I've always said that one company was just like another. I found a poem I wrote around 1970 about Jerrold Electronics Corporation. You'll see clearly that my writing style was influenced by Bob Dylan, but I find it particularly interesting that the subject matter is still applicable 40 years later. I've made some parenthetical notes to explain some particular insider terms used in the poem. Enjoy!
JERROLD
Morale’s been going down so fast
Contented employees are a thing of the past
I knew things couldn’t get much worse
So I summed it up in simple verse
Insurance is a problem here
It seems the coverage ain’t too fair
You tell yourself it can’t possibly be
But Aetna only pays you posthumously
MATV is a word of gloom (Master Antenna Television)
Jerrold builds amps that can heat a room
I hear tell an enterprising young lady
Once cooked a meal on a thirty-eight-eighty (Model 3880 got HOT)
A long time ago in a previous year
We sold the Water Works some four-forty gear (Model 440)
System acceptance is going real slow
‘Cause the units won’t work two days in a row
The “Transfer Unit” was an interesting twist
We sold a product that didn’t exist
So each guy worked on a separate portion
And it turned into an engineering abortion
Company growth is hard to conceive
If each guy coming sees three guys leave
Jobs at Jerrold are easily gotten
The benefits are bad and the pay is rotten
Steven Pein
Circa 1970
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1 comment:
Amazing. Change a few nouns here and there and you're describing what used to be our (but is now soley my) daily life at work.
This is not very reassuring. Retirement seems like an eternity away.
- Mike
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