, I said you’re lunch. So I said I’m gonna be up on top a the ridge and that little thing ya see stickin’ outta the mountain, I’ll be settin’ on it. I said if you shoot a bear and you wound it, I said do not, and I mean this, do not stand up. Lay flat on the ground. I said there’s gonna be enough fire power comin’ in off a the top a that mountain. You do not wanna stand up. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: I said that aught-6 [inaudible 1:29:06] just screamin’ up there. We never saw a bear. The next year we went, I shot a bear [laughter] ‘cause I got [laughter] tired a goin’ and smellin’ that bait. Don was so excited that I shot that bear it was unbelievable. He said boy, next year, he said oh, you don’t retire next year. And I said no, you’re gonna. And he said well, in, in a, in a couple a years, you’re gonna retire. He said we’re goin’ west. We’re gonna hunt elk, we’re gonna, you know, all this kinda stuff. And I said okay, Don. And, um, he was retired a year and died. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And when I heard he passed, [inaudible] [geez] [inaudible 1:29:44], I mean. He had a aneurysm. The Charlotte Hospital killed him. He had a aneurysm on the aorta goin’ into the heart. When he went into the hospital, none a them people in there had the brains to run an EKG on him to see what the hell was goin’ on. They thought it was a heart attack, so they pumped him full a Coumadin to thin his blood and the aneurysm on the aorta burst… Female: [Inaudible 1:30:16]. Kirk Alexander: …and they give him 30 pints a blood and he bled to death. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: He actually drowned in his own blood. Female: Hm. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Isn’t that awful what some hospitals do? They just – brain dead when ya t-. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:30:25]. Kirk Alexander: You know, a trauma place like that… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …you’d think they’d run a EKG ‘cause he’s talkin’ about chest pain and they didn’t. They just filled him full a Coumadin to thin his blood… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …and boom. He blew and that, that was the end of it. Doreen Howard: [tsk] Sad story. Kirk Alexander: That was the end of a, of a real good friend. Doreen Howard: You, you t-, touched based a couple different times on, um, the wagon and lunch times and things l-, on that nature. [beeping] Um. Was there anything special that you did at your lunchtime? Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Um. Or d-, any – as far as your lunches? Kirk Alexander: [laughter] I thought you… Doreen Howard: [Never 1:31:02]. Kirk Alexander: …broke wind there for a minute. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:31:05]. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:31:08]. Kirk Alexander: I thought maybe you was pinchin’ them together tryin’ to hold it back. [brrr] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: Squeak, squeak, squeak. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Oh. Kirk Alexander: [sniffing] Ah. Doreen Howard: So going… Kirk Alexander: No-, nobody laugh… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …at somebody else, you know what I mean? Cheryl McQuaid: [coughing] Kirk Alexander: Thought he had an accident. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: Go-, go-, going back… Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Doreen Howard: …to General [laughter] Motors… Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Doreen Howard: …[w-, what 1:31:27]… Kirk Alexander: I thought you were [laughter] gonna… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …faint [Mary 1:31:29] Coulter [laughter] [inaudible 1:31:30] coffee when ya [laughter] took a sip [inaudible 1:31:32]… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] ‘Cause you almost sent it your way. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Hello. [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Uh. Wagons, lunchtimes. Um. Did you do anything, uh, special? I know there’s a lotta people that would, you know, they’d either go out to the neighborhood pubs or they would go watch football games up on top a the roof or possibly have bible studies, EPG groups. Was, was there anything that you did in particular durin’ th-, that time? Kirk Alexander: Went to Harry’s and got a, a hamburger and a diet Coke. Came out and ate it under a shade tree [laughter] in the yard. In the front yard out here. One of’m that really put me out long time ago was they had a big water tower out back a the plant right outside [it 1:32:20], right – oh, sorta behind the paint department there when ya came out. There was a great big water tower there forever. I musta knew 20 guys that ate their lunch in the shadow a that water tower and they tore the damn thing [laughter] down… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …and so then we had to find [laughter] another place. Hot, you know, out there in the sun, you know. [Inaudible 1:32:37] be hot in the sun. That’s funny. Walked out there one day to eat and I said damn! They said what? I said somebody stole the damn water tower! Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: How the hell could they do that? Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: That’s big that thing up there, you know? It was huge. [beeping] Nobody seemed to know. Watch it. Watch it. Female: [Inaudible 1:32:55]. Kirk Alexander: I heard that bee again. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:32:57]. Michael Fleming: [sighing] Doreen Howard: So… Kirk Alexander: You better go make your call, you know what I mean? They’re just gonna… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …keep buzzin’ ya. I can see that. Female: [Inaudible 1:33:05]. Doreen Howard: Um. Were you… Kirk Alexander: I’ll keep accusin’ ya a breakin’ wind, so you better… Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …go make… Michael Fleming: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …that call. [laughter] Male: It may be a [inaudible 1:33:11]. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [coughing] Doreen Howard: Were you ever involved with anything in the union or any activities [inaudible 1:33:18] retirees or, or any involvement with the union at all? Kirk Alexander: Nah. [sighing] Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Just strikes. Doreen Howard: Just the strikes. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Yeah, that – I always picketed. I was first to go picket. Doreen Howard: What strike was – were you involved in? Do you recall… Kirk Alexander: Geez… Doreen Howard: …anything about, about it? Kirk Alexander: Like about 4 of’m I think. [tsk] One was the biggie when we got the 30 and out. Oh, that was great. Wasn’t that, wasn’t that about ’74 or somethin’? Doreen Howard: Um. Linda Johnson: I think it was. Doreen Howard: S-, gonna say somewhere in there. Think, um, Dorothy Stevens had, had touched on that too. Michael Fleming: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Dorothy Stevens. Oh, yeah. Sh-, I pick on her a lot. Linda Johnson: Did you? Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: She used to have a mafia car. Did you ever see that mafia car parked at the union? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I said that’s a great car to have par-, parked at the union. A black caddy. Marilyn Coulter: Yeah. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I said all you need’s a couple bullet holes in that baby… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …and it’d look [laughter] just like the mafia. Oh. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Ask Dorothy about that… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …sometime. She’ll say you’ve been talkin’ to that damn Shorty ain’t ya? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: And she said that to other people. I heard… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …her say it. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I always called that her mafia car. Now she’s got like a gray – silver or gray caddy. Told her that looks like crap compared to the other one. I liked the mafia car better. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I told her I was gonna put them bullet holes on there and she said you [inaudible 1:34:46] better shoot my car. I said no, ya go to the [Hummer 1:34:49] shop. You can get those little decals that goes on there. They look so close to a bullet hole, uh, l-, it really looks like a bullet hole in your car. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And it’s just a little magnetic thing that sticks on your car. Uh, she told me that I’d never set down again… Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: …if I put them bullet holes on her car, so I didn’t put’m on. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Doreen Howard: D-, do you recall any a the other strikes that, that you were involved… Kirk Alexander: Well… Doreen Howard: …with? Kirk Alexander: …let’s see. [sighing] The main one I know was the one for 30 and out. That was the one where I really felt like we got somethin’. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: Um. I was amazed to get 30 and out. I just figured you were gonna work till you were 62 and ya just accept it, you know what I mean? That’s just what you’re gonna do. Man, when they came up with 30 and out, I said – well, I ain’t much of a church person that hollers hallelujah but I said holy shit. That’s what I said. I am thrilled with that. Thirty years, I’m gone. That’s what I told’m. Then I stayed 6½ extra, you know what I mean… Female: [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …when I got there. But I went down to Social Security. They scared me to death. Uh. Oh, y-, you’ve been down there have ya? Well, they’ll scare ya to death when you go down there. Male: Well, I just read that yesterday as a matter as a matter a fact [inaudible 1:36:03]… Kirk Alexander: Oh, did ya? Male: …received in the mail. So I know… Kirk Alexander: That was sc-… Male: …what you’re