The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-09-23
HOW 1 LOST MY JOB"
Chicago Tribune Readers Give Ex-
periences For Competition Prizes.

Men are QlIeU, anu Urc0, every Ga y
| by thousands. Employers hire men be-
cause they need them-but they fire
| them for a million different reasons.
| and to discover why workers are dis
| charged this paper has invited its read
| ers to tell the stories of how they lost
| their jobs.
! In response to the invitation circu-
| lated recently scores of letters already
have been received. and already several
! good object lessons to workers have
been found in these communications.
There must be a lot of jobs oDcn, so
many are losing theirs. A deuge of
confessions has poured in from COM
| petitors for the prize and the stories
grow in interest. There are morals to
| be drawn-and chief among them is
obedience to the ten commandments.
The drunkards swell the list-and
| there must be q lot of jobs open for
men who are teetOtalers even if they
are not much else.
The list of reasons assigned for los
ing jobs by this weeks batch are as
| follows:
Drunkards .........,.... .......,.......2
Loafers ........... .....................t
| ignorant. ........... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Swell heads ................. ..-.......3
Labor troubles Observation-Disclosures. 4
Untitled for the work. ..................2
Worked himself out of work. ..........2
Ignorant of English....... ...........1
Angry bowler complained pins were
set crooked Observation-Disclosures. L
1. Sent comic valentines TO boss. ,.....t
Carried old pipe in pocket .......... IL
Stranded boat on tree. i
Seated guests wrong at banquet. L
!, InSolent to boss. ...............2
Squeezed out because he quit another
Il
Stole his own work.. ..........:..l
Workers conspired against him ........1
Boss UnreaS onable ............ ........l
Followed instructions literally. ......1
Got iocular with boss ..................1
Tried to tell boss his business. .........I
The prize of the week is awarded to
r. 7. A, who did wrong under great
proVocation-and suffered five years
for it. His story is an object lesson
and story that throws light on the
methods of some employers. He writes:
81 came to America eleven years ago
and spoke little English, and suffered
for it. I had some ability in machine
work, but, owing to my extreme youth
could not get good wages. Boys II
years old can start to learn a trade in
the old country, and by the time they
are Is are journeymen. I had the eX-
perience, but the superintendent
thought me too young to be competent
After working two years I thought
of plan to make a new kind of lathe
dog to iisplace the one then in use.
After about six months hard night
work I managed to get good idea and
showed it to the foreman, who suggest
ed that 1 take it to the superintendent.
I followed this advice, and at the SUI
perintendents request I left it with
him. When 1 next called he told me IL
was useless and gave me my drawings.
st told my friend about 1t, and he
told me he would do what ne could for
me- advising me to get it patented. [
didn't have the ready money, and so I
put the matter off. I was surprised
when little later in the day the fore
man came and told me the boss said
he was going to get it patented.
made up my mind to do it myself as
soon as / got home. But the boss was
quicker than that and sent for me to
come to the office. He had a package
for me to take to the express office in
the absence of the eTTand boy. l no.
States Patent Office, Washington, d.
c.
Il guessed right away what the con-
tents were and was bordering what TO
do, when the boss said: Here, Bob;
take this letter, too. / noticed that the
address was the same. l had the COM
plete outfit, but hesitated about what
to do.
Instead of going to the express office
/ went TO a lawyer and told him about
the superintendent efforts to steal my
patent, and asked his advice. He said
it was too late to do anything. took
the box home with me. removed the
lid. and found it was really my model.
81 then filled the box with paper and
fixed up my model in another box and
sent it myself after l had the papers
drawn up.
When 1 got back to the shop the
boss asked me what kept me so long.
The bridge was turned is a good eX-
cuse. now and then He had no idea
what was happening in my absence.
About three days later 1 gave him the
letter and told him 1 forgot to mail it
and asked him if I should go out with
it then. What he said I won't bore you
with, but 1 got fred then and there.
Il got the papers from the patent
Office in about ten days, and l guess in
about the same time the boss that was
got letter. Anyway, before long he
had me in court for stealing the express
package containing my own goods. and
as he had clear case l was sent up
for five years.
while in the penitentiary 1 studied
a good deal. in my spare time, and
when-I came out was fairly we'll posted
in chemistry. I got six months off for
good behavior and started w a little
shop of my own, making my own patent
lathe dogs. At present I am doing well.
working for a boss that can't fire me
without losing his own job"
S. r. was woman worker of great
ability One of her fellow workers left
,the office and she took over the, duties
of the latter as we'll as her own Find
ing that she was able to do both jobs
at that time of year without working
overtime. she refused the raise in sal
airy which was offered her IS q reward.
AS the season grew heavier the double
work soon required extra time, and
thus she felt herself justified in asking
for the raise previously offered her.
She was refused and resigned.
w. ]. X. spent all his time talking to
one of the mattresses in an establish
ment in which he was cook.
F. L. H had boss who tried to milk
a COW. The COW kicked the boss over.
f. L. H. laughed and was fired.