This third summer there were so many of us that Mobil split

This third summer there were so many of us that Mobil split us into two groups – one group got the first six weeks and the other group got the second six weeks. I was in the first group and when my time was up, Dad pulled some strings and got me on with a construction company as a construction clerk.

I ordered materials balanced books, wrote checks, did payroll and stuff like that. The interesting thing that happened on this job was that Mobil was pushing the company to finish the project early and Mobil was willing to pay overtime to get the job done.

The pipe fitter foreman was a pleasant young man about 7 years older than me. He got foreman differential and overtime pay and his weekly checks were on the order of $600 for a monthly total of about $2500. This was in 1964. I was about to go to Rice University for five years and come out with a degree that would get me a job making $1000/month.

Should I consider becoming a pipe fitter?