My "Worldly" Employments - the end is near

I am afraid I don't have a long list of jobs like Grandpa (3 pages). In fact two of them total 33 years of my 42 employable years. Here goes...........
My first job was my senior year of high school. I got a job working for Sky Chef. They did the food for airline flights, as well as running restaurants inside airports. I worked at the Snack Bar inside the main terminal at Sky Harbor (now know as Terminal 2). I worked on the weekends, during the days, as I was playing baseball during the week after school. We didn't have a big food selection -- I remember serving -- hot dogs (they were kept on the rolling machine that turned the little puppies round and round, keeping them warm and/or cooking them), tacos (hard shell, I scooped in a spoonful of taco meat, threw on some tomatoes and lettuce, and wall-la), chips in a bag, and I sure there was more, but I don't remember much else, except for the ................... ice cream machine !!!!!!!!!!!!
The only reason, I took the job (not really). I used the make the biggest milk shake at the end of my shift and savor it all the way home. Of course I had to go thru a learning experience to get to that point. My first time, and of course after I was trained, I was left on my own to work the place, I put the milk first in the metal container, then added the ice cream, and tried to stir with the auto mixer.......what a mess !!!!! with customers standing there watching me. I figured it out though, and was soon a pro. Some days, I was needed in the restaurant to buss tables. Simple, right??? I never could quite master putting the tray on one hand over my head, so I use to carry it like a laundry basket in front of me. My boss soon had me back in the Snack Bar. I quit that job as school ended, because Darrell, David, and I planned a "Senior Graduation Trip", and I had worked long enough anyway. I don't remember how much I made, but it had to have been around $1.25 an hour (minimum wage). So 16 hrs a weekend, 2 weekends per pay, netted about $45 after taxes......big money, considering gas was 25 cents a gallon, and hamburgers were 15 cents.......
So as I started college, I was jobless my freshman year. I didn't have a car (parents were back in IN) and I didn't have any "backbone" to go out and get a job close to where we lived. I was pretty much a "leach" off my parents.
After joining the Church, Bob Kerr offered me a job working for him at Kerr Sporting Goods. WOW, you mean I would get paid for telling people about baseball gloves, golf clubs, and footballs. A dream come true. The store was inside the now gone Thomas Mall at 44th St. and Thomas (kitty corner from the B of A that Rennie worked at). The store was around 2000 sq ft, not real huge. I worked the retail floor during the next couple of months. I remember working with Gary Gentry. He had just completed his first year with the New York Mets in their farm system. Wow, a real baseball player. He had played at ASU, and was a rookie with the "Miracle Mets" when they won the series in 1969. Thus, I never saw him again at Kerr's. As school started, I moved to the warehouse in shipping and receiving. The warehouse was our back room of the store, it was about 20 x 20. We were inside the mall, so deliveries had to be wheeled in thru the mall doors, then thru our back door, down a hall, and into the stock room. I would then check in the goods, and either price and put it out front, set it aside to go to Christown (our other store at 19th Ave and Bethany Home), or separate items by the school they were for. We sold directly to schools as well as retail business. So I would put boxes on the dolly, and take them back out the doors to the van for delivery. One day, as I was doing my routine, mundane back and forth loading, I had 4 cases of tennis balls on the dolly. I use to come to the glass doors, push the boxes against the door and push it open (instead of backing out), this day I must have been in la la land, as I pushed the load into the door, and broke the entire glass pane out.......what a goof!!!!
I probably made the "run" to Christown about 200 times a year for the next 3 years. I also delivered to the schools. So I got a chance to see the Valley. Glendale Community College on the far west to Mesa CC on the east. North to Paradise Valley and south to Phoenix Union HS Dist. Christmas was the craziest.
Business was good, so we expanded. We had an empty suite behind us, so it was converted into office space, and we poured a cement 2nd floor. It was a great idea, except upstairs you couldn't stand completely up strait, so it was a back breaking effort to take boxes upstairs. I had graduated from ASU (BS in Business Administration). With that I moved into the office. I helped with purchasing and did inside sales. Inside sales included Pop Warner teams, Little League team, Legion teams, softball teams, and anyone else that wanted sports equipment or uniforms. It was pretty interesting, except to have to sit there and listen to the "softball fanatics" tell about how good their teams were, when some of them didn't have a clue what they were talking about.
