Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter
Keywords
Walter Angst, Swiss American Historical Society, autobiography
Abstract
In the spring of 1943, I was able to win a job with a large firm at the Zlirich branch of the "Therma" company. The main plant was in Schwanden, Canton Glarus, and produced electrical bakery ovens, household stoves, as well as refrigerators and air conditioning systems. I was hired as a heliographist, for the copying of technical drawings. Very soon I advanced phenomenally within the firm and for eight years I worked in various positions. I served in the office of chief engineer, kept the time-clock records, did the payroll, supervised the travels of the service personnel, and administered cash advances. For two years I even had my own office and an assistant to take care of the calculation of the profit-and-loss accrued from the time spent by the service personnel. Then, I was moved to the office for repairs of refrigerators, advancing to the position of the chief's assistant. In his absence, I had to supervise seven co-workers, but usually I answered the complaint telephone which required the knowledge of German, French and Italian. My main job was to evaluate service reports and assign prices to various replacement parts, treatments, and travel-times. This was often a task that called for diplomacy and thus I tried to temper the chief's maxim, "in dubio pro Therma," in case of doubt, find for the Therma, with compassion for the underdog.
Recommended Citation
Angst, Walter
(1988)
"Gaining a Measure of Success,"
Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter: Vol. 24:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_newsletter/vol24/iss2/7