b"What was a typical day when you became a maintenance person? I did everything that needed to be repaired in an apartment, light fixtures, apartment door locks, stoppages, leakyfaucets, leaks under the sinks. Every once in a while, there would be a leak inside the wall, so you had to break open thewall, find the leak, shut the main off, make the repair, put the water back on. We would use an old shade and cover up thehole that we made so the people didnt have to look at a hole. We had to know plumbing, carpentry and hardware.What was a more typical day on the job as an assistant supervisor?There were usually two assistant supers to one location. One person would take the boiler room and the grounds,gardening. The other assistant super would take the maintenance men and janitorial. We would split it up that way andevery six months we would exchange. This way we got familiar with the whole location. I was doing pretty well, but I don'tknow, sometimes supervision just turns me off. You wind up babysitting adults. They take two steps forward and oneback. Sometimes you had to plead with them to do a job: Please get this done, this tenants bothering me, hes called sixtimes already. Please get this done. The only way I could get it done was by saying please. Do me a favor. Meantime,theyre getting paid to do the job. When I was a worker, my boss would tell me once and I would say, You can go toFlorida, consider it done. That's how conscience I was. I wouldnt want him to look bad right, so I did it and I did it thefastest, quickest and the best way I knew how. Yeah, supervision is not easy.What did you like best about being a supervisor?When it was successful, when we accomplished something. I met Lady Bird Johnson in Jacob Riis houses. I wascalled out by the dignitaries for doing a superb job. Ladybird was going to dedicate an amphitheater that we had built.The Astor Foundation donated money to the Housing Authority to build an amphitheater. The project I was working inhad the area, so they started building it. It was the time of Vietnam pickets all over the streets. I changed every windowshade that she could see, every apartment shade around her. Today youd go to jail for that, spending all that money.I wasnt even a boss yet. I was only a caretaker, but I had a lot to say: Let's get three men from each location in the LowerEast Side to help us sweep up, clean up, hose down, whatever. The president's wife is going to be here. The day shecame, I was in the office answering phones. I'm in the superintendent's office, get a knock on the door, two housing police with a man. They show their badges. Can I help you? Yeah, they said, this is the place to go. He wants to hidefor a little while. He was the chairman of the Federal Housing Authority. They donated the money for the project andthere were a lot of dignitaries. So, I'm in the office, like I said, answering the phones. He said: What do you got cold?Now the police had gone already. [I said] What do you mean got something cold? He said: Got some beer? I said: We only got soda in this refrigerator and a bottle of water. No, he goes in his pocket, hands me a couple of bucks:Go get a six-pack of beer. This is a big boss. They flew him in, the whole deal. Well like I said, I had that personality. I went across the street, got a six-pack, came back had a beer with him, he had two beers and then we went out to the dedication. Yeah, oh I could tell you so many stories, so many.So, what does it mean to you to be a union member?Security. I guess that's the top of the priority, really. Information. I can get what I need to know by asking at theunion. My son got hurt on a job. I called the union to ask if he was covered with comp, is he covered with this? She[Nancy True] would give me all that kind of information. It is very helpful. 42 "