One sad memory I have is about Alberta McAlister who was our receptionist/bookkeeper. She was the mom of Larry McAlister, a kid I went to HS with. It seems like she was there a couple of years. One day, she went to the restroom and was gone a long time. When someone checked on her, she was on the floor. She had a stroke and died in the restroom. I don't remember who found her, but I do remember the paramedics showing up and taking her away (which brought back memories of when my dad died).
Business continued to do well. We moved up the mall to the old S&H Green Stamp store (anyone younger than Mignon and me won't have a clue). It was a huge store, maybe ten times bigger than what we were in. We had a huge stockroom, a working area for receiving, and offices for 2 people in reception, me, Tim Myers, Bob K., three outside sales, and a "showroom". The store was a amazing compared to what we had, Bob and Mary Ellen (Bodine) designed the layout, shoe dept, golf dept, hunting & fishing, and more......times were good.
One of my favorite deliveries (NOT) was from Bell Foundry -- weights. Back in the old location, we use to wheel those suckers in the doors, down the hall, and into the store.....it took forever. Now the flatbed truck would pull up to the back of our store, we would open the our double doors to the warehouse and wheel everything in. Only now, we doubled and tripled the orders to include like 48 sets of 110 lbs with the barbells, 48 pair of 25# plates, 48 pair of 50# plates, and dumbells. It was definitely a work out. It was always a "treat" to get in shipments of softball uniforms. To see the new look, colors, and styles. The same with new shoes and new equipment. I remember when aluminum softball bats came out. The first ones had a wood knob in the handle, and they weighed a "ton". As time went on they were more contoured and shaped, and made of composite material and better balanced. Then came the aluminum baseball bat. It weighed "2 tons", to withstand the speed of a baseball pitched at it. Soon they were composite made, but I remember taking back many a bat from ASU that was cracked or broken (Rawlings/Adirondak). Converse was our big shoe line when I first started. Then the whole athletic shoe industry evolved. Adidas came on the market, then Nike, Blue Ribbon Sports, New Balance, and others. Hyde/Spotbilt was no longer "the" football/baseball name--Adidas and Nike had taken over that market. The same with basketball, Nike and Adidas were the shoes to have, but Converse hung in there. While canvas was the shoe in the 60's, leather was now the best. Speaking of leather, my best glove was a Nokona kangaroo glove. It was soft, pliable, and pretty durable (I think I still have it). I am guessing it was around $50 (a pretty penny back then). Oh how times have changed. In the 70's there was no big sporting goods stores, no Sports Authority, Big Five, not even big box stores like Wal Mart, etc. All the "strickly" sporting goods stores were privately owned. The Sears and Pennys type stores didn't carry much of a selection. But that all changed as well.
Nike, in their effort to promote their shoe line, talked us into buying season tickets to the Suns. We had somewhere around 20 tickets in the nose bleed section and 4 on the 2nd row at the corner of the visiting team bench. We would give the nose bleeders to schools for promo. And the good seats were used by the employees. It was a whole new game down on the floor, seeing and "smelling" the action. The price tag was pretty huge, I don't remember how much, but costly.
One day, 3 guys came through the door from the store, carrying sawed off shotguns and hand guns, dressed grubby and long hair and beards. A robbery???? No, they were police task force working a drug bust. It was supposed to go down outside our back door. As they looked out our big glass window they determined they needed to get closer to the car in the parking lot. So we loaded them into our box delivery van and drove it out in the lot next to the car that was identified. I am not sure who drove, but it wasn't me. After waiting and watching for I don't know how long, nothing went down. A bust gone bad, but pretty exciting for a while.
11:40 I better hit the sack -- to be continued....
