Tag #149033 - Interview #78036 (Mendel Kreimer)

Valeriy finished school and I wanted him to continue his musical education. He went to take exams at a music school in Slobodzeya. However, this wasn't what he wanted to do, and he made a poor performance on purpose not to be admitted there. He said, 'I don't feel like entertaining people.' He liked spending time in the shed crafting and drilling, and I realized this was what he wanted to do. At that time I worked as a chief accountant at a nail forming plant. They had the best crew of tool mechanics there. The first director of our plant was Butman, a Jewish man, who managed to hire the best specialists. I asked my son, 'So, what do you want to do?' and he told me that wanted to work at my plant. I told him, 'I can't pull strings for you. You are a Komsomol [28] member. Go to the town committee and obtain a request for a job interview at the plant. I'll arrange for a skilled worker to train you at the plant.' Basically, I managed to encourage my son to get a good job.

However, I had conflicts with both the chief engineer and shop superintendent. They issued fictitious innovation proposals to receive bonuses and they were based on fictitious estimations of saving materials and salaries. I had to review these proposals to make sure there were real advantages in them. I had enemies and they put obstacles on the way for my son: he couldn't receive a grade for a long time. However, he learned the profession and read reference manuals and they had to award him a category [professional grade] six months later. He liked this job and was doing well at it.