talkin’ about. Kirk Alexander: …that was scary. I went down there and I said, uh, would it hurt me to go out with 30 and out? And they said how old are ya? And I said well, I’m about 47 but I’ll be 49 when I get my 30 and out. I said I’m gettin’ close. Now I’m startin’ to count the moments. And they said oh, you should wait till you’re 65 and I said well, I hate to tell ya this. That ain’t gonna happen. I said I ain’t waitin’ till I’m 65. No way. It don’t matter if I have to give up the whole damn social security. I am not waitin’ till I’m 65. And they said well, you should wait till you’re 62. I said that sucks too, lady. I ain’t waitin’ [laughter] for 62. I said 55 is a long ways away. I said what’s, what’s 55? They said do not – she said do not ever retire one day before you turn 55. I said why? She said you give up 46 percent of your social security. They penalize you 46 percent if you go out 1 day before you turn 55. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I said oh, damn. I know I shouldn’t a come down here. I said you just ruined my whole year. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Not my day, [laughter] my whole year. Oh, man. [laughter] I didn’t wanna stay no extra time and I had 49 – I was 49, you know, when I was gonna go. I said that’s an extra 6½. I said boy, that’s a long time. [laughter] [Inaudible 1:37:37]. I said what’s bad about that? I said you, you get in there workin’ and – before ya got your time and some foreman gives ya a bunch a crap, you know, that ya didn’t wanna really take but you think well, you know, you gotta, gotta take some. Ya gotta deal with it, you know what I mean. I said after ya get your 30 years and you knew damn well you coulda been outta this hole and you have to take that bullshit off a that guy, [laughter] I said oh, it’s awful. I said it’s just like a stake in the heart when ya – you have to stand there and take it and ya didn’t have to. But, uh, she said don’t retire one day before ya – I said okay. I’ll go till I’m 55. Well, I’d a been 55 there in December and I decided to wait until May 30th. I wanted to make sure them sons a bitches weren’t gonna say well, ya lost 3 months ba-, y-, you’ve heard a things like that before. I said we ain’t playin’ that game. I’m gonna [run her 1:38:35] another almost a half [laughter] a year, then I’m gone. But [tsk] oh. Male: How old are ya today? Kirk Alexander: Today? I’m 61. Male: Good thing ya didn’t take her advice, huh? Doreen Howard: [Yeah 1:38:46]. Kirk Alexander: Oh, yeah. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: Yeah. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: I, I was surprised. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:38:49]. Kirk Alexander: I, I couldn’t believe it, you know, with the, with the one day before ya turn 65 and they penalize ya that much? I mean, you know, I worked – I’d be workin’ 30 years here and I’d worked 4 or 5 years other places, you know, and you’ve been payin’ in all that time. You wouldn’t think they’d penalize ya for over 30 years. Half, almost half. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I said all right kinda quiet and low and snuck outta the office. [laughter] I felt bad about what she told me. I did not wanna hear that. Oh, [unbelievable 1:39:24]. Doreen Howard: Y-, you’ve been here a long time and you’ve seen a lot of changes over that time. Um. What was your reaction to the – all the name changes and things that happened? It went from Fisher Body to BLC to [LCA 1:39:38]. How, how did you feel about that? Kirk Alexander: It was interesting. You could carry your camera with ya and take a picture a the name on the building every day ‘cause it was somethin’ different. I thought they ruined it when they took the big coach down. I really liked the coach up there the best. Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And I liked it when they had the coach out on the lawn in the front with the flowers. That was really pretty. And th-, and they blew that off. More or less give it a bleach burn or somethin’. It turned all brown and they blew it away. But I couldn’t believe it when they took that coach down. I, I knew they’d put it in the – oh, what do you call that. Um. [sighing] That… Female: [Inaudible 1:40:15]. Kirk Alexander: …that Oldsmobile – museum for [Olds 1:40:18] anyway. Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: I knew it’d be over there somewhere. I knew they’d save it. I knew they wouldn’t take it out to Granger. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:40:24]. Kirk Alexander: But I hated to see’m change the name to LCA. Everybody liked the name a Fisher Body better. And it looked good on cars where they put that little blue stamp, you know, [down] [inaudible 1:40:36] you’d open up a GM car and, and there’d be Fisher Body on there. It was kind of a pride thing sorta like. It looked nice. I thought it really looked nice in there. Oh, we started out about cars one time too. Let’s see. I got a… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:40:52]. Kirk Alexander: [laughter] …I had a ’59 Ford 2-door sedan… Doreen Howard: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: …green, Sherwood green. