This is a morality story about people I knew when I was President of the Federation of Long Lines Telephone Workers (Local #5) in St. Louis. Among other things, my job was to present grievances to the Company on behalf of the workers. At its peak, there were perhaps 800 to 1000 members of Local #5. When they generated grievances, it provided several officers of the Local with quite a bit of work.
I might point out that the term “grievance” is sort of a technical term in labor parlance. In fact, a grievance is a complaint against the Company, usually alleging unfair treatment. I suppose the Company could lodge a grievance against the Union, but that rarely happens.
One day Gordon Sallee, the Vice President of the Local, told me that he had accepted a grievance from a craftsman who had worked in the
St. Louis Testroom. From what we could determine, the grievant had been on disability for six to eight months with a mysterious ailment in his back. He said he had trouble walking and that bending over was out of the question. He claimed that he had left St. Louis to move to Houston, presumably because of the warmer climate and Houston had a superior supply of back manipulators. His grievance was that AT&T Long Lines planned to take him off disability and to bring him back to St. Louis where Company doctors could examine him.
Gordon Sallee said he knew this man from having worked with him in the St. Louis Testroom. He didn’t know much about what caused his physical problem, but on its face, it deserved to be examined. Union officers rarely turn down a grievance, particularly if it seems to be legitimate.
So Sallee and I went to the District #51 Office at Beaumont and Olive Streets in St. Louis. We were to meet with Louie Houck, the District Plant Superintendent. I should have been suspicious when we found that we were going to meet with Louie Houck. Mostly, he permitted his subordinates to handle grievances. We met Houck and some of his staff, shook hands all around and probably told a joke or two. Then it was down to business. We told Louie Houck how this poor grievant was being treated unfairly and we recited how he had moved to Houston so that the climate and doctors there would help him recover. We made a pretty good case, based on what the grievant had told us.
When we finished our side of the case, Louie Houck opened a drawer in the table where we were sitting. He removed a Sunday magazine supplement from the Houston Chronicle and said, “Why don’t you guys read this.”
Sallee and I were astounded and caught flat footed. The magazine had a photograph of our griever on the cover. The Chronicle painted the griever as a Houston success story who was setting the business world on fire. The story inside claimed that he had invented a new security system for homes and offices. He said that his knowledge came from the phone Company, AT&T to be exact, and that he used largely telephone company parts and equipment to make his new security system work. In the story, he claimed to be an outstanding financial success working 12 to 14 hour days. He said he was climbing ladders and going into basements to install his new security systems.
Sallee and I almost fell off our chairs. We asked for a small recess and for permission to use AT&T facilities to call the griever at his home or office in Houston. The Chronicle story included his phone number.
I have long since forgotten the name of the griever, but when he answered the phone, Sallee asked him about the lengthy story in the Houston Chronicle. He readily admitted that the story was true and seemed to imply to us that he was proud that he had made a fool out of AT&T. That was enough for me. I told him that his grievance would be dropped immediately and from that point on, he was on his own. Returning to the meeting room with Louie Houck, I apologized for the grievance and told him that the case was withdrawn. Houck was very generous and said that sometimes things get out of control. He said he understood.
At that point, Sallee and I wanted to get out of the meeting with Houck before he brought up a grievance about one of our stewards in the St. Louis Testroom. This was a sad tale involving Steward Ray Cybrowski.
The Testroom was located on the northeastern corner of Beaumont and Olive Streets. Across the street on the southeastern corner was an old time saloon. The place was called Beffa’s and it was heavily patronized by telephone people, mainly because it was the only saloon/tavern in that neighborhood.
The neighborhood around Beaumont and Olive had long since started to decline. Long time residents moved out and in some cases, undesirables moved in. When all this happened right after the war ended, hold ups and other crimes became commonplace.