Tues, 2/5/08, 9:47pm ---
Linda and I had moved to Mesa in June 1972 (Michael was 2, Jeremy 1 month). We were north of Southern and West of Dobson, 4 bed, 2 ba, 1400 sq ft for $24,000. Mesa was booming. Everything to the south was being developed fast. I am not sure how much pull I had, but it was decided to open a store in Mesa. Fiesta Mall wasn't even a thought at the time we wanted to open, so we chose the NW corner of Southern and Dobson, in the Bayless shopping center. The store was 1600 sq ft. We went in and did all the wall fixtures and displays ourselves. We figured we were pros after seeing what was done at the TM store. Business was real slow at first. We hired a wrestling coach from Fremont Jr High to run the store, Steve Hirko. He was great at getting out to the schools and promoting, as well as Little Leagues and softball teams. Oh yes, softball. Mesa was growing fast, and so was their softball program. The Parks and Rec Dept soon had a Triple A League that was one of the best in the valley. The league played at Ellworth Park. Which was a decent park back then. But lots of teams developed in Mesa, busniess sponsored and church teams, men and young men. Thus our uniform business thrived. Out Kerr team was one of the best in the state. They traveled to other states to play in all the major tourneys. They went to Chicago or St. Louis to play big ball (16") and did well. They had several good players, and a guy named Al Schmeltz that had pitched for the Mets. Another was Elby Bushong, a Phoenix Fireman. He was about 6' 4" and weighed 220 lbs., built well, and in great shape. He became well known through out the West. Every guy on the team was big, except the shortstop and the center fielder. They could score 20 to 30 runs or more with just a few swings of the bat. That team gave us a great return on our investment. They always had the best uniforms and equipment, but the advertising was worth it.
I was back to being a "delivery boy". Each night I would take the van home, and drop off merchandise to the store, and pick up whatever they had to go back to the TM or CT (Christown) stores. Bob took good care of me, I will always be greatful for he and Mary Ellen. As I moved to Mesa, he fronted us money to put down on the house, and they gave me a vehicle to drive back and forth with, it was his Mom's Chevy Impala that was being retired (she had bought a newer car). An older car, but it ran. Later, when the Mesa store opened, I drove the Kerr van back and forth.
I failed to mention that Bob's dad, Dick Kerr, started the business at a small location on 16th St., just north of Thomas Rd. Then Christown was opened, and then Thomas Mall. The 16th St store was closed in the mid 60's. Mr. Kerr passed away in 69 or 70. He had health problems. So Bob took over the business (He would have been 30 or 31).
As I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a "plethera" of sporting goods stores. Marston's (central Phoenix), Pinney-Robinson (Thomas and Central), Morris Sporting Goods (Scottsdale), and nothing in Mesa. Until the population boom hit, and they it was like everyone wanted to be in the sporting goods business.
Everyone year, we would go the NSGA show. The National Sporting Goods Association show, held at the Anaheim Convention Center in October. The really big show was held at McCormick Place in Chicago in February, but it was too cold and too far for us. It never got old making the trip to Cal, and neither did Disneyland. So each year I "dragged" the family to Dland (a whole nother story). The show was a treat. Seeing the new stuff, shoes, bats, uniforms, etc. Meet the big shots from the factory, and even get to shake hands with the Pros, ie Steve Garvey. One year the show was here in Phoenix at the Civic Plaza. There wasn't enough room in the Plaza floor, so they put booths in the parking garage. It was never held here again. I did the show for 10 or so years.
With our Suns tickets and our business success, we were able to do more "promos". I got to meet Paul Westphal, Alvin Adams, and Walter Davis as they signed autographs. Pretty neat for a kid and even an adult.
