The Luck of Staying Employed

Chancy Adams, a former Master Lock employee at the Milwaukee plant, describing how he found out his job was ending at the Milwaukee plant:

At the beginning of the day, it was a normal day. The supervisor, he came to us and said, “We’re having a town hall.” So we go upstairs, but the whole scenery was different. The chairs was turned a certain way. It was tables barricaded, and it was armed guards up there. So I’m like, “Whoa, what’s going on?” And he announced it. “I have some bad news. I’m here to inform you all of March of ‘24, the plant will be closing.” And the whole room was silent. No explanation, no nothing.

He continues:

I went numb. And then I got a sense of being scared. I put my whole life around this place. I don’t know nothing else. Like, what am I going to do? Like, I’ve got responsibilies here, what am I supposed to do now? I’m 43 years old, starting all the way over.

— Source: “How NAFTA Broke American Politics”. The Daily. October 8, 2024.

So, yeah, that podcast resonated.

At age 47, I bought a house with the hope and expectation that I will continue to have a paycheck high enough to pay it off. Just like Chancy, I’ve got responsibilities - what could I do if I get let go? At 49 years, who would possibly hire me at the level I need?

You’d think I would’ve built up enough equity by now, but the housing market and mortgage rates had a different plan. So now I have to stay employed. Not just employed, but as a high earner, too.

I hear you, Chancy. The luck I have for being employed isn’t lost on me. I just hope the luck doesn’t run out.