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:40:58] yeah. Kirk Alexander: Then I had a ’64 Ford station wagon. It was Chantilly Beige. It was meant to be a state police chase car. They didn’t take it, so they had to fix the little holes in the roof up there and if ya opened the doors, you could see the blue paint yet for the state police. That was a hell of a car. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: It was a 428 horsepower with 2 4-barrels. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: And it came with 2 Holley 4-barrels on it. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Ya had 3 passin’ gears, 45, 65, and 85. You be doin’ 85 mile an hour down the highway and stomp it in passin’ gear and lay rubber. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: First thing I did was cut the wheel wells out and put them 2-foot slicks on it ‘cause you couldn’t hold the road [inaudible 1:41:44] you burn all the tires [off it 1:41:45]. Pass everything but a gas station. Got… Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …6 miles to the gallon on the highway. Female: [Inaudible 1:41:50]. Doreen Howard: Now, now they… Kirk Alexander: Now I can tell ya the goofiest… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …thing. Michael Fleming: Hm. Kirk Alexander: It’s 70 miles an hour to go to – up the highway, the superhi-, once ya hit the super. I used to go to Indian River, run around with some guys up there, and it takes ya 4 hours from Lansing to get to Indian River. It took me 2. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I ran 140, 150 mile an hour goin’ up there with that car. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:42:15]. Kirk Alexander: Highest I had it to was 170. It’d hold the road just like nothin’ but ya had to watch everything ‘cause when you’re hittin’ cracks, she’s only touchin’ the ground once in a while. You’d feel that baby floatin’ like – it’d give me a heart attack now but back then, you’re on the razor’s edge, you know. It was exciting back then. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:42:34]. Kirk Alexander: Raced hydroplanes, blew boats up, and found [laughter] [me 1:42:37] floatin’ [in] [inaudible 1:42:37]. I did goofy things. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I did some awful [laughter] goofy things. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:42:41]. Kirk Alexander: Well, you hit a wave wrong, you let a wave lap over the front a your boat at a high rate a speed with that hydro when you’re racin’ in them races, it’ll fly into the air and flip and disintegrate. Doreen Howard: [Okay 1:42:54]. Kirk Alexander: All they pick up – well, they’d bring the divers out to get the motor and they’d pick your ass up and drag it in the boat, you know what I mean? Where you’re knocked out. Yeah. Third time, I quit that shit. Marilyn Coulter: [Good 1:43:05] story. [Inaudible 1:43:06]. Doreen Howard: Well… Kirk Alexander: [Inaudible 1:43:06]. Marilyn Coulter: Did ya ever own a General Motors car? Kirk Alexander: [tsk] Marilyn Coulter: [I know] [inaudible 1:43:09]. Kirk Alexander: Oh, let’s see. [Inaudible] [in ’59 – ’64 1:43:10]. I bought a ’66 Ford… Female: [Inaudible 1:43:15]. Marilyn Coulter: But did ya ever own a [Chev- 1:43:16] – a [General Motors 1:43:17]. Linda Johnson: Let him give me my list [here 1:43:18]. [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: The next one was a ’66 Ford 2-door hard top… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …candy apple red. Beautiful car. Really pretty. Small engine. That was after the biggie. Um. Well, I got caught comin’ down the highway. I came past Mount Pleasant, I’m runnin’ 150, somewhere in there. I saw some headlights come out on th-, behind me and I knew it had to be a cop ‘cause they didn’t disappear. Usually [bmm] they’re gone, you know. J-, ‘cause you [fwew] you go by there just like the wind. And so I said well, I might as well slow down. So I slowed down, pull over to the side a the road down near Ithaca. Two troopers finally lit me up. Came down there and lit me up. Pull over. Well, he said I’m gonna give you a n-, a 90 in a 70. I said I’ll sign that. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: He handed it to me and I signed it. I was doin’ 150. Y-, you know [laughter] what I mean? Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I didn’t mind signin’ that 90. