Sometimes you find the answer when you are not looking.
Maybe it your life partner or your best career move, but sometimes without even knowing it life shows you a path or someone enters your life and changes it forever.
I met my wife back in the summer of 1980 , I was 24 and managing a store in a mall and she was just 17 and working part time in a store across from mine. I was not looking for a wife or a serious relationship and one night she came over to actually check out my assistant manager, she disguised her visit by coming over and asking to borrow a screw driver.
The rest is history, we went on our first date a few weeks after and married five months after that and two kids and two grandkids and 37 years later we have traveled an amazing journey.
Newly married and managing a retail store I decided that retail was not going to be something I wanted to do for my career, I then dispatched for Honeywell , a heating and AC division in New England, I was there for three years and it was a great experience but I worked in RI and the home office was in MN, and I wanted to work for a place that the owner knew me and my work ethic would give the security I needed for a young family.
I interviewed for Paul Arpin Van Lines, a family owned business in RI, I first interviewed for a customer service position but it did not sound like something I was interested in so I declined. I was not desperate for a job, I actually liked my job so I could afford to just look.
Paul Arpin’s called me back for another interview, this time as a night supervisor but I declined again because with a young family I wanted to be home at night.
I then figured I would probably settle in to Honeywell so I stopped looking and Paul Arpin called me a third time, this time I interviewed with the then Vice President David Arpin, now CEO and President, and David asked me to come over to work in Operations and eventually run it... I took it.
I stayed there for over 30 years and helped take it from a 7 million dollar company to over 100 million company.
You just never know... life just happens.... sometimes when you not not even looking...
2 comments:
I remember,times like that...37 years in the seat,body,falling apart,mind,full of knowledge about our industry...I was gonna fall out of the truck,take a local manager spot,and somebody had faith in me to do great things.....My boss at the time was YOU,David Vieira,you created a spot for me no other carrier has,a mentor,educator,and just a friend to drivers,I can stay home and help drivers with every aspect of their job....God,since you left,this has grown beyond belief....The hips,knees,shoulders are not fine,but my mind is and I still have a 7 day a week 14 hour a day work ethic....It's been 2 years and 5 days since my last vacation(7 days a week)and I don't miss it....If I ever failed to thank you here it is....Living the dream....I am here to help...
So she really didn't need the screwdriver, lol good stuff !
It's amazing how love just walked through your door and stayed...
I admire my dad so much for he has taught me how to be the man I am today. Because of him and a few others that I've met along the way I've become very good at what I do in many things in my life.
How I actually became a mover is a pretty cool story I think.
When I was a kid I bowled on a Church league on Saturday mornings. I walked from home to the bowling alley and back each time. Along that path was a moving company called Pan American Van Lines. One day on my way back home while I was passing the moving company I heard a man yell out ' hey kid '. I looked up and seen the biggest man I've ever seen in my life and he waved me over saying ' come here '.
I walked over and he asked me if I wanted to help him work and he would pay me. So I worked for a little while and he gave me $20. Man I thought I was rich, really I did...
Well it became an every Saturday morning job for me which led into a local job. Now over 40 years later as I sit in my moving truck I'm telling you my moving story. This job has brought me to my wife and children, I've met and still know some amazing people such as yourself and many other things this job has brought to me.
And to think it all started long ago with a ' hey kid, come here '...
That mans name was Slim, I'm sure it wasn't his birth name but that's what everyone called him. Slim is probably up there with my father looking down together at me. I hope I made them proud with me being the man and the mover I am...
Thank you for letting me share my story...
Post a Comment