This incident took place in about 1949. At that time, AT&T people were paid once a week by check. The standard joke was that AT&T paid its people weakly. In any event, many people would take their checks across the street to Beffa’s who cashed the checks. The Company did not care if people went to Beffa’s after hours and Beffa welcomed the business because most people bought at least a beer when they cashed their checks.
Aside from beer and booze, Beffa was well known for his hard boiled eggs which he sold for a nickel or a dime apiece. The hard-boiled eggs got Ray Cybrowski in trouble.
Ray was given his paycheck during the afternoon, say about 4PM. It was against the rules to leave the Testroom without permission. Certainly, no boss would give permission for employees to go to Beffa’s during working hours. That would be unheard of. On the other hand, sometimes craftsmen would just disappear and when they woke up, they found themselves in Beffa’s establishment.
Well Ray Cybrowski got his check and took French leave to cross the street to visit Beffa’s because he had an intense desire to eat a hard boiled egg – or two. So he crossed Olive Street, entered Beffa’s, cashed his check and ordered a hard boiled egg. As he finished his egg, a gunman or two or six – Ray was not clear on this point – entered Beffas and robbed the bartender and the patrons. Including Ray Cybrowski.
Ray snuck back to the Testroom and told very few people about his experience. He had to go home and tell his wife that he had been robbed and therefore, had no money for her this week. The incident did not reach the newspapers.
A week later, Ray again received his paycheck and once again, was overcome by a desire to have one of Beffa’s famous hard boiled eggs. He told me later that he felt protected by the law of averages. Certainly, he would not be robbed again, as he snuck away from the Testroom. So Ray took his paycheck to Beffa’s an hour before quitting time, cashed the check and bought a hard-boiled egg. With money now in his pocket, Ray noticed a gunman, or several gunmen, enter the only door from the street. Right on schedule. They cleaned out the bartender and had the customers turn their pockets inside out. Again. So Ray had to go home and tell his wife that he had no money for her again this week.
It got worse. Both newspapers in St. Louis got the story and reported the names of the customers who had been robbed. So Ray had trouble from every direction.
AT&T management said very little about these two robberies during working hours. And so it was that we agreed to meet with Louie Houck on the disability-alarm system grievance right after Cybrowski ate his hard-boiled eggs. That was BAD TIMING on our – the Union’s – part. So you see why Sallee and I wanted to get out of the meeting with Louis Houck before he brought up the Cybrowski matter.
We were successful in that endeavor but we knew that they knew that Cybrowski had no defense. We were just plainly lucky.
When Ray lost his second paycheck to robbers, he was pretty close to broke. The fellows in the Testroom chipped in to help old Ray out. One of the anonymous donors was Louie Houck, the District Plant Superintendent. They don’t make ’em like Louie anymore.
E. E. Carr
September 11, 2001
NOTE 1: Beffa’s was operated by Austrian immigrants who came here during the 1930’s. The owner was Beffa Dotta. One of his sons, Jack Dotta, worked in the St. Louis Testroom along with Cybrowski, Sallee, et al. Beffa and Jack Dotta say the recipe for hard-boiled eggs that was used at Beffas, came from gnomes in Vienna. I also liked Beffa’s eggs.
NOTE 2: I have no idea what happened to Ray Cybrowski or the grievant from Houston. Beffa’s hung on till about 1960 when Beffa Dotta retired. That was the end of the saloon. Gordon Sallee retired at age 65 and enjoyed about 10 years of retirement before cashing in his chips. Louis Houck was killed in an airplane crash not long after we had our meeting on the security system case. He was working on the Dew Line Defense System in Northern Canada at the time. I am reported to be alive and fairly well in New Jersey.
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Strange to see this one published on 9/11 but I guess that means he had been writing it for several days beforehand, and just decided to finish it that Tuesday. Also, I totally misinterpreted this essay at first — I thought that Ray was blowing his whole paycheck on alcohol and blaming it on eggs and robbers, but no, he really was robbed twice at the most inconvenient time possible. Insanely bad luck!