As we continued doing well. A fourth store was opened at the new Paradise Valley Mall. This was late 1979 or early 1980. Bob committed to a lease, then had a little trouble getting a loan to build. We took out an SBA loan, and the store was built (Prime Interest rates were around 14 or 16%). The layout and decor was a masterpiece. Business was slow. The area had not boomed as fast as expected. The economy had slowed big time. The store was a big drain on our cash flow, and the slowing economy didn't make things any better. Things weren't going well and we were not doing well. We got behind on rent at PV, and eventually had to close the store. We were able to get everything out, without the landlord locking us out. But not so at CT. We moved out of CT on New Year's Eve without the mangement know it. We were able to get all the merchandise out, but left the fixtures. Not an honest thing to do, but necessary to survive. When the lease ran out at Mesa, we closed it as well. Actually, Fiesta Mall opened in 78 or 79, and they had a sporting goods store go in (can't remember who). Soon, all that was left was Thomas Mall store. The only reason they didn't kick us out, was that they couldn't lease the space because of the economy situation, so they allowed us to stay with partial rent payments. We had let most everyone go. I soon was worried about my future. I had made friends with Richard Gooch thru Church softball. He had played on Tempe 3rd ward team, that we had beat (Alma 3rd) to go to Prescott (another story). He was the district manager for Wang Laboratories, a computer/software company. When he heard about our/my dilema, he offered me a job. I found out later, that he really didn't have a spot open, but when Richard wanted something, he got it. I took the job. I hated to leave Bob, I always felt I should "go down with the ship" as I owed him big time. But, I did have a family to care for, so I moved on.....(1982???). Bob gave me the Kerr van as a parting gift. Which saved me with a 2nd vehicle.
Bob kept the doors opened for a little while, and then had to file bankruptcy. He then went into real estate, and other jobs. I didn't see or talk with him for years. One Saturday (early 90's), Mignon and I were at Rosa's, and there he was, with Mary Ellen. They had moved to Mesa. A few months later I went to their house, and we had a great visit, discussing old times.......
After 14 years with one employer it was difficult starting another job. I was now 34, and 14 years in a "small family owned business" was not great credentials for a large structured company. Wang had 33,000 employees in it's prime. It was headquartered in Boston, MA. Our district office in Phoenix took in LV, SLC, and Tucson. My job was order processing. We received the orders from the offices, made sure the numbers were right, that the configurations were right, and verified all the info. Then submitted the orders to Home Office (Boston). It was always down to the end of the month. The salesmen and District Managers had to make "booking numbers" to keep their jobs. So Richard would sometimes have Vance and/or me fly the orders back to Boston. Orders could be anywhere from 300K to 1 million dollars) Later, I would become a "revenue specialist", which required me to make sure orders were shipped out of the factory to make "Revenue numbers" for the sales guys and Richard as District Mgr. With that Richard would send me back to Boston to meet the people at the factory that could help us accomplish our numbers. Aren't we all working for the same company and the same goals?? It was pretty cut throat. Anyway, I got to see Boston, and Chelmsford, and Lowell. I remember being there once in early November. There was no snow on the ground, but it was the worst freezing cold I can ever remember being in. We toured the harbor, saw the old Church (Paul Revere's midnight ride, ask me about the poem), and the historic cemetary. Later when we went back for Jackson's mission tour, I revisited some of those same spots. We had District Meetings periodically. One I remember was at Heber City, UT. We had a few hours of meetings, but spent the majority of the time having fun. Going down the "ski trough ride in a cart", riding 3 wheelers in the pines, playing softball, and eating (this was summer time).
Our District Controller, had a run in with upper management, it seemed he didn't have enough schooling, and was one of Gooch's "puppets", so he quit or was forced out. Gooch lobbied for me to get the position, but the LA boys wouldn't have it. In the mean time, Richard delayed the fulfilling of the position. So, I temporarily filled the slot as District Controller. I now had to perform more duties, more communication with LA and Home Office. I also had to attend Monthly reporting meetings with Richard. Each month we had to report on the previous months business numbers. There was always big pressure on the sales force to make their numbers, bookings (orders entered), revenue (order shipped), and expenses (under budget). We every smoke and mirror, dog and pony show to dazzle the upper management. The problem was, they didn't buy into it, even though Richard thought we had been successful at snowing them. Richard was a great PR guy, and a great motivator. He adopted the Boy Scout eagle as "his own" reward trophy, and he gave them out constantly, sometimes for no reason. He did influence me to the "art" of taping great moments for use in motivating my Teachers and Priests in later years. We went to LA, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, and Dallas. Richard always made sure we saw the sites and ate good food. I had my first real lobster in Boston, not just a little tail, but the entire lobster was on a plate. We went down the famous winding curvey street in San Fran, and road the same street in Dallas where JFK was shot. Gooch should have been a travel agent. Eventually, a controller was put in place by upper management. And the controllers were now under the Area office, thus no longer influenced by their District Manager.
