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Transcript on deposit at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Library
Citation of this interview should be as follows:
“Interview K-0112, in
the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007,
Southern Historical
Collection, The Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill”
Millie Tripp spent forty years at the White Furniture Factory in Mebane, North Carolina, joining the company out of high school in 1950 and staying there until moving to the company's corporate office in 1990. Tripp was one of a handful of employees to keep her job after the plant closed. In this interview, she describes her long tenure at the factory, the challenges of being a working single mother, and her response to the plant closing and the merger that preceded it, including her decision to commute for an hour to her new workplace. This interview presents a potentially useful look at the working life of a single mother in the changing South.
Millie Tripp describes her career at the White Furniture Factory, focusing on weathering a merger and a plant closing.
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
… the 12th, 1994. It's 9:05. This is Valerie Pawlewicz, and I'm speaking with Millie Tripp at her home in Mebane.
Ms. Tripp, I wanted to start with very basic questions. And one, what is your relationship to the White Furniture Factory?
I went to work there in 1950 and stayed until I was transferred in 1990--January 1990--to the Hickory-White corporate office in High Point.
What did you do for White's Furniture?
I started off as filing and order entry clerk, and then I became assistant to the sales manager. From there I worked in the traffic and dealt with our customers all over the country and some in foreign countries.
By traffic you meant distribution of--?
No, traffic into the shipping part of it. Somewhere I became traffic manager along with my other duties at one point towards the latter part of my tenure there at White's.
You were there for quite a while?
Yes, forty years.
How did you get started?
Well, I was in high school, and I knew the Whites' through church, and I was the top business student at that time, and I applied for a job that was opening in order entry, and he gave me the opportunity to try. At that time White's was the big employer in the area.
Who was he?
Who was--?
Who gave you the opportunity?
Mr. White. Steve White.
Did you know him?
Yes, he was my Sunday school teacher. I'd known him and his family through church things. They were friends.
So he suggested that there was a job for you?
No, I learned of the job and just applied. Then he--. Normally they didn't hire people. It was in April of that year, and I was a senior. He said, "Well, I'll give you a chance."
So you went right from high school into a job?
Uh, huh.
When did you start that job?
I was part-time in April, 1950.
While you were still a student.
Yes, I worked half-a-day. I probably didn't think about a long-time thing when I went there, but it was a good job, and it later turned out or maybe it always has been that people who went there stayed pretty much. It was difficult being somebody that was leaving because they were pregnant or moving or something of that nature. The jobs didn't just come open, pretty much.
Did any of your family work for White's?
No.
So you were the first?
And only one, yes.
Gosh, that's unusual.
Well, I guess, but I'm one of the older ones in my family. There were six of us. My father died when I was twelve, and we went to work. I went to work at Rose's earlier than that. My brothers went to work at Warren's Drug.
That was important that you worked?
Well, yes, we needed to work, and I was delighted to get the job. It was certainly paying much more than Rose's at that time, and I was delighted with it.
How much were you paid when you first started?
Seventy-five cents an hour.
Was that the going rate for a new employee?
Well, that was, of course, the lowest rate there, and he could keep me on that or he really could have given me less as a trainee at that time, but that was the minimum, I believe, at that time.
Were there other young women like you working at White's?
There were some older. I have friends now and have been friends with them
who had maybe gone to Greensboro College--had a couple of years of
college. My first thinking of White's, they had, I remember back then,
two beautiful girls who were secretaries to the top men, Mr. White and
Mr. Bean, I believe, and I would see them. They wore the nice high heels
and the pretty clothes. They just looked very nice and they were
So were bobby socks something that you wore in school?
Well, in school then, we did. Before I went he just alerted me to the fact that I was expected not to wear bobby socks.
So what did you do? Did you get a new wardrobe?
Well, no, no. I didn't buy a new wardrobe. I wore my better things and wore hose.
Yep. I remember the transition for me from college to a full-time job was difficult because I had to start wearing different clothes.
