Former Hartz worker struggling to cope

Sept. 12, 2006
By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon @ fredericknewspost . com

FREDERICK— When Diana Shrout goes to bed at night, she doesn't know what her state of mind will be when she wakes up.
     On a good day, she drinks two cups of instant coffee before sitting at her computer to hunt for a job.
     During bad days, she just stays in bed.
     Ms. Shrout is one of more than 70 nonunion workers Hartz & Co. laid off within the past two months.
     Hartz, a men's clothing manufacturer in Frederick since 1931, plans to shut down and lay off its workforce by Oct. 13. The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating whether foreign competition led to the layoffs.
    New York-based Individualized Apparel Group expressed interest in buying Hartz last month, possibly saving about 230 union jobs, but the deal has not been finalized.
    “I was laid off Aug. 11 after being there over half my life,” Ms. Shrout said Thursday in the living room of her Frederick home. “It's not like you can just get another job tomorrow — this is a whole new world for me.”
    She has never been unemployed since she started working as a sales clerk at Eyerly's Department Store in Frederick Towne Mall at age 15.
    Now she works part-time as a pharmacy tech at a CVS Pharmacy.

Beginning at Hartz
    Ms. Shrout was 22 when she started working as a file clerk at Hartz in 1978. By 1992, she had advanced to a production planner, responsible for coordinating the jobs in each department.
    In that time, she grew close with owner Sigmund Stanley Hartz and the staff she supervised.
    Mr. Hartz would visit with each of the workers, and knew everyone by name, she said.
    “If he knew you had a problem, he'd try to get it out of you,” Ms. Shrout said. “He made it his business to know your business.”
    She remembered Mr. Hartz encouraged her to drink black coffee. Cream and sugar spoiled the true taste of the coffee, he would say.
    “There's no coffee better than Hartz black coffee, no matter what, Starbucks or anything,” she said.
    After Mr. Hartz died in 1996, the company planted an oak tree near the workshop to honor his memory.
    On Thursday, Ms. Shrout brought out a picture of Mr. Hartz.
    “I used to keep it in my office so he could watch over us at work,” she said. “Now I keep it in my bedroom, and I miss him so much.”
    She stared at the picture then turned it over to read from a poem an anonymous Hartz employee wrote for Mr. Hartz' funeral.
“... His door was always open if you had a burden you couldn't bear, and if he couldn't solve your problem he'd get you special care. All of us are here I'm sure with one strong message to send, We respect him as our employer and we loved him as our friend ...”
“Hartz was good to me, they saw me raise my kids,” she said. “They were there for me, helped me grow, they gave me a career and a life.”
    Ms. Shrout has two children, Kelsie Esworthy, 18 and Kurtis Esworthy, 23.
    When Ms. Shrout began to suspect the company was shutting down, she started to prepare herself. She took out a second mortgage on her home, consolidated her credit cards and reduced spending.
    “When there was no more production to monitor, I was gone,” she said. “It was really sad to see the lights go out when each department shut down.”

Employment remains elusive
    Ms. Shrout joined dozens of other former Hartz employees last month in filling out applications with a subsidiary of Individualized Apparel Group with the hope of being rehired if the plant is bought.
“I'm a planner, that's what they taught me to do,” she said. “But, now I need a plan to find a job.” Ms. Shrout keeps a manila folder next to her computer, a record of every job she has applied for over the past month. Few have responded. “Even though it's just been three weeks, it feels like a lifetime,” she said. “God is my rock and he will take care of me on his time.”
    The Frederick County Workforce Services center helped her write a resume. She didn't use any fancy resume paper — just regular copy paper.
    “Here is my first resume I ever typed,” she said as she held it up. “This is what I look like on paper.”
    She stared at the page while her hand slowly traced the lines of text, then sighed and patted the resume.
    Ms. Shrout flipped through one rejection notice after another. She opened her unemployment log, which is filled with more than 20 names of prospective employers.
    “Why even write them down anymore, I gave up,” she said as she gathered the pages into the folder. “Even though we may not have the computer skills you need in that world out there, we are dedicated and responsible and we can learn.”
    While she searches, Ms. Shrout has been collecting unemployment benefits. The best-paying job she's applied for since leaving Hartz offered $9.75 an hour, she said.
    Ms. Shrout has been learning computer programs, such as Microsoft Excel and Word, at the workforce center in hopes it will help her find a job.
    Former Hartz employees might find work in biotechnology manufacturing, one of several high demand industries in Frederick County, according to the center. Other work possibilities include hospitality and retail, truck driving, financial services, construction and health care.
    “They tell me there is a lot of opportunity out there, but no one calls you back,” she said. “They want me to go back to school, but I'm 50 years old — It's depressing.”
    Even through Ms. Shrout is willing to work in another industry, she would prefer to return to the company that helped shape her life.
    “Hartz is my family and my friends,” she said. “I hope everything works out with the new buyers and for all of us at Hartz — even the ones that are already gone.”