Unless you have worked in a 24 hr shift operations that requires overtime to keep the work flowing, you may not understand this. But, before I can tell the story, I must explain a few things.
Most operations keep up with the actual overtime hours a person works and the first one on the list is the one with the fewest hours. Then the next lowest, etc. Each time they work those hours are added and they go back in order.
This was not the case in the textile fiber operation I worked in the late 60s. Although similar in principle, our system just charged opportunities not hours. If you needed a person to fill a crew, you got the overtime list and went to the man with the lowest opportunities and contacted him. If he worked he was marked with a "W", refused a "R" or was unavailable for any reason he was given an "O". Each carried the same weight. So the list for each particular group would have eligible employees listed with a series of Ws, Rs or Os by their name.
Fibers operations required a lot of manpower and the particular area in this ante dote had about 70 people on each shift. Each shift had three first line supervisors and a second line supervisor. In this event, Shorty Sizemore was the first line and Tom Bernard the second line.
It was about 4 in the morning when Shorty came up to the office with the Overtime Board. When Tom questioned him, Shorty said someone had gone home sick and he need to get someone from the day shift to come in early and finish up the "hoot owl" shift.
The first person on the list was Hiram. Shorty dialed the number and when he asked to speak to Hiram, he began stuttering and apologizing and hung up the phone. Hiram, a process operator in his 40s, had worked days the previous day. After going home he had a heart attack and died instantly.
When Tom asked Shorty what was the matter, Shorty explained Hiram's recent passing. Tom, pushed his glasses up his nose, asked Shorty, "Well, are you going to give him and "O" or a "R".
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