Bust

Booms and busts--I've been thinking about them quite a bit. Anyone who grew up with a parent in the oil field knows the realities of booms and busts all too well. I think it's part of what shaped my attitudes toward money and saving and my desperate need for security.

Daddy's worked in the oil field for, oh, thirty years or so. In west Texas, there really isn't any other option for earning a decent wage. He went to college and then came back and went to work for Western (now BJ) as a mechanic. With a lot of hard work and tenacity, he climbed the ranks from mechanic to lead mechanic to the head of the entire mechanic and fleet department. Each of those promotions brought newer and greater responsibilities, but Daddy's always risen to the occasion.

For the last decade or so, his shop has been the highest ranked in the entire company for cleanliness, safety, and productivity. The entire global company, folks. He's a hard ass but he keeps people safe and working. That's all that matters, really.

A few weeks ago, Daddy was informed he'd have to let half of his mechanic team go. That's 8 mechanics plus office staff. He was devastated. I can't even describe how heartbreaking it was for me to listen to Mom recount the day of the layoffs. Instead of sending the guys over to the main office by themselves, Daddy walked with them and told them the truth even though the district bigwigs wanted him to do otherwise. (Basically, they wanted Dad to just throw them under the bus.) One of the guys became violently ill. Another begged for reconsideration because he had kids and a house and a wife. It was gut wrenching.

You have to understand that in that area of Texas almost all families have one sole source of support: the husband. Wives stay at home and care for children and homes. To lose their entire source of income is devastating to them. And it's more than that. It's health insurance too. Who the hell can afford $1500 a month or more in COBRA?

At any rate, Daddy stayed with them and helped them adjust to their new realities. I'm sure he gave them lots of fatherly advice since he's a man who's survived two huge oilfield busts--once with a new baby one the way. God, I remember that year like it was yesterday. It was 1988-89, I was five-ish and Mom was expecting Marcos. Dad went to work one day, and the entire place had been boarded up. He ended up finding work in San Angleo at Gandy's as a mechanic.

Even though money was super tight, I remember that year as the one I ate so much ice cream I never wanted to see it again. See, Gandy's is a dairy company. Anytime they'd have a refrigerated truck break down, Daddy (and the other mechanics) would load up ice chests with cottage cheese and milk and ice cream. Seriously, almost all of my memories from that year are of me and Joey chowing down on dairy goodness.

Another thing I remember from that year is Daddy driving it into my head that you don't buy things you can't afford during the booms. This was a message he'd repeat over and over and over. When Joey went to work on the rigs, Dad shook his head at all the young kids running out and buying new trucks and houses and other shit they couldn't afford on loans and credit cards. Joey smartly listened and didn't get himself in hock with any of the banks. He also left the oil field which was an even smarter move. Now most of Joey's friends are laid off and facing forceclosures and repossessions and worse.

Of course, Joey's found the upside to the recession. The other night he joked about the fact that he's having no problem finding girls now. He's got a job, after all. I pointed out that maybe those aren't the sorts of lady friends he wants. He seemed scandalized at the idea he'd want something different. Boys. What can you do?

Anyways. I don't know if there's a point to this post. I just felt like blogging about booms and busts and other economic woes. Texas seems to have been largely spared from the economic crisis so far but I don't think we'll be lucky much longer. Oil and gas companies are cutting back on expenses across the board which means less demand for all those welders and those bulk chemical orders and parts and so on and so forth. Think about all the people involved in the energy sector here who have been put on 40 hour work weeks. Yeah. You can't go out and buy anything if you're barely scraping by. Businesses depend on us to spend money so they can employ people. It's just a vicious cycle I don't see ending any time soon.

Sad. Just really sad.