South Carolina

It’s a vague title, I know. It sort of leaves a lot up for discussion, but I’ll try to keep it simple and short.

I moved to South Carolina on May 2nd. Specifically I moved to Mount Pleasant, which is a lovely area full of shops, food, and beautiful women. There are also two islands within five to ten minutes with wonderful beaches, and they are Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. I moved here to work for Boeing on the 787 program. They helped me relocate and now I’m in training for the next ten weeks.

I originated from Delaware County where I stayed my entire boring life (up until now of course). A lot of factors precipitated my departure, and I will only get into one or two.

The primary factor was dreading my normal routine at the Ridley Park facility for an extended period of time. I signed up with the Boeing company over four years ago under the pretense, and I don’t know where I got it from, that the company was ran professionally and things were organized. Well I was woefully wrong. I learned quickly that time served was far more important than useful knowledge or work ethic. Part of this is a fault of being in a labor union where the weak are protected rather extensively and the strong are treated the same no matter what. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to be treated according to my actions. I took advantage of this ability to get away with almost anything and started acting like an ass. That mentality just got worse as time went on and eventually I started getting moved around because bosses didn’t feel like dealing with my shit. I finally settled into a final assembly position on a secondary line that was primarily focused on more difficult work packages. Over time I grew a little and started acting like less of an ass, but eventually the work started to dry up. It was during the last six months of my time at the Ridley Park facility that I began to consider moving to another area.

I heard about the South Carolina facility from several coworkers that were thinking about making the move because they were similarly tired of the bullshit, and the area was kind of boring too. I finally caved and decided it was time to freshen my resume and apply for some spots. I was initially turned down for everything, but after another revision to my resume I was offered an interview. They flew me down, put me in a nice hotel, and performed the interview. I did okay. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was good enough. I provided the majority of what they wanted to hear, plus having over four years in the Boeing company helped a lot I’m sure. I was offered a job the next day, and I foolishly accepted right away. I could’ve almost certainly counter-offered for another $1000 or so, but I was eager to get things going.

I am now a happy resident of a very warm state full of (so far) friendly people. Some of the local driving habits take getting used to, like driving well below the speed limit, taking forever to get to their given speed, and not using turn signals almost routinely. It’s a small nit though because the area is very good. It’s full of sites to see on a daily basis that I don’t think will get old very soon. The availability of shopping, fishing, and the beach life are huge. I am a fat guy, but I still love the beach. I love the sound of the waves and the birds. I love the smell of saltwater in the wind. I enjoy baking in the sun, at least until my neck burns, which isn’t so fun.

I have high hopes for this life change. I would love to become better at fishing and maybe take up kayaking, canoeing, and sailing. Those things will come in time.