My 30 Years

If I don't get myself fired in the next three months, I will hopefully celebrate my 30th work anniversary on August third. Since there are few people who've been around longer than me, as a public service here's a list of some of the things I've worked on during my 30 years at Ryerson. Written in a format that could be used in a celebratory speech if needed, complete with witty banter and mentions of big-wigs and little people (like me):

Inside sales at RMP: After I was hired, I was sent out in the plant to train. The receiving clerk had surgery so I filled in for a month out there. Back then all tags were hand written. Every day I went home crying. Then the next month I got to – uh, guess I better shorten this up. But a year or two later Todd Harris was hired, so I helped train him. The rest is history.

AS400 development: helped design the quote order entry system. Now you know who to blame. Sat in a meeting room on the mezzanine for months. Brain-numbing work. Ever wonder why F2 is on every screen? I can tell you. Steve Apostel didn't want to go so he sent me. I also worked on the auto-cert program. Another tip: the "AS400" software package is actually called "Metalware."

AS400 trainer: helped convert ten districts to the AS400: Greensboro, Norcross, Little Rock, Lawrenceville, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Tulsa, Dallas, Houston, and Orlando. Now you know why you've never heard of three of those districts. It was in Charlotte where I first met Kevin Richardson. It was my idea to draft Rick Ross and Danny Roberts as trainers, in Chattanooga and Charlotte respectively. Rode roller coasters at Six Flags over Texas with Bobby Rogers and Rick Ross. Favorite quote from someone I was training, after they'd made a mistake: "I thought this system was idiot-proof"

Quality manager: worked with Rob Grogan to make RMP the first Tull branch to be ISO certified. Also traveled the southeast conducting audits. Any popularity I once had went down the drain.

Bar Code Receiving: in the 90's I helped develop the first bar code receiving program in the Southeast. Designed the metal boxes to hold the computer terminals. Despite rumors to the contrary, I did not invent dirt - or the internet.

Scheduling Manager: supervised the team responsible for scheduling all the machines at RMP: tube mills, slitter, cut to length lines. Hired Joy Saxon and stole Patsy Miller from Accounting. It was during this time John Nicol, Rob Grogan, and I were in a fantasy football league – before there was a thing called the internet. My quarterback was ARCHIE Manning.

Charleston Processing: I almost moved to South Carolina to help run Charleston. Not so fast. I did help hire the first batch of employees, including Sam Smalls. Norcross was eternally grateful we transferred Michael Berndt down there.

Work Order Guru: after the turn of the century (boy does that sound old) I helped develop the work order system. Worked so well that accounting ditched the old buyout system. Traveled the southeast again, this time training on work orders. It's taken 17 years and we're still not finished. My popularity soared. Where I first crossed paths with a young outside salesman named Eric McGill.

EZGO: when two people quit at the same time I was given a "battlefield lateral move" to the EZGo team. I've often said handling EZGo is like holding a tiger by the tail. Our team moved from North Berkeley Lake to our current location, then upstairs with the Program team, then back downstairs. Took me a while, but I always found them. Have out-lived at least 19 other EZGo team members. And you thought Rob Grogan was an old-geezer.

More anniversary info to follow as the big day approaches.