Then for a while the bottom dropped out of the defence industry. Outsourcing ran rampant. That sort of thing. Oh sure, the company put on the happy face and told everyone things were just fine, but we all knew we were in trouble -- the Lock had outsourced the construction of a whole fleet of 787s to some little company in India. The union raised a huge stink, but the corporate brass stood their ground. They couldnt take the overhead any more, and we were part of it. I guess it didnt become obvious until the day we got the note...
Our division was being taken off defence related stuff. The Lock needed to diversify, it said, and we were gonna be the guinea pigs in a whole new era of... well, we werent too sure, but something. Along with the memo tho was a list of internet links we were told to study: at first I thought this was just some corporate prank (the guys upstairs love to pull that kind of stuff) -- I mean, I deal with aeronautical specifications, right? So why was I looking at sites for Versace and Montana?
Because the company said so, that's why. So overnight we went from air flow resistance factors to understanding the drape of a good piece of French linen. Turns out it was the boss's wife's idea -- she saw those fifty thousand dollar dresses on Fashion TV and told her hubby there was the stuff that was gonna save the Lock's butt. He wanted some tail that night, I guess, because he agreed
Sure, some of the guys were a little resistant. We got kidded pretty mercilessly in the division meetings. But then we saw it as a challenge. After all, it's just engineering, right? Build something so it doesnt fall down -- or, in this case, off. Our first releases -- okay, not so good. We were still learning, after all, and I guess it takes a while to understand that rivets dont work on cloth and skin the same way they do on metal. But we persevered...
... and now, five years later, we're the toast of Milan. I have my own collection premiering this month in Paris, and I'm really excited. The theme is "The Art of the Mobile Land-Based Interceptor : a Theoretical and Stylistic Analysis". Wasnt my first choice for a title, but you know how Corporate can be -- always have to keep up the image.
Yeah, the Lock's doing fine with the defence contracts, but they've let us remain. Good for PR, they say. A chance to show the "human side of the technologically advance defence industry". Me, I just like to take that six yards of triple-dyed black Chinese silk and make it into something that will make America proud!! Take THAT, Bei-jing!!
Gotta go. The guys at Northrup are showing their spring collection in about thirty minutes, and I want a good seat. They got into this late, and it shows: silly fools dont even know the difference between gabadine and codouroy. What a bunch of amateurs -- this should be a riot.