Well, I didn't buy that much new, but I, you know, wore nice skirts and blouses and things of that nature and dressed them up a little bit with a wedge heel or whatever.
That's an interesting perspective on a job the fact that you did have to look different.
Back in the 50s it was important that everybody, the men and the women, dressed in the office.
How big was the office?
Probably we had
Right. One reason I asked about were there other young women, I was wondering who you had become friends with, and were there others like you that were just out of high school?
There were no others just out of high school, but there were some who were a couple of years older than me who had been to Greensboro College or in that type training who had jobs. I don't remember any that maybe didn't. There were some who were older who had been there some years, but I was, I remember feeling, so young. I would have been delighted to have been one of the older ones.
And you were probably, say--.
Eighteen.
Eighteen. You said that you didn't know that you would stay there for as long as you ended up staying there. How long did you think you were going to stay there?
Well, I guess I really didn't give it much thought, but I just didn't ever dream of being wherever for that length of time, but it was a nice place to work. I remember them doing some evaluation from Raleigh--maybe they had it done or maybe I don't know why--but, I believe, they were--they and maybe Cone's--were the highest paid wages particularly in the furniture.
Cone, is that another factory?
Cone, Cone Mills. Are you familiar?
C-O-N-E?
Yeah, you remember, they make all the corduroy and
What did your friends think when you told them you were going work for White's?
Well, I don't know. A lot of them were, at that time, going to college or accepting jobs elsewhere. I can't remember what. My family was pleased, and I was delighted. Of course, I remember when I first went I had to walk upstairs and my dentist was upstairs, and I felt, gosh, I have the same feeling I had when I went to the dentist cause I was so new and didn't know anything about what I was going to be doing. The person who was there--and I took her job--was a friend, in fact, she had been a teacher of mine at Sunday school. Not that much older and she was married to a serviceman, and she was pregnant. I believe she was going to be leaving anyway, but she was leaving for that reason. Of course, she was very helpful, and I enjoyed being with her.
So she stayed on to train you a little while?
For some weeks she was still there after I went to train me and it was in filling and order entries and so forth. Learning the accounts and salesman and what they expected and so forth. I worked in that and billing for about five years.
Five years.
And then Mr. Millender, who was head of sales and marketing and the new vice president, suggested that I take this job. Another girl was leaving it for, I believe, she was pregnant. And so I really thought, well, I like what I'm doing, I would really prefer that, too. He said, "Well, is there some real reason here?" I said, "Not really." But anyway, he then said, "Well, I feel it would be in the best interest in the company to do this," so I really didn't have much choice, but I wasn't upset with it. Then when I got into the other I had much chance to learn, and I learned and enjoyed so many people over the country in being in sales and customer service. I still have those friends today, many of them. When I moved down to High Point people calling in to know about White's, anything old or anything new, would refer them to me because I'm far older, had more years back, and do know the old suites and things like that to offer people, cause if they bought something in 1950 or 1960 and they would love to be able to fill in or they would need a piece of hardware or someone calls that they've had a problem and they want to file the insurance what would it amount to today in today's money and this type thing.
I had a customer to come in last week into our office, and they were from
Tennessee. They had bought from White's years ago, and so the girl in
the front office called me up to talk with them. They immediately pulled
out a photograph of their stuff. I said that was their 7200group that
was made in the 50s or early 60s. And he said, "You're right, that's
what's on the back of that." He was wanting, hoping that he could get
another night table. They were so delighted, and they had enjoyed it and
there's was just like new, and I was sorry to tell them that we had
nothing like that anymore. Of course,
That must be nice for a customer to come and to be able to place an order and have someone who understands their purchase or their order because so often in businesses now the customer service representative doesn't know the history of the building or the product.
That's true, that's true. When people are calling about a lot of things now, such as hardware that they want for something that's seventeen years [old] and things like that, now, I have to say, which until everything closed last year, I didn't have to bring it up, but I have to say, "Well, that plant closed last year, and we do not carry all the old hardware." And, of course, sometimes we didn't have it anyway, but as a rule--. We don't order to get it now, and that's too bad, but anyway.
