If you are following my tales so far, we took a Greyhound bus from San Francisco to Memphis. We got to see the USA, but it wasn’t in a Chevrolet. I then needed to work for a living and went job hunting. There were a lot of other Veterans looking at the time and my resume wasn’t really strong at the time. I was able to land a job through the state job board with a small Burglar Alarm company. Ever seen the foil on jewelry or department store windows? That was one of my jobs for a while until I learned how to hook up alarm systems. I was also taking correspondence courses paid for through the VA. I completed s few TV repair courses and repaired broken TVs for some of the Pawn Shops on Beale Street. Not much money in that, but the environment was interesting. This was even before it became a tourist attraction.
Work – Moving Up
I was continuing my education at the State Technical Institute at Memphis and got an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering. Shortly after that, I started working for Mosler Inc. out of Hamilton!, Ohio. I worked on bank security systems; Burglar alarms, CCTV, and Access Control. After a few years as a technician, I moved to the Headquarters as a trainer. I mainly trained field technicians on a system called COMSEC. It was a system that allowed the bank security guards to monitor their branches and sites. The communications path evolved over time based on the advances in “phone” line technology.
After a few years as a trainer, I became a Product Specialist. This was a position supporting field technicians on the COMSEC system. I developed service and installation manuals during this time. Shortly after that a position with the International division opened and I was on my way “around the world.” I traveled to Korea once or twice in support of the COMSEC product. One time I went to England and Germany for sales support. From England, I returned to Hamilton! for about eight hours and then went to Korea. When I got there I didn’t know what time (or day) it was.
California Bound for Work
I decided International travel wasn’t my cup of tea. I put in for a position in the San Francisco area as Western Zone Technical Support Manager. There I had some Application Engineers and CAD designers to support the sales force, field technicians, and installers. My wife (Sadako) and I enjoyed the San Francisco Bay area, but it was becoming expensive. I traveled up and down the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle during this time. Normally I travelled by car and took Sadako along with me. We did the sights in the Anaheim area and also went into Canada while up in the northwest. Sadako and I went to Alaska and spent a few days staying in a BnB (which was a first for me.) We saw a moose in the yard and saw a Salmon run while there.
To make a long and boring short, I went back to Hamilton! for a few years, and then ended up in Reno, Nevada as an Area Technical Specialist. Reno was a small town that had a lot of events, usually during the summer. “Hot Summer Nights” features a parade of Antique cars and Hot Rods not to be missed. You can get up close during the Hot Air Balloon “races” also.
“Retirement”
About that time Mosler went bankrupt and I was out of a job. I worked at a couple of other jobs in the same industry, but they were temporary. I worked in Reno for a company called TCCS for a while. The work in Reno slowed down, so I transferred to Las Vegas as an “Application Engineer” for TCCS. We were involved in a lot of the new bank branches that were built during the banking “boom”. After the banking boom died out TCCS left Nevada and I went to work for Diversity Electric in a similar position.
I ended up retiring after a few years and did some work as “Santa’s Helper.” It was great talking with all the children who came to see Santa. A few would come running up, stop about six feet away and that was as close as they got. It was apparent the parent had gotten the child all dressed up to see Santa, but that didn’t happen. A few wanted to stay on and be Santa’s helper “elves”. Most just wanted to tell the old guy what they wanted for Christmas and have their picture taken. At one mall there was a family from Australia that came to Las Vegas (after Disneyland) to have their picture with Santa. There were “children from a few weeks to 90 years young. Always something different at the various locations.
After a car accident, I am now trying my hand at Online Marketing. That is one reason I have documented some of my life’s experiences here. That’s about it for now. Thank you for checking out Tom’s Tales.
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