Tuesdays with Gindy The Contest

When I think of Papa, what stands out in my mind is that he could set his mind to do something and he would accomplish his goals.

He loved to sell.  When he worked for National Cash Register (NCR), he was always either the number one salesman or number two. 

Papa Bruce loved a contest.  He once told me that it did not matter if the prize was just a pint of pee-pee, he wanted to win it.

Several of the salesman decided that the only way they could ever win a contest against him was if he didn't know there was a contest.

They kept one contest a secret. On the very last day of the contest, the salesman who was in the lead taunted Papa. 

He told him there were only a few hours left and there was no way Papa could win.

As soon as Papa found out about it, he got on the phone and called around and got enough purchase orders called in to win that contest.  .

As I recall, the prize was a small portable color television.  The television sat on top of my parent’s chest of drawers in their bedroom for several years.

One of the people he called was the bowling man from another story.

He loved a challenge. In fact, challenges kept him going.  I think it was that adrenaline rush that he looked for.

I truly admire my father.  I look up to him and I have learned from him. He means all the world to me. And I love him.

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McClendon Studios Presents: The Contest

McClendon Studios Presents:

The Contest

When I think of Papa, what stands out in my mind is that he could set his mind to do something and he would accomplish his goals.

He loved to sell.  When he worked for National Cash Register (NCR), he was

always either the number one salesman or number two. 

Papa Bruce loved a contest.  He once told me that it did not matter if the prize was just a pint of pee-pee, he wanted to win it.

Several of the salesman decided that the only way they could ever win a contest against him was if he didn't know there was a contest.

They kept one contest a secret. On the very last day of the contest, the salesman who was in the lead taunted Papa. He told him there were only a few hours left and there was no way Papa could win.

As soon as Papa found out about it, he got on the phone and called around and got enough purchase orders called in to win that contest.  .

As I recall, the prize was a small portable color television.  The television sat on top of my parent’s chest of drawers in their bedroom for several years.

One of the people he called was the bowling man from another story.

He loved a challenge. In fact, challenges kept him going.  I think it was that adrenaline rush that he looked for.

I truly admire my father.  I look up to him and I have learned from him. He means all the world to me. And I love him.

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Saving Face

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Happy Valentines Day Some vendors write contracts with stores which basically agree that if you sell a particular amount of their product in a particular way you will get rebates or get the merchandise at discounted prices. Our Western Auto Store in Iva, South Carolina sold cigarettes at exactly what we paid for them. When we started out, we were selling three packs of premium brands, like Winston and Marlboro, for only 80¢. So, we sold a lot of them. One day the representative from a cigarette company informed my father that they had raised the number of cartons we had to sell in order to receive a rebate check. We more than satisfied this minimum, yet the idea that the bar had been raised ticked my father off. He kicked a hole through the wooden checkout stand we had. He then hauled everything that mentioned their products to the back of the store. On things he could not move easily, he spray painted over the names.

Later, when he calmed down, he realized that this change really meant nothing as far as we were concerned and he decided he would talk to the representative the next time he came around. He told me this so when I ran into the representative at another store and he asked me how things were, I told him that Bruce had calmed down and maybe he could talk with him.

I did not know it, but the representative’s supervisor was with him that day. When they showed up at the store and the representative introduced his supervisor to my father, my father got all upset. I could not understand why he was mad again over something that really did not change anything as far as we were concerned. I asked my father about this later and he explained that if he signed back up with the company while the supervisor was there, then forever the supervisor would hold it over the representative’s head that he had saved the biggest account. However, if he waited until the representative came back alone and signed up then, the representative could claim the victory as his own.

Bruce, my father, had a unique read on people and, in this case, he was right. You have to help people save face whenever you can. This, too, is part of being a truly good merchant.

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McClendon Studios Presents: Bowling Man

 

McClendon Studios Presents

Bowling Man

My father used to tell stories of when he was working for National Cash Register.  This is one of those stories.

He called on a man who owned a large company of stores who was a prospect for buying cash registers from my father.

It turns out that the man had not been bowling in a while and really wanted to go bowling soon. My father agreed to take him bowling while they talked over the possible purchase of cash registers.

While they were bowling, the man partook of many beers which my father paid for.  The man became a little drunk and signed the largest order my father had ever had in his life.  All my father had to do was mail that order and the man was obligated to purchase the cash registers. After all, he had a signed contract. This was the 1960’s and the fact that it was signed while intoxicated was not a matter the court would take up anyway.

Well, my father thought about it all that night.  The next morning, bright and early, he went to see the man at his office.

My father handed the man the contract and told him that he was legally obligated to purchase the cash registers but that he, my father, thought that it would be much better if they tore up that contract and started over.

Well, the man was very happy and tore up the contract. He and my father then sat down and negotiated a much smaller order.

My father lost on that sale, but for the rest of the time my father was with

National Cash Register, he would get a purchase order in the mail for every single cash register ever purchased by that company and every paper product, ribbon, and other accessory related to any product that National Cash Register offered that the store needed.

Years later, that act of honesty paid off for my father in a way he did not expect.

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