Continued from Vernco Perhaps the strangest job I ever had, I never did find out what we were producing at Klenk Chemical Company. They were hiring pretty much anyone, and paying quite a bit over the minimum wage. I don't remember what the hourly rate was now but it was pretty impressive at the time. I was making more money than my father, who worked for the Marinette Marine Company, and had been there for quite a while. Several of my friends were working there. Since I had worked as a drill press operator at Vernco, I was put on the drill press, working the graveyard shift. When I asked the foreman what it was I was making, he said that it was something for the assembly line at General Motors. They were long metal plates, with some kind of plastic on one side. Like at Vernco, everything was on a form, so my job consisted of simply drilling a hole whenever the form stopped. After I had drilled the holes, it went to another area, where the strips of metal were shaped. When I asked why we were producing metal pieces, while the company was called Klenk Chemical Company, I was told that they had initially been producing some sort of chemical in another room of the factory, but that the people who were doing that started losing their hair. Sure enough, there was a part of the factory floor that was closed off. It was a fun place to work, at least on the graveyard shift. Although I didn't work, employees were allowed to drink beer on the job, and frequently they'd order pizzas. After seven or eight months on the job, however, when I went to cash my check at the bank, I was told that there were insufficient funds. At work the following Monday, we were told that two of the foremen had stolen a box of checks and had written checks all over the place. We later learned that they had only recently been released from prison before being hired as foremen at Klenk Chemical Company. Sure enough, the next day my check was good. Things went along okay for a few more weeks, then the bank refused to cash my paycheck again. I needed the money that weekend, so I went to a department store, bought something, and they cashed my check. The following week, the same thing occurred, only the department store refused to take the check that time. I tried a few other places, with no luck, then tried another department store. The cashier almost cashed it, then noticed that it had been flagged. However, the cashier had stamped the back of it before noticing that it had been flagged. Now, I thought, I couldn't even try to get it cashed anywhere else, so I went to another cash register and lied, telling the cashier that the other register didn't have enough cash, so they sent me over there, pointing out that they had already stamped the back. They took it. The following Monday, I went in during the morning to ask about the check problem again, and found the place locked up. I learned that the sheriff's department had stopped the owner, who had packed a bunch of the leased equipment into a couple of trucks and was leaving town. I never did learn what we were actually doing for a living, or what it was all about. It was nice while it lasted. Continued on Yar-Craft
What a strange workplace and a strange job too. But I am more curious with that check. First off, encountering a "bad" check the first time would be a big issue here even if the reason is the ex-convict foreman sabotaging those checks. Much more if the incident was repeated. Employees here would definitely complain with the labor department or worse, they would go to the media. Second, I am amused that you can encash the check in department stores. Over here, you can only exchange your check for cash in the bank where the account of the payor is maintained. Even in other branches of the same bank, they will not allow you to cash that check. That ruse you did - telling a lie about the stamped check - is cute although I'm sure it was unnerving on your part.
Generally, only if you buy something. So I bought a chair. That was actually against the law, to knowingly pass a check that I knew to be bad, even if I didn't write it. But the chances of them being able to prove that an employee knew that their paycheck was bad was pretty low, since most people would assume that their paycheck would be good.