Still pondering that, KLM6. I’ve had a number of posts deleted so I’m reluctant to mention certain things. What I will share is how I profile James Closs, a humble man, pushing 60, who gets up in the morning and goes to work, puts in 60-80 hours a week (per Denise’s family). His work is manually exhausting, soul sucking, hard physical labor. He’s never been promoted into “management” but is considered senior in line status. I imagine he has friends at work and he’s trained his fair share of workers. Perhaps some have been promoted around him, over time. He has seen changes in the company and learned to roll with it. He gets along with his Supervisors and they expect him to be their eyes and ears (without their pay scale). He’s a company man of 26 years. It’s likely he’s crossed a few people.
What makes him tick is his family. He met Denise at work and their wedding picture tells the story. True love. The apple of their eye is their only child, a 13 year old daughter, Jayme. She is a beam of light in a rather dark world. She’s adored by their extended families. Like all parents, they want her to have a better life and if it takes beating up their own bodies to do it, so be it.
How would James and Denise feel if the very nature of their work made their daughter ill? What if the product they consume (a lot of ~ the company discounts for workers) as well as their own bodies, from contamination, are pathogens for an illness that just keeps coming back? Meds aren’t working and it escalates to atypical conditons requiring extensive medical care.
At what point does James admit there i something very wrong at work. He’s racked with guilt as if it’s his fault his daughter relapses. His wife misses work, she’s increasingly out taking care of Jayme. They are not feeling the love at work. She’s using up her “time” off allowance.
They had to know about the nationwide breakout of Salmonella Reading. Co-workers in WI and MN were more than likely stricken with it, perhaps hospitalized. Co-workers gossip.
We don’t know where James was that Sunday, lots of speculation. Could he have been meeting up with someone to talk about his work situation?. Could a foe be poisoning the well w/management? Was there union talk (again?).
I’m sensing a strong conflict around work. He just put in too many hours. A man half his age would have difficulty doing it. Perhaps Salmonella merely added another layer of stress to work. Their life was no walk in the park.
This is just an abstract opinion.