So you've worked in sales and marketing from '55?
Uh, huh, until now, through now, well, I still am in customer service.
Still are?
Uh, huh.
Okay. How long will you stay?
Well, I'm sixty-two now, and I have thought maybe I would retire at sixty-two because of the traveling and it's an eleven hour day from the time we leave until the time we get back, but after I got there and then the insurance situation the way they are and checking into social security all these things that come up in the retirement situation, I decided, well, I'm happy with it. I still feel as well, and they would like me to stay, so I'm still staying. I don't know. I haven't just come to that conclusion yet.
How big is the staff that you work with now?
Oh, in our company now, I guess we have probably forty-some at that corporate office.
Is that sales plus the others?
Sales plus accounting, computer people, and order entry and all the work that we used to do there only much more because we've got different plants, four plants, three now, yeah, since we closed White's, so we have three now. The upholstery division, and case goods like White's was, and a contract division.
What sorts of changes have you seen over the time? Let's just say with the White's furniture before Hickory bought it? Did you see much change?
Well, White's--. One of the things--let me elaborate a little bit--one of
the advantages at being at White's, I thought, and a lot of my cohorts
or friends that I talked with, an advantage for being there was being
able to buy their furniture because there was no way we could afford to
buy it at White's cause of its high, top-end and expensuve. Their main
concern was quality and design. I think over the years we very seldom
brought out a group that didn't go. Of course, it wasn't as major like
so many groupings brought out each market in the bigger places so
naturally they run more suites
I've heard that from other people as well that they took a lot of pride in their job cause the quality of the product was so high.
Uh, huh.
They felt that they were really making something that mattered.
And it was. I'm not saying that we don't make things today, but I see in suppliers and what I know of it that they are not living up to their word as much as they did back then. If they promised you were going to get things in you would get them. Today, no. Those things enter into, I think, a lot of situations.
When you moved to sales you mentioned that there wasn't a lot of movement up and down because people stayed in their jobs. How long did you stay in your first job?
Five years.
Okay. Then you moved to sales and you stayed in that job?
That's where I've been ever since.
Oh, it's the same job.
Yeah, it's just you, I guess, you add a little bit onto yourself. I
worked for this assistant sales manager, and he left after Hickory-White
came, and then I gradually did more of some of the things he did, not
everything. But you just learn from being
Do you remember a moment, if there was, when you decided you were going to stay at White's?
I don't think I every made a decision.
I guess it was made for me. For one thing, I had two children, and then I got a divorce in the late 50s. My children were in school in Mebane. Most of my family worked with AT&T. They paid better, and they had better vacations, but I felt that I needed to be near here with the children so I would be here during the day in case whatever came up since I had them on my own. And then, of course, I liked my job, too, and liked the people. So anyway, I just stayed on for that reason, I guess. Whether I would have changed otherwise, I don't know, but anyway, that, in particular, and I'm not sorry. I stayed, and I accomplished things when I stayed.
And you were from Mebane, aren't you?
Yes. I went to school in Mebane.
And your family is from Mebane?
Yes, well, we moved here when I was in second grade of school. So I've been here--my family--all my life that I remember.
Where are your parents from?
My mother is from near Oxford, and my father was down near Siler City.
Why did they move to Mebane?
He started working with the Esso Oil Company here in Mebane. He was driving back and forth at that point for a while. There was another gentleman who was a good neighbor and a friend from the same area that really got him started in this. He was in printing earlier on in Knoxville. But then he decided we needed to be up here.
I was thinking about you as a single mother raising her children. I know from talking to another woman that one of the advantages for her working at White's were the hours, that the hours were such that they were the same as the ones that her children were in school.
Pretty much.
And she found that convenient. Had she worked nine to five it would have been hard 'cause there would have been those hours.
