Act V: Manager at Sea NARRATOR: A HIGH-TECH JOB FAIR, ONE OF MANY AROUND SAN DIEGO…THIS IS WHERE
THE OLD ECONOMY MEETS THE NEW. HUNDREDS OF JOB-SEEKERS, MANY OF THEM REFUGEES FROM THE OLD SMOKESTACK INDUSTRIES, HUNT FOR ONE OF THE HARD-TO-FIND TICKETS INTO THE WORLD OF HIGH-TECH OPPORTUNITY. MANY OF THESE MEN AND
WOMEN ARE LIKE GHOSTS IN THE NEW SAN DIEGO ECONOMY. SINCE THEY HOLD SOME KIND OF JOB, THEY DO NOT APPEAR IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS. BUT THEY DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT SKILLS TO JOIN THE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ELITE, AND
OTHERS OFTEN THINK THEM TOO OLD TO START OVER. Gary Randhahn: “Gary Randhahn. How’re you doing?” NARRATOR: FOR MANY OF THEM, THE AMERICAN
DREAM IS RUNNING IN REVERSE. Gary Randhahn: “I’m trying to get back into either logistics, facilities management.” NARRATOR: IN AN ‘UP’
ECONOMY, THEY’RE MOVING DOWN.ONE OF THOSE GHOSTS IS FIFTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD GARY RANDHAHN. Randhahn: “- uh - I’m looking for something in facilities management.”man at booth:
“It’d probably be a starting position.” Randhahn: “That’s fine.” Randhahn: “- uh - I was logistics engineer for Northrop.” 2nd man at booth: “Would you like to leave your resume?” Randhahn: “OK, I can do that.”
NARRATOR: RANDHAHN AND HIS FAMILY LIVE IN THE UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS TOWN OF POWAY, OUTSIDE SAN DIEGO. WITH ITS LARGE HOMES AND NEATLY KEPT LAWNS, IT’S ONE OF THE LAST PLACES YOU
WOULD EXPECT TO FIND THE JOB INSECURITY OF THE NEW ECONOMY.GARY SPENT TWENTY YEARS IN THE NAVY AND REACHED THE RANK OF COMMANDER. AFTER RETIRING, HE GOT A JOB WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN, WHICH HAD A CONTRACT WITH THE
NAVY’S TOP GUN FIGHTER SCHOOL. RANDHAHN WAS PUT IN CHARGE OF MAINTAINING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF AIRCRAFT, OVERSEEING MORE THAN A HUNDRED EMPLOYES. HIS SALARY REACHED SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. BUT IN 1995, LOCKHEED
MARTIN LOST THE CONTRACT, AND RANDHAHN LOST HIS JOB. GARY RANDHAHN: I probably sent a hundred resumes out in the first six months or eight months.PAT RANDHAHN: I didn’t think
he’d have trouble getting another job. When he first got out of the Navy he had lots of offers. And I just assumed it - it would be like that. DARREN RANDHAHN: Months went by -- a year went by - no job - you know,
it’s like what are going to do? NARRATOR: AT TWENTY-TWO, DARREN RANDHAHN IS THE YOUNGEST OF GARY’S SONS. HE AND HIS TWO BROTHERS, KEITH, TWENTY-SEVEN, AND GREG, TWENTY-FIVE, LIVE
WITH THEIR PARENTS AND HELP WITH THE MONTHLY RENT. KEITH RANDHAHN: You know, he’s my father so I look up to him of course. But I know he’s a valuable asset to any company, and
that companies would overlook him for someone who’s junior or less qualified - um - it’s just kind of amazing to me ’cause I know the kind of work he can do and the things that he has done in his life.GREG RANDHAHN:
Every time he’d get a card back saying, “Sorry, you’re overqualified,” or “Sorry,” whatever, for whatever reason it may be, you can see him hurt. He won’t admit it, but he’s back out there the next day with a paper
sending out resumes. And he doesn’t give up. NARRATOR: GARY RANDHAHN TRIED TO ADAPT BY UPGRADING HIS TECHNICAL SKILLS. HE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL FOR TWO YEARS AND COMPLETED TWO
GRADUATE-LEVEL PROGRAMS, ONE OF THEM HERE AT SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY. GARY RANDHAHN: So I went through one program thinking that “OK, I’ve distanced myself from the defense
industry. I should have a better chance for a job.” NARRATOR: BUT ANOTHER YEAR WENT BY, AND GARY STILL COULDN’T FIND A JOB.
Gary Randhahn: “We have two type of boxes.” NARRATOR: FINALLY, HE LOWERED HIS SIGHTS. HE TOOK A JOB AT A HARDWARE STORE AT TEN DOLLARS IN HOUR, ROUGHLY ONE-THIRD OF HIS OLD
SALARY. Randhahn: “Can I help you with something, sir?”GARY RANDHAHN: I came to the realization that I’m not going to get a high-paying job like I had previously because no
one wants to give me that kind of a chance. Randhahn: “Are you putting three switches in it or…” GARY RANDHAHN: I’m applying for jobs now that are maintenance worker jobs. - uh - I applied for a job as a meter
reader for the city of Poway because at least, if I can get into a city job, there is some advancement. Where I am now, I’m not going to go anywhere. PAT RANDHAHN: We’re using our retirement now. We’re taking out of
our retirement monthly to survive. We bought our home at a time when homes were very high-priced. They’ve since lost value, so we can’t even sell our home and move to a smaller home. - uh - we’re kind of stuck between a
rock and a hard spot right now. NARRATOR: GARY’S FAILURE TO FIND A JOB HAS DEALT A SERIOUS BLOW TO HIS SONS’ EXPECTATIONS FOR THEIR OWN FUTURE. KEITH RANDHAHN: It’s been kind of a crash course in realism here. If somebody has all this experience and all this education and is capable of running, you know, multi-million dollar - basically - business -
uh - can’t find a position, what does the future hold for me? NARRATOR: KEITH EARNED HIS MBA FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO. HE NOW WORKS IN THE PRODUCE DEPARTMENT AT VONS
GROCERY STORE. GREG WORKS IN THE LIQUOR DEPARTMENT AT A DIFFERENT VONS STORY, AND DARREN IS A CHECKER AT A THIRD VONS. AT FOURTEEN DOLLARS AN HOUR, DARREN, THE YOUNGEST, IS THE HIGHEST PAID MEMBER OF THE FAMILY.
