A New Direction

Bankruptcy. It was the last word I ever expected to hear at Burlington Industries. I was hired on as a trainee there in 1971. Back then Burlington was the world's largest textile manufacturer, as solid as the mountains of North Carolina.

Thirty years later I was an executive, a training director, never having once thought about leaving my job—my home—in all those years. No doubt about it. My work was my life.

Until now.

The textile industry was in trouble. Factories had shut down, jobs were moving to Asia and Latin America, folks were out of work. But I never thought that Burlington would fail.

The day I heard about the Chapter 11 filing, I stood around the coffee machine talking in hushed tones with my colleagues. We weren't sure when, but we knew we'd be leaving Burlington.

"You're lucky, Jim," one of the guys told me. "You'll get a good severance and a decent unemployment check to boot. This is early retirement for you, buddy."

Lucky? Then why didn't I feel lucky? I was 58 years old, but I wasn't ready to stop working. Sure, lots of my friends had retired. They played golf, took cruises or went on cross-country RV adventures. That stuff just isn't for me, I thought. I hate golf. I'm not married. I don't have any kids or grandkids. My family was here at work.

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