Honey, I worked eight to five all the time. I never had any change, and I didn't have any choice, really. I had a maid that stayed with me five years and never missed a day when my children were young. So that was very fortunate, and today people don't have the in-house--. Then that was the only choice. We didn't have day schools and that kind of thing.
So your children were young?
Oh, yes.
They weren't in school?
Well, no, my daughter was probably in first grade when this came about, and my son was probably three, so in that age group. I had a maid that was a beautiful woman, a black lady that we very much loved. She came to the children's weddings and things.
What was her name?
Olie Mae Holt.
Olie Mae Holt.
She lived over in the West End. When I was looking for someone--. She used to baby-sit for Woody Durham. He was from Mebane as you may know. Do you know Woody?
I might.
The announcer on T.V.?
Okay, sure.
The Carolina guy. Well, she baby-sat for him, and his father was kin to my in-laws, the Tripps. Anyway, through them we learned of her and got her and was delighted the whole time. She was just wonderful. And, of course, it kept me from--. If the children were sick she could take them to the doctor or whatever. She did a nice job for us. She died just two years ago.
She was from Mebane?
Yes, she lived over in West End. She was just a wonderful woman. Really helped me. I had a good supportive family from my family all those years. My mother pitched in whenever. So anyway, I did not have the problem that often I see today that they do. So after we quit having Olie Mae my next door neighbor, who were in their 60s or so the and had been friends, neighbors of mine when I first moved to Mebane, we were very close with them, and they looked after the children for me right next door, this drive between. So anyway, it worked out very well for me. I didn't have the problems that so many find.
Did Olie Mae work the entire day or would she come in for certain hours?
No, I picked her up before I went to work. The children would ride with me to go pick her up and bring her back. Then I took her home at five o'clock.
Okay.
So she stayed. She did the cooking, looked after the house and the children.
Was that common to have someone to come in?
That was the way you almost had to do it unless you had a family member who was going to do it because they didn't have day schools, these things you can carry them to like we do. I guess people, maybe, carried them to somebody's house or something like that, but you didn't have those if they had somebody, people kept them like that. A lot of my friends and the people I knew back then did that. That was a job for them for the people who needed work of that kind.
As a mother, say your child was sick, was the furniture factory open to you going home?
If I needed to go, which people didn't take advantage, I don't think, I don't remember anybody doing that, but if I needed to go to something I could go. If I had to run to the dentist or if I had to do this, I could run do that. Then they were not as--at that time--the feeling, I think, almost everywhere was that you weren't as free to run and do as you do today.
You were not as free then?
No, but if you had some--. I never had any problem or anything if I needed to take Sue to the doctor or whatever, but my children were fortunate. They were not sick other than they had the childhood diseases so I didn't have any real problems the whole time for myself or them, fortunately. But they would work with you.
You've mentioned that when you first began working for White's there were certain ways to dress that were proper. It sounded like you were allowed to make family emergency trips, but otherwise you really needed to be at work.
That's right.
Well, I pretty much dressed the same all the time. They did, I mean, it became as the times changed. People just changed without any set--. They didn't have a dress policy or anything like that. Times changed, and I recall once down there a girl coming in--new girl--who just came in and wore flip-flops, I believe. She was new. She didn't know, I guess, and anyway one of the bosses told her we didn't do that. They didn't expect you to be dressed up.
But no mini skirts?
They didn't like those, no, and that kind of thing.
No, just proper dress, but I remember when pants started getting popular.
I guess that was back in the 60s for women and if they weren't before. A
lot of people had their own varied opinions, but they didn't really
enforce that on you, I mean, some started wearing--. But I even see
today, I saw someone the other day who said, "Well, we at our place, we
can wear any kind of pants, just not blue." I said, "Why not?" "Cause
they're jeans." I guess they didn't want to wear jeans or something. I
said, "Well, that don't make sense to me, but anyway."
And where I work today, they are not strict. In fact, this summer they put a casual dress in.
So that you can stay more comfortable.