Wang was created by Dr. Ann Wang, a very intelligent man, who worked for IBM. He left IBM, got a patent on his word processing system, and started his own company. Wang was doing well for a few years, but they wouldn't allow their equipment to be compatible with IBM. Then they tried to fight IBM with a big advertising program. And they went down fast. That and with Dr. Wang getting older, and having a son that did not have the same desire or expertise to run the business caused the company to go downhill. In our Western Area offices were being consolidated and people were being laid off. We had the choice to relocate to Denver, or look for another job.
I might mention at this point, when I left Kerr's I took a pay cut. Richard tried to get me extra hours and overtime, but I was still under what I was used to. Our stake had been divided and ward realigned, so we were now in Alma 4th ward. Clarence Martin and I became friends. He "introduced" me to the world of adult paper carrier. I started throwing a route while I worked at Wang. I would do the route at 1am to 4 or 5am, sleep for an hour or so, and be to work by 8am (another story).
Back to Wang, so after about 3 years at Wang, the branch closed. I received a severance package, so I had a little to get by on.....as I began a quest for a new job. Vance Blair and I went to sign up for unemployment, but I didn't qualify, as I had other income as a "paperboy". Vance and I tried delivering phone books for "Dex" or whatever they were called. What an experience that was. We were in South Phoenix (scary) and Scottsdale, made very little money, so that didn't last too long.
I sent my resume out wherever I could. I remember answering an add for a assistant controller. I got a call one day from Robert Lechner, the guy that was hired as the controller for Wang (he and I became somewhat friends, as I had to fill him in on everything that was going on when he first came on board at Wang). So he had left Wang with the shakeup and had gotten a job at Eyeco (a retail eyeglass business) and was looking for an assistant controller. I went to the interview and was hired. I can't remember exactly now, but I wasn't out of work for more that a week or so, before this job. I went to the interview and was hired. One small challenge--the year before the whole Wang thing came to an end, I got this big idea to buy a new house and moved my family to Gilbert (Arboleta south of Elliot) and Eyeco was at 32nd St. and Shea in Phoenix. Ouch!!! Well, I had a job, so I gave it the old "college try". I took Lindsay north to Mckellips, then to Mcdowell, then to Pima (the 101 wasn't built yet), then north to Shea, then west to 32nd St. Oh, I was still throwing papers, now in Gilbert. I started at oneish, and ended at 4 or 5, slept an hour, and tried to make it to work by 8.....I don't know how I did it.
I worked at Eyeco for almost 3 years, 1985 to 1988 roughly. Eyeco was taken over by Lincoln Savings (who was the lender for Eyeco, so when they defaulted on their loans, LS took over the operation). Lincoln Savings was owned by American Continental Corp. or Charles Keating (look him up on wikipedia). I never met him. I was now back into the retail business, where I had some experience. Eyeco owned 5 stores in the valley, and 2 in LV. I travelled to all the stores for inventory, audits of their sales records, and equipment verification. The two LV mall stores were at Meadows and Fashion Show. The valley stores were Christown, Westridge (83rd and Thomas), Glendale Mall (59th and Glendale ??), Paradise Valley, and Tri-City. For lunch almost everyday, I would drive to the Dairy Queen on Sweetwater and 7th St (???) get a chocolate milk shake, got to an LDS Church parking lot, sleep for 30 minutes, and then back to work.