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: They went back to their car, threw their hats in the car. I didn’t know what was happenin’. I was wishin’ I had a shooter with me, you know? I didn’t know what they were gonna do. They walk back up to the car and he said pull the hood. We wanna see what you got for a motor in this car, in this station wagon. And I said okay. So I pulled it. He lifts it up. He said how big is that? I said it’s 428 cubic inch and it’s got 2 4-barrels on it and they’re both Holleys. He said this was supposed to be a state police car, wasn’t it? And I said yeah, it was. I said you damn fools [laughter] didn’t take it, so I did. He said when you passed us up there, uh, he said where was I? I said you were comin’ out at Mount Pleasant. He said yeah, that’s where I was. He said my partner says are you gonna light this guy up or you just gonna let him go? And he said I told him I’ve had it on the floorboard every since we came outta there. He’s walkin’ away! We can’t go that fast. He said, um, if you ever go to sell this, I wanna buy it. He said I race what they call funny cars. I never heard of a funny car. It’s a Nova with a rod stickin’ outta the back of it so it can’t tip over when they flip’m [up 1:45:28]. Well, you remember when they used to ride [the gut 1:45:32] down here on Washington Avenue and they’d – everybody’d kinda tool through? Once in a while, they’d have races through town. I was one a those idiots that race through town. Um. They had the guys cut off all the lights so that nobody’d go across, you know. This Corvette pulled up beside me. He’s on this side and he said, uh, got daddy’s car tonight, huh? And I said yeah, I do. And he said, uh, ya wanna run it? And I said y-, you can’t touch it. And he said let’s make it interesting. He said we’ll go 20 a gear. I said let’s make it interesting. Let’s go 100 a gear. I said what do ya got, a 4-speed? And he said yeah. I said well, we’ll go the 4th speed and top end, you know, 3, 3 gears and top end, you know. Who, whoever passes Saginaw Street goin’ the fastest gets all the money. And he said okay. So we got lined up. My buddy got outta the car. His girlfriend got outta the car and she had a little scarf around her neck and I said put a rock in that and drop it and when that baby hits the ground, we’re comin’ outta the hole. So she dropped it, you know, when we got ready. We come through town – I don’t know how fast through town we was doin’, you know, until we got to Saginaw Street but I, I dr-, I had a – you had your speedometer in your car and that w-, that wouldn’t anywheres near touch how fast that car’d go so I had another speedometer put on the steerin’ column and you could look right through the hole and see it there. And I was doin’ 152 mile an hour when I crossed Saginaw Street but when I looked up at Saginaw Street, now he’s on this side a me but he’s back just maybe a car length or 2. He never took me comin’ outta the hole or nothin’. I beat him all the way. A wall a cars is startin’ to cross and nobody had Saginaw cut off. And in your mind, you’re – it’s quick-like. Oh, my god. You know what I mean? But ya didn’t know you was goin’ to – gonna go across it that fast. We were like a flash a light to them and I imagine they all had heart attacks because there coulda been people, oh, moms and dads, kids, you know, that kinda stuff, in them cars. I was sick after. Boom, boom, you know, we went across and a course all them cars hit their brakes but they’d already went through the intersection then. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: We slowed down, I got outta the car and I laid on the ground out on the grass and you felt like a hollow feelin’ inside. I did. And the sweat was pourin’ off me then. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: And, and ya lay there and your hands – you couldn’t get your hands to hold still. They were shakin’. The adrenaline was up there, you know, and I told him, I said, uh, you ain’t gotta pay me nothin’. I said, yeah. He said no, I’ll give your buddy the money. I said well, I’ll ya what. I said I ain’t, I ain’t gonna actually keep the money. I said the first charitable place I come to, I’ll stick the whole $500 right in there. Linda Johnson: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I said I don’t need the money. I said I’m gonna sell this car tomorrow. Linda Johnson: [Mm-hm 1:48:36]. Kirk Alexander: And I said we coulda killed 30, 40 people right there on that corner and I said I’ll never do this again. Doreen Howard: [tsk] Yeah. Kirk Alexander: So I went right out to, uh, Max Curtis and bought that ’66 Ford 2-door hard top, candy apple red… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:48:55]. Kirk Alexander: …with a – it had a V8 in it but it was a hog, you know what I mean? [laughter] You could floorboard it and never skin the tires. [laughter] Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: [unh] Oh, I loved it. Oh, man, I loved – I got 20 miles to the gallon. Couldn’t believe I’d only got 6 with that other one. Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: But the next car, let’s see, that was a ’66. Cheryl McQuaid: [Where] [inaudible 1:49:17]. Kirk Alexander: Then I bought a ’69… Michael Fleming: [throat clearing] Kirk Alexander: …4-door, uh, Ford. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: Candy apple red 4-door sedan. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:49:27]. Kirk Alexander: And then I bought a ’74 Ford station wagon. [laughter] That was a copper-colored one. I can’t remember what it was called. Then I bought a 1985 Chevy Caprice Estate station wagon. [laughter] Michael Fleming: Hallelujah. Linda Johnson: Finally. Kirk Alexander: The best one… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …they – uh, ever made, you know what I mean. Michael Fleming: Hallelujah. You bought a Caprice. Kirk Alexander: I’d – I always priced a Ford, a Chevy, and a Olds and new was new. What the hell, you know. New was new and I said I’d load’m up, uh, and the one with the best price, that’s the one I’ll take. And it was Ford, Ford, Ford, Ford, Chevy. Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:50:08]. Linda Johnson: What about the, the price cut we got for being GM employees? Kirk Alexander: Added in. Everything. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Kirk Alexander: I even priced – well, I, I, I, uh, bought a – let’s see. It was a ’85 Chevy Caprice wagon. I went out to Bud Kouts and was gonna get a pickup and he said you gotta price – if you’re gonna price a Ford against a Chevy, he said you gotta go a half-ton Ford and a ¾ Chevy. And I said why’s that? And he said because a Ford is actually beefed up more than what the Chevy is. Doreen Howard: Hm. Kirk Alexander: I said okay. Price’m. And he said I can’t touch it. He said the Ford’s $2000 cheaper than the Chevy. I said well, I’m gonna take it down and I’m gonna get it all decked out. I’ll bring it back and show it to ya. He said. So I brought it back and showed it to him. I had the runnin’ boards split, you know, and the bug thing and the – oh, the topper, the whole deal on it. He said I love this car. If I could buy a Ford, he [laughter] said, for that price, I’d buy me a Ford and drive it down here to the Chevy [laughter] dealership. But then I, um… Doreen Howard: [Inaudible 1:51:14]. Kirk Alexander: …then I bought 2 dinosaurs. Let’s see, I bought the ’90 Ford pickup and then I bought a 1996, you’ll love this, Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan. And then in 2000, I bought a 2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan. I got 2 of’m settin’ in the driveway… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …and they’re both dinosaurs ‘cause they don’t make Oldsmobiles no more. Geez, I said, shoulda known. I shoulda bought Fords. Doreen Howard: Well, our, our time… Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: …constraints here are, are getting limited, so I do have one last question before we wrap it up here. Um. Kirk Alexander: If you don’t expect people to talk 2 days, you… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …shouldn’t invite’m over… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …you know what I mean? Doreen Howard: Um. Kirk Alexander: I don’t punch a clock no more. [laughter] Doreen Howard: You have, um, retired now and you had, you know, quite a few years’ experience in – with General Motors. What… Kirk Alexander: I can… Doreen Howard: …what would you… Kirk Alexander: …I can tell you what my exercise program is now. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I walk from the house to the mailbox to get my check at the first a the month and other than that, I’m a couch potata. Doreen Howard: What… Kirk Alexander: [laughter] Doreen Howard: …words of wisdom would you offer to someone that is just starting their career with Fisher Body? Kirk Alexander: Probably the best thing they could do, if I was gonna give’m real good advice, is to become a #1 suck-ass because I’m not kiddin’ ya, it will move you right up the ladder. Now, they always told me that that wasn’t [laughter] a good thing to do and yet, I watched’m movin’ up the ladder. That’s the thing to do and that’s the one I always tell those guys that are movin’ up the ladder, and they told me a suck-ass could get nowhere and look at you, you know, and that… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …eats’m up. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Okay, well… Kirk Alexander: Other than that, I’d, I’d just… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …tell’m keep their absentee record, you know what I mean, really try to keep it in line and, um, don’t call your foreman the things that you’d like to. Wait’ll ya get to your car and then call him… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: …all those things that you’d like to. But pranks, stick it to’m. Doreen Howard: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: You know, just [inaudible 1:53:36]. Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Linda Johnson: [laughter] Kirk Alexander: I did a [lot of’m 1:53:38]. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [laughter] Okay, well, well, thank you… Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 1:53:41]. Doreen Howard: …so much for… Marilyn Coulter: [laughter] Doreen Howard: …spending the afternoon with us [inaudible 1:53:45]. Kirk Alexander: Next time you got another tape that’s longer, give me a call, you know… Doreen Howard: [laughter] Right. Kirk Alexander: …what I mean? Cheryl McQuaid: Thank you, Shorty. Doreen Howard: Thanks a lot. Linda Johnson: Thank you, Shor- [recording ends] /ad