We can wear shorts if we want to. I'm sure they don't want short shorts--for the summer--and some do, and some dress like I'm dressed. I usually dress this way because I have more things, too--. I'm not going to go buy a bunch of the casual stuff because I don't have it, but I have some.
Speaking of dress, you mentioned that you have your own business. When did you start doing dressmaking?
Well, I'm not a dressmaker, by the way, but anyway I thought back in the
early 80s, I thought that when I retire I want something to do, and the
library building-- was a huge building, I thought--I thought about
buying that and either do interior decorating, which I was taking some
of that in courses, or either a dress shop, boutique or something. So I
thought, well, I'm going to look into that. So anyway, that building
became for sale, and I tried to buy it from the person who owned it or
maybe the Realtor. They wanted more for it than I felt--. So I said I
would just wait till the auction comes. I did, and I got a very good buy
on the building although it needed much work. Lots of work. I didn't
realize how much at the time and maybe it would have scared me off, but
Wow!
On our off times and so forth.
After your eleven hour days?
Well, I didn't have eleven hours then. I had eight hour day then. Well, the children at that point--. I waited until they had both gotten out of school and both got married--within three months of each other. So those were hard times.
Yes.
Getting through those two weddings.
Through two weddings, gosh.
But anyway, that's been eighteen years ago. As soon as they got married and gotten out, I decided I would buy this building, and I decided, well, if I'm going to do something on my own I need some accounting so I could at least read what somebody is telling me or not telling me. So I went to TCA.
Which is?
Well, Alamance Community College is ACC now. I just enrolled in some accounting classes at night. I was just going to take two of those. I liked it so I stayed on and got a degree, four years in all.
I was just going to ask you. So up to this point you hadn't been through college?
No, just high school, and then I went to ACC for four years at night and
got an associate degree in business. I don't know that it has helped me
on my job or what, or maybe certainly in something by now. But anyway,
it helped me, and I just enjoyed it. After four years I was tired of it.
But, anyway, I did that and worked on the building. I rented out the
building, two areas, to almost pay the payment. Then I had a plan of
what I was going to do, but I was going to do it when I retired. I had a
sister-in-law and another
So you were hiring out this building while you were still working at Hickory?
Yeah, yes.
You were doing all this at once.
So anyway, I hired a person to work full-time, and I went to markets. My sister has gone with me, and we go to Charlotte and Atlanta markets to buy.
What do you buy?
Ladies apparel; coats, suits, dresses, sportswear, jewelry.
How would you describe the look or the style that you were buying?
It was sort of more a conventional or not necessarily conventional, but a lot of that type thing. Now I have a full-time and part-time and then I work on Saturdays, of course, my sister and I still go to Atlanta. So I have been working full-time, but anyway, I like it, and I feel to improve that. When I retire I'd like three or four days and have these people still work.
How has business been there such as at White's?
Well, the main part of White's was the plant employees. I had some good
friends and customers from those, but there weren't as many women there.
That didn't affect me greatly. I still see a lot of people through there
and very pleased to do that. It's just a plus. Business is sort of the
way the times are. Sort of up and down. It runs fairly
Will you stay with this business or do you think you will sell out?
I think I will stay there, and when I retire and have something to do
part-time and half-time
Do they live in the area?
My son lives in Mebane, and he has two children. His wife is in Mary Kay. And then my daughter is in Columbus, Ohio, now. Now I'm hoping after she gets through with this degree that they'll move back South. Until my grandson gets out of high school they want to stay there--he's got two years--until he gets through that. He wants to come to Carolina.
UNC?
Uh, huh.
It's a good school.
Yes, so he--. I thought they were coming this month. Maybe they weren't able to work out to suit people down there to talk with them about it, but anyhow, we'll see.
While you were working at White's in the 80s did you notice a decline in
What you attribute to?
Yeah.
Ah, well, I felt that the gentlemen who were head of that company over
all the years were each very bright, brilliant in their situations. I
don't know that it was when newer people started in and made changes or,
of course, maybe the times needed
Factions being the people who were making decisions for the company?
