Boom Assembly
It was a smell I never forgot. Before there was an office, factory and warehouse our house was the company headquarters. After school we'd assemble different parts. No part was more dreaded than the "boom bumper assembly". The boom bumpers were attached to the end of the booms to provide protection if the boom landed on something. They smelled like a combination of freshly molded plastic and chalk. To assemble, we began by placing plastic washers on metal screws. But these weren't just screws, they were exceptionally sharp screws. Apparently they had to be this sharp to screw into the teakwood booms that are a hard wood. After putting a washer on the screw, we'd then pull the u-shaped overlapping boom bumper apart to insert the screws into the hidden pre-drilled holes. And it was at this point that this it got really tricky. Now we had to quickly pull our hands out of this primitive plastic bear clamp before it closed and became a permanent accessory on our hands.
"You and me on the floor in your den, sorting nuts and widgets, the kids were definitely put to work for the cause."And it took both hands to pry the boom bumper open, so both hands had a white boom bumper residue on them. It's not like there was a sign claiming all employees must wash their hands before taking a handful of corn chips. But one taste of the boom bumper made the soap our teacher used at school taste like dessert. The bitter taste initiated a mouth licking, lip smacking, tongue swirling reaction in which the mouth produces saliva and the tongue distributes it to dilute the poisonous bitterness.— Claudia Parducci
Sometimes our friends would get looped into assembly, bribed with a sandwich after a few "units" were completed. Oh yeah, Mom was good.