GARY RANDHAHN: Everybody in the house is working part-time except for me. Could any one of them in - any one of the people in this house live on their own on that part-time salary? No.
All three of my sons - twenty to twenty-five hours a week is all that they’ll get because that’s the way society seems to be working now. It’s - it’s like we’ve got a - a throw-away - uh - employee. GREG RANDHAHN: I would like to have been out on my own by now. I mean I’m twenty-five years old. Same with - my brother’s saying the same thing. We are living at
home because we can’t afford to get out on our own. NARRATOR: FOR THE RANDHAHN BOYS, HIGHER EDUCATION HAS HELD OUT FALSE PROMISE. IN THE EARLY ’80S, KEITH’S MBA WOULD HAVE BEEN A
TICKET TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS. TODAY, IT SEEMS LIKE JUST A PIECE OF PAPER. AND HIS BROTHER DARREN HAS DRAWN A HARD LESSON. DARREN RANDHAHN: When I first started junior college at
Palomar, my parents were like, “Your number one concern is school, you know. Don’t worry about work.” And then Keith graduated from USD with his masters degree, and he had no job. And then my parents and I started
talking, saying maybe work is more important right now. Their - their attitude had - had changed after seeing Keith not being able to get a job. NARRATOR: FOR THE RANDHAHN
FAMILY, THE PROMISE OF SAN DIEGO’S HIGH-TECH CITY OF THE FUTURE IS A FANTASY. GREG RANDHAHN: I have a lot of friends in just this area here that all work for these places, that
work six months to eight months, and they’re laid off. They use them for the products they’re working on, and then they’re - they’re done. They’re over with, and then they’re back out looking for another job.GREG
RANDHAHN: I don’t want to -- every two years to go out and look for a new job and start all over. I want to be set somewhere where I’m looking towards a career, where I’m going to be with the same company. I don’t want
to have to change jobs thirty-forty times. I see the struggles my dad and my brother go through interviewing for jobs with the credentials and everything and being let down. GARY RANDHAHN: The masses are not
high-tech. I mean there’s an awful lot of Joe average working guys out there that need to be employed, not just the high-tech computer whiz kid or the scientist or the electric double-e, the electrical engineer. Not
everybody can do that. KEITH RANDHAHN: They say this is America’s finest city and - and this is the city of the future. But - uh - I - I think things are going to have to change a little bit - um - if this is going to
be the way of the future because people are not going to be able to afford to live making the incomes that they’re making and with the job insecurity in the job market as it is. Gary Randhahn: “That gives a chrono-
chronological listing of all the different kinds of things that I’ve done both in the Navy and - and after I got out.” SMITH: When you look back at your last four years, what was
the hardest moment for you? GARY RANDHAHN: The rejection at job after job interview. The thanks-but-no-thanks resumes. You know, I felt I had something to offer society, and I’m
seeing that I don’t. You know, that’s kind of disheartening. STAND-UP:AS THIS STORY AND OTHERS FROM THE SELF-PROCLAIMED “CITY OF THE FUTURE” SUGGEST, IT’S A MISTAKE TO FOCUS
ONLY ON THE SIZZLE AND GROWTH OF THE HIGH-TECH ECONOMY. WE IGNORE THE FATE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AT OUR PERIL. FOR MILLIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS, PEOPLE LIKE GARY RANDHAHN AND DIANE FRITTS, CHIP HOGUE AND THE
MITCHELLS, THE GUT ISSUE IS NOT JUST WORK, BUT WHAT KIND OF LIVES, WHAT KIND OF JOBS CAN THEY HAVE IN THE NEW ECONOMY AND WHAT KIND OF FUTURE LIES AHEAD FOR THEIR CHILDREN. THESE PEOPLE ALL KNOW HARD WORK, AND YET THEY
ARE FAR FROM BEING GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE UP TO THEIR POTENTIAL. THE MARKET IS DRIVING THEIR LIVES DOWNWARD, RAISING THE QUESTION, “CAN WE DO BETTER?” -- BETTER IN KEEPING GOOD JOBS IN AMERICA, RE-TRAINING AND
RE-POSITIONING GOOD PEOPLE CAST ASIDE BY CHANGE, BETTER PREPARING OUR CHILDREN FOR GLOBAL COMPETITION. IN OUR NEXT EPISODES, WE’LL SHOW YOU SOME REMARKABLE SUCCESS STORIES WITH IMPORTANT MESSAGES. PLEASE JOIN US. I’M
HEDRICK SMITH. THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US. [Back to top] |