Uh, huh. Possibly in that area.
'Cause in sales you have seen, you would have heard the calls coming in about maybe problems with the furniture or problems with the suppliers, so you--.
Yeah, I don't know about the suppliers at that point whether or not there were problems or not, no, but I had seen them since. I'm not sure other than I know there were certain quality problems, maybe the designs that they brought out were more difficult in procedures or whatever they had to do. One grouping, in particular, that came out, an oriental grouping that we are still selling.
An oriental?
Uh, huh. I'll show you some things. We're still selling today so it's
been going on since, at least, the early 80s. I can't remember what year
that was brought out right now, but certainly back in June, and we had a
new younger designer that designed that. It was beautiful, well
received, I mean, just great time, just great big time in markets. Made
copies, people trying to market it off, but weren't successful. But it
went big time, and it's still a popular group. It is going to be dropped
this time; the final cutting is coming in now. I remember in that
particular grouping there were problems in making this. They had a real
high sheen. The table tops seemed that they had problems galore with
those and spent time working that out. And types of that thing that
maybe they were more complicated for some reason or something that made
them harder to--. Maybe they had to find new materials that weren't
normal for the time or something. Back in that time it seems like things
started going down. I feel that there was friction somewhere in there. I
hesitate to say anything like what would cause that. I really don't
That's how you account for the sales?
Well, they were losing money so I'm not sure, I mean, why they decided
to--. I don't know why they sold it as cheaply as I understood they did
'cause we had a backlog of orders about that deep.
How was it that you did not lose your job?
Oh, you mean when the merger came?
Uh, huh.
Of course, when they bought us out all of us stayed for a good while, and
then when they were going to make a corporate office at High Point,
Richard Hinkle then was president of White's and he's the one making the
decisions, and he took several of us from White's who were in certain
positions and decided that we were the ones to go rather than the ones
from the other companies such as Hickory. Those people lost that
position, their jobs in that area. He said in talking with the people in
the field that they by far rated us--everyone he talked to that knew,
everywhere he went--felt that they were, by far, the best in the
business. And of course, he worked with us and knew what we did, I
guess. He gave us some extra
How far is it?
Fifty-five miles. So it's an hour each way.
It's a long way.
Yeah, so they did say that they would buy a van and we'd chip in on the gas and maintenance. So it didn't cost us anything to go except an hour each way. It was either that or you were out a job. I'm not sorry. I didn't know how sheltered we were until we went to High Point, though. We were country girls.
What were some of the things that made you realize that?
Well, the girls came in and just told things that went on and did and all around. It just amazes you that other people don't live like you do. We were--. All of us said, "Well, it's an education." Still today, it seems like there's something coming up all the week days every week that keeps you--some excitement going or whatever. There were more changes than we were used to.
When did you hear that White's was going to close? You mentioned that it
being
Well, the people from Hickory--they were trying to buy us—I'm saying Hickory, wherever they were from, certainly some of them were Hickory--came in the conference room, and I know all the bosses and their wives which was unusual were all at the meeting so I assume they were all a part of ownership. We knew then that something was certainly going to happen. I understood the different factions of the company would like to have bought it themselves, but for some reason, I don't know, they never worked it out. So anyway, when it was sold then we were shocked, you know, what's going to happen? You hear the conglomerates and they could have come in and moved new people in or whatever, but they didn't. The new owner's made lots of changes, some for the better and some for the worst.
What sort of changes?
Well, they came in and revamped the plant, for one thing. They remodernized. The plant was old and needed that and cleaned up, just did a lot of things of that nature that needed to be done. And, of course, each management brings its own theories of what ought to be done, what dealers to sell, and that kind of thing. They made changes in all areas of the plant.
I know one of the hardest things about the changes that one worker expressed was that someone from Hickory was brought in to take his position, supervising position, and he was put back to a different one, and then was told how to do the job he had been doing for twenty years. That was hard having someone else tell him how to do his job. Did you have a different boss? You mentioned different management style.
