Pension. Never thought I would make it this far. The job was ridiculous, stand there, make sure the machine hit the same spot every time, stop the line when it missed and clear the jam as quickly as possible to get the line running as fast as you can.

I never thought of it as a career. I guess I never really thought of anything as a career. It paid the bills, put food on the table and clothes on the kids back. It help us make the house payments, the car payments, the TV payments. It was simple enough, didn't really seem like work, you know? Stand there 40 hours a week, five days a week, 52 weeks a year.

The gang on the line, they were alright. Not a lot of them last, you know? SOmetimes they don't even make it a week. You can usually tell on the first day, whether or not they're going to make it. THey'll have a look in their eyes, like this isn't for me, the first time they step up to the line. They weren't the ones who surprised me when they failed to show. It was the ones who would put in months or even years, then suddenly give up. I don't think they took another job-- there aren't enough jobs around here to really take without everyone knowing. They just took off. Most seemed to leave the county.

They keep telling me I made it. I didn't make anything. I stood in one place and helped a machine make something for forty years. Now I get to rest.