Paragraphs 20-21 outline Sherman's struggles with having to take time off of work for injuries. Who should be responsible for a person's livelihood if they get sick or are injured on the job? Why? But, like the bird, Sherman himself became a victim. He grew ill from his exposure to the chemicals. After his hydrocarbon burn, “My feet felt like clubs, and I couldn’t bend my legs and rise up, so the company doctor ordered me put on medical leave. I kept visiting the company doctor to see if I was ready to come back, but he kept saying I shouldn’t come back until I could do a deep knee bend.” Sherman took a medical leave of eight months and then returned to work. But not for long. In 1980, after 15 years of working at PPG, Sherman was summoned and found himself facing a seven-member termination committee.15 “They didn’t want to pay my medical disability,” he explains. “So they fired me for absenteeism. They said I hadn’t worked enough hours! They didn’t count my overtime. They didn’t discount time I took off for my Army Reserve duty. So that’s what I got fired for — absenteeism. They handed me my pink
slip. Two security guards escorted me to the parking lot.” Sherman slaps the table as if, decades later, he has just got fired again.