Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(February 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Webmasters Note - After
reading Bill's February newsletter I decided to ask a
few questions of my own.
What were your innermost feelings when you and
your family emigrated to the United States?
With respect to your question as to how the family felt
about my earth shaking decision to move them to America,
the answers would of course differ by the individual being
asked. Personally, I had a feeling of apprehension bordering
upon anxiety as to whether I had made a correct decision
and how my family would be able to cope with the challenges
facing them in the “Brave New World”.
I’m sure my wife Sheena must have had a feeling
of foreboding as to what kind of future we were facing
and a greater worry as to how the two children would cope
with, and fit into, this very foreign environment.
Many British immigrants in their early years felt very
insecure in a new and very different environment to the
one that they had been used to, and to re-ensure themselves
and their families they took what was to be named the
$1,000 cure. (1967 dollars of course).
The $1,000 cure entailed making a family trip back to
England, for a specific time period, in order to determine
whether the reasons that made them emigrate to the United
States were still valid. Some families took the $1,000
cure several times and never fully accepted that "Once
you’ve made the move, you’ve made the move,
and there’s no going back".
The wives in particular were, as can be expected, very
prone to homesickness, as they missed their families and
friends and were faced with instant integration into American
society and had to cope with a far different way of life
than what they had been used to, such as housing, shopping,
neighbors, choice of schools for the children, etc.
The children were traumatized by their sudden transition
into a very different educational and social system.
Our daughter, who was then twelve years of age, was academically
two years ahead of girls of her age in her new school
and consequently was moved up two grades and never looked
back. Because of her English accent she was much sought
after as a friend by girls of her age.
Now our son, who was also more educationally advanced
than his new companions, was held back because of so called
peer pressure that the school authority’s declared
would have been placed upon him by older class mates had
they upgraded him.
Consequently he hated the school system and every thing
that went along with it, as he considered it childish
and below his dignity to be singled out for different
tasks and subsequently came up with every reason and excuse
in the book not to go to school. Sports were a special
problem for a boy of eight who had been brought up with
the rudiments of cricket and soccer to be faced with the
win at all costs philosophy of baseball, and basketball,
which he considered to be girl’s games (Rounders
and netball).
It was a particular tough time for a boy of eight years
of age to face and it took its toll upon him.
The male members of immigrant families were immediately
thrust into a demanding work situation and had to quickly
assimilate themselves to very different working conditions
(*) and associate with many different
foreign nationals under the supervision of American management
staff.
Emergency fall back plan.
Being typically British we, (as did many other immigrants),
had emergency fall back plans:
a) The one year plan. We would save like mad in the first
year and at the end of that year if the family really
hated the life in the promised land we would engineer
a hasty retreat with our ill gotten gains and return to
England with enough money to pick up where we left off.
b) The five year plan. We wouldn’t purchase a house,
big ticket items, or put down roots, and if at the end
of the period we were still unsettled we would be able
to return to England and pick up the threads with a larger
bank balance than we left with.
c) The ten year plan. After five years we would purchase
a house and take advantage of all the accoutrements of
American society and settle in for the long haul.
It must be noted that many families, (as with the $1,000
cure), took advantage of the One Year Plan several times
before finally making up their minds. Some returned to
the United States after the first time, others did not.
The only snag with this approach was that the families
refrained from buying houses and big ticket items whilst
in the United States, because of uncertainty, and did
the same thing on their return to UK, therefore were living
sub-standard lives in both countries, and unfortunately
never did really settle in either country
(*) Working conditions.
The working conditions for design engineers at the Seattle-based
Boeing Company were far different to the conditions we
had been used to at the Bristol-based Rolls Royce Company
and were generally considered by European Engineers to
be sub-standard.
Overcrowded drawing offices with antiquated drawing board
systems, (before the advent of the computer age), reams
of drawing procedures, and the constant movement of design
office staff between floors, and buildings, were a constant
distraction which did not add to efficient usage and integration
of design personnel.
This was an exercise in design by numbers. If the workload
was high---just add more people to the job in hand, hence
the overcrowding. The permanent engineering staff were
supplemented by job shoppers who earned very good salaries,
(approximately twice the salary of some of the permanent
staff), but were literally on an hours notice of layoff
when either the budget overshot or the workload diminished.
It was good while it lasted and fortunately when the "Shopper"
got laid off there was always another job waiting around
the corner—these were the good time of full employment.
The motto of the Shopper was "Have design experience,
(whether they had or not), and will travel if the price
is right or if I’m out of a job".
Not enough emphasis was placed on getting the job right
the first time, as schedules were of prime importance—corrective
action could be taken later. Instead of the rather laid
back thirty seven and a half hour week that we had been
used to in UK, we were suddenly faced with a forty hour
week with the addition of sixteen hours per week of mandatory
overtime. It was certainly good for ones pay check but
not good for the social life of the family. We worked
a ten hour day Monday through Thursday with eight hours
on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was our family day outing
to enjoy the fantastic scenery of Washington State and
the great North West.
I will give American management their due, unlike the
rather lax attitude of their British equivalents they
worked longer hours than their subordinates. If the engineering
staff were in the office at say seven am, management were
in their offices at least an hour earlier, and when the
staff left at six pm in the evening management were still
there until long after. For anyone interested, this is
a brief description of the working conditions that we
experienced when we got to the Boeing Company in January
of 1967.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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