The foreman who called me 'kid' for 18 years straight

I was working a shutdown at a paper mill in Mobile, Alabama back in 2017. There was this old foreman named Ray who had been on the job since the 70s. Every time he saw me he would say 'Hey kid, hand me that 3/4 inch wrench' even though I was 42 years old at the time. One day I finally said 'Ray I got kids older than you.' He just laughed and said 'You'll always be a kid to me until you retire or die.' That stuck with me because boilermakers have their own way of showing respect through giving you a hard time. Has anyone else had a nickname or label that followed them around for years no matter how much experience you gained?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_coleman28d ago

Oh man, that Ray sounds like a real piece of work (in the best way possible). I guess some people just lock onto a nickname and refuse to let go, even when it stops making any sense at all. My uncle still calls me "slugger" from when I was 10 and hit a baseball through his garage window, and I'm pushing 50 now. Must be some kind of universal law, you know, like gravity but for annoying nicknames.

ryan_barnes28d ago

Add in that there's probably some deep psychological reason we all just accept it too. Like some weird respect thing for getting a nickname that sticks.

nathan90128d ago

@spencer_coleman Ever think Ray loves the name because it hides his real name?