Ghost Town

It’s just after nine o’ clock and it’s like a ghost town in here (work). Why? Deer hunting season started yesterday. Judging by the quietness of the office area and the emptiness of the cubes and shop floor, I’ll bet that the company is at about 20% today. Yesterday was about 25%. The beginning of gun season is like a holiday. In fact, up until a couple years ago, the whole shop shut down as a paid holiday on the first day of gun season. Then, with much surprise to management, they found out that not everyone was hunting on this day off! At that point, they re-instated November 15^th as an actual work day and gave everyone an additional vacation day to use at the employees discretion. It’s obvious to me that most people still use this day as a holiday. Hunting is still a way of life up here.

 

Another factual specimen. A couple years ago, President George W. Bush made a trip up to the UP. He’s only the second U.S. president to visit the UP. He actually expressed a desire to tour our facility. They had his secret service come through and talk to the employees and management. The tour was scrapped when they realized that too many people carried firearms to work or actually had firearms stashed in their desks. They couldn’t guarantee this would be a weapon-free facility and had concerns for the president’s safety. Not that anyone had any intentions to harm him, just that the possibility was there. Having said that, I don’t come to work in fear for my safety. Just as hunting is a part of life, so are firearms. Obviously, they go hand-in-hand. That’s not to say that someone couldn’t become disgruntled and go on a rampage. That could happen in Washington DC where gun control is the most stringent. What it does mean is that if someone does come in here with the intent to harm with a firearm, he will not make much headway with the other people also carrying firearms. Just some more UP history I thought I’d pass along.