One day as I got to Pima road, it was blocked off. Only the east side was blocked off, the west side was open. It seems the Salt River Tribe owned the east side and the City of Scottsdale owne the west, and there was a dispute over their agreement. So for the next few weeks, I used Hayden north. As I became comfortable at Eyeco, things were happening. American Continental didn't want to continue running and eyeglass operation, so it was announced that Eyeco was being sold to Eyemaster. So if we wished to remain with Eyeco we would have to move to Texas, or look for another job. Texas wasn't an option, so I would be back on the job hunt.
Don (Organ) had been saying for years that Bio Huma Netics could sure use me. But they were having financial difficulties and the time was never right. When he found out I was going to be out of a job, he said I should come out to BHN and talk with Darwin Bentz. I did just that and began working at BHN in August of 1988. Who would have known that I would still be there 19 1/2 years later.
My first day at BHN was my last day with Linda. Out divorce would be finalized in November.
I started a t BHN in the same office that I am now in. Only I had a table for a desk, and Laurie Fackler worked in the same room. It took me awhile to get use to the operation. Darwin and Laurie Brewster did the invoicing, and Laurie F. processed payables. Del Stout wrote checks, as well as Darwin. It was kind of dis-jointed. The winter months were slow for business. So as spring started that next year things picked up. The management/owners had a growth agenda. And in the next months we opened offices in almost every major agriculture city in the West. Safford, Yuma, Blythe, El Centro, Indio, Tulare, Modesto, Pasco, Nampa, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, and Enterprise. I am sure I've left some out, but that is close for now. We set up blending plants in about 6 of the offices. That required tanks, mixing tanks, and all sorts of equipment. Our employees grew to around 110, 55 pickup trucks, and equipment galore. In the spring, I was still involved in Easter Pageant. One of the "prop people" who had lead me thru the curtain after the "Oh Jerusalem" scene because of the lighting change was Mignon Hallows. The 12 Apostles hooked us up, we dated a couple of weeks, and was married on May 5, 1989. As business grew, our accounting department needed to grow. I hired Mignon, Kenny Martin, Carrie Martin (Kenny's sister). The next thing I know we bought the building to the south of us, 203 S. Roosevelt. The owners moved into remodeled offices over there and the accounting dept. moved as well. Eventually, we added Clarence Martin, Darrell Fackler, Shawn Owens, and Lois Waters (friend of Mignon's). During the summer, Jeremy, Steele, Luke, and Melanie worked in various departments. Bruce Bach did purchasing and Bryan Foose tracked equipment. Others who came and went were Kathy Petersen, Bret Petersen, Pam Shorey, Lorna Farnsworth, Brandi ??, Jenny ??, Tamara Broadbent, and others.....such as Ray Russell, Andy Arnold, and Carl Forsberg. Diane Heath was working at 201 S. when I first started as an admin person for Don. 89 and 90 were hectic years, we hit 20 million in sales. I couldn't keep up with the growth, it was too fast and furious. The managers in the field were unskilled at running offices. We had also started at packing plant in Pasco, Wa. as well as a marketing group in Visalia to broker produce. We had a warehouse at 1 and 3 N. Roosevelt, as well as a lab. The lab had a chemist (Roy), an assistant chemist (PJ), and 2 helpers, Wendy and my son, Michael. Dave Stout was the formula guru, and quality control guy. We hired Bruce Munns (he was married to Mignon's sister Sherrie) to setup, build and maintain the mixing plants. We bought an airplane, acquired a leasing company, and did "circles" with John Dexter. We grew too big, too fast and it all came crashing down in 91-92. The next thing we were forced into bankruptcy. The trucks, equipment, and airplane were reposessed. The unsecured creditors were represented by some sleazball attorneys - Dillingham and Cross. They were after blood, or at least money for the creditors. The problem was, the attorneys got 1/2 million, and the creditors got no money, just stock. It was unbelievable. A trustee was appointed by the Bankruptcy Court. His name was Paul Snyder. He essentially oversaw the daily operations and expenditures. He ousted the original 5 owners. Lyndon Smith, Jordan's son, who was brought back on into marketing.......took over as President, Mike Boyd and I became VP's fill out the officer list.
I will write more later............