Commonwealth Edison has 6,600 employees, none as well known as Shermann Dilla Thomas, power grid manager by night, Chicago TikTok historian and roving South Side tour guide by day. Leading new Bears and Bulls players through Bronzeville on his custom luxury bus, appearing on television, pinballing around the internet, always giving props to his bosses at the electric company. That was the case, least, until ComEd fired Thomas in September.
“I cried for a week,” he said. “I loved being there.” Even more surprising is how it happened.
Thomas joined ComEd in 2011, as a meter reader, rising to meter technician, substation operator, then area operator. A safe union berth with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and an important job, a troubleshooter, literally keeping the lights on. “We manage the power grid for the city,” he said, as if he still worked there.
“If somebody downtown loses power, we’d get power restored. I was mostly underground, inside manholes.” But it’s hard to work at night and build your business during the day, while raising a family.
Thomas worked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.
m., arriving home in time to help get his younger kids — he has seven children, aged 4 to 26 — to school. “You’re a zombie,” he said.
“My wife would ask me every day what day it is, and I would say, ‘I have no idea.’” Meanwhile ComEd began to notice there was something special about this particular employee — the Sun-Times might have had a h.