No, Hal McAdams, who is now vice president over here, but he had come in
to take the sales manager job. He was over salesmen and
[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]
You've mentioned the closing of the factory and the sale of White's, and you mentioned hearing about or being told, how were you told? How did you hear?
Was there a general announcement just made as you walked to the office or were you called into an auditorium of sorts?
Well, he told us--the sales force of sales people in the sales department--he came and told us, and I'm sure the other bosses told their department.
He just walked in and said, "I've got to tell you something?"
Well, he came back, I believe, from that meeting 'cause we were, of course, there working.
How many were you at the time in sales?
Up in that department, I believe there were six of us.
And that's how you heard? What was the reaction?
Shock, but yet he sort of smoothed it over for us in saying that there's a possibility we might be even better off.
Of the six people in your office at the time, how many, like yourself, got a job in the Hickory-White factory office?
All of us.
All of you?
How long was it from the time you heard about the sale until the factory closed?
Well, the factory actually didn't close until this June and that was at the end of '89. No, well, that was in '85, excuse me.
Right. '85 was the sale?
That was the time, uh, huh. Then we stayed there until December of '89, and right after the Christmas holidays we started going to High Point.
That was in '89. So you never saw the last day of the factory?
No. We, of course, leave from Mebane everyday and a couple of us went by after the sale to see the people.
What was it like your last day at White's?
Well, it almost wasn't--. The last day we were packing up our things and getting them ready to be sent over. That packing that wasn't--. I can't remember who was working during the holidays at that point. It was sort of distressful, and, of course, not knowing what to expect other than my superior came down and talked with us some days before we left.
To talk about the transition, your new responsibilities?
Yes, and they even sort of seeing what we knew and what we did and then he planned, more or less. I was going to be his assistant. What we were going to do was we went over it and so forth.
Did you get the same pay when you made the move?
I'm thinking we got a little more pay, I can't remember, to be honest with you, but I don't feel that I was hurt financially.
Yes, that helped in my situation. Helped my situation with having four or
five of the people I had worked with go with me, you know, together. We
were coming back to Mebane all the time, and we were talking to the
plant all the time even in our jobs, so we kept that connection as much
as we could and enjoyed that.
Going to different jobs?
Well, all of us kept our same situations. We might be doing a little differently, yet it's the same. You knew you job. You didn't really have to learn. All of us had been in the job for a long time so we knew well enough that we could adjust to what changes they decided to make on us.
So what was the hardest change that you had to make?
Well, I suppose, the traveling situation, and it takes all your time.
Had that discouraged anyone of the women that moved with you to maybe stop working?
No.
No! You all continued?
Uh, huh.
That's a great commitment for a long commute.
It is, but I think people like it. I like it. It's sort of a hassle, I
mean, you get tired and just like any other job. It isn't, say, boring,
you know what I mean? And, of
Right, and who drives?
Well, Shirley Stout drives most of the time. If she's out, I drive.
Where is this van?
Well, Shirley keeps it at her house under the carport so you don't have to clean those big windows everyday. You know what I'm saying?
And I've driven it a few times--she's been sick a week or two at the time or something I would bring it home, but I have to go to the shop every morning--I do--to turn on the air and check things and in the afternoon, so I usually park downtown. I used to park at White's, now, I park up near home.
I think those are my questions. What sorts of things did you have in mind to put on tape when you were asked to be interviewed?
Well, to be honest I've said a lot more than I thought I knew to say. I don't know whether you drew out--. I said, "Well, we won't be but a few minutes." You said, "No, an hour." I said, "What in the world are we going to talk about for an hour?" But the people overall they were family. You get the feeling of family, and I still have a lot of people to come to shop just to say hello, and it's nice. And then when you go places you see them; weddings, funerals, and all these kinds of things. I still have close feelings with those people.
END OF INTERVIEW