LINDON — Friday was Ralph Rupp's last day.
Not literally. If Friday had literally been Ralph's last day he would have problems, but not the one he's facing now: 56 years old, a good wife, seven good kids, all but one out on their own, one handicapped daughter at home, a mortgage on a house in nearby American Fork . . .
. . . and no job.
You don't really get a "pink slip" when you get laid off, or a "golden parachute" either. What you get is a summons into a supervisor's office, where he clears his throat, and after a few preliminaries tells you that your last day is Friday.
That's what happened to Ralph this past Wednesday when he was called into the boss's office in the transportation building at Geneva Steel. You're a great employee, he was told, a real credit to the company, a loyal, hard worker, the best transportation manager we've got.
But we're going to have to let you go.
Your last day will be Friday.
Ralph went back to his office and called home. His wife, Margaret, answered. They'd been talking about the possibility of this phone call for at least the past three years. It was no secret that Geneva was losing money by the bushelful. The company that sits on the east side of Utah Lake has two big problems — low prices from foreign imports and a location that's too far away from its primary markets. The very things that made it so safe and prosperous during the war years — who would bomb a steel plant 800 miles from the ocean? — have made it something of a steel dinosaur in the 21st century.
"Well," Ralph told Margaret, "it's official."
"Friday's my last day."
Now that the other shoe had dropped, Ralph asked his wife how she felt.
"Somewhere between relief and panic," she answered.
Ralph wasn't alone last Wednesday when he got the news. In an effort to stave off outright bankruptcy, Geneva Steel laid off 950 employees that day. Many were told, as Ralph was, that there are hopes the company can sell off some inventory, ride out the current recession, buy some modern equipment, and right the ship.
"We've got 128 tons of product in inventory we can sell," says Ralph.
But Ralph won't be hanging around to see if Geneva Steel survives and he gets his old job back. He'll be moving on. He has no hard feelings, he says. The company was always good to him, and he knew what might be coming so he paid off all his cars — they're a little older, but they're all his — and every single debt in his life other than his home mortgage.
And no sooner had the news of his layoff made the rounds of his family than one of his sons called and said, "Hey Dad, if you need a house payment, I'll pay it."
"I'll be all right," says Ralph. "But I feel for some of the others. I know there are some who are not quite as well off."
An LDS bishop for a BYU student ward, Ralph plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family and the kids in the ward. You never know, they might have a job tip for him.
"I look at this as an opportunity for adventure," says Ralph Rupp, doing everything he can to avoid a long face. "I choose to look at it like that."
Because your last day one place is always your first day somewhere else.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.