Ep. 16 | Richmond's Legacy: Mike Allen on Ice Cream, Wires, and Entrepreneurial Spirit | Insights with Michael Allen

Have you ever wondered what it was like to scoop ice cream for just 65 cents an hour? Join us for an engaging episode as we sit down with my father, Mike Allen, who takes us on a nostalgic trip through his early work experiences at Wayne Dairy and the Richmond Bottling Company. Mike's heartfelt recollections of the local business environment in Richmond, Indiana, and his schooling days offer a charming glimpse into the past, providing listeners with both personal anecdotes and valuable life lessons.

Our journey continues as we explore the professional paths of Richmond locals, including a former employee of Wayne Works and Belden, who shares intriguing insights into the wire and cable industry during the late 60s and early 70s. But the highlight is Geneva Allen's inspiring entrepreneurial saga; from her time at the FBI to founding her own accounting business and launching the Manpower franchise in Richmond in 1966. Her resilience and drive shine through, particularly in overcoming personal challenges such as battling breast cancer while still pushing forward in her career.

Finally, we delve into the intricacies of managing a staffing agency, from early morning dispatch operations to navigating financial struggles, and the eventual move back to the Bay Area in 1977. This episode offers a blend of personal and professional stories, underscoring the importance of work ethic, family support, and resilience in achieving business success. Reconnect with the roots of our family business and discover the generational values that continue to propel us forward.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,

(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond,
also in Portland and Newcastle,and I am your host, michael
Allen.
And here on the Hub weinterview local businesses,
community partners and variousspecial guests, and our mission

(00:45):
is to share and spotlight uniqueand untold stories of companies
, organizations and people whoare making a difference in our
community.
So today we have a ratherspecial guest today.
It's somebody I've knownliterally my entire life, and a
special welcome to my dad, mikeAllen.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you, my son.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Michael.
So, dad, currently you livefull-time in Naples, florida,
and you're kind enough to comeand visit for my 60th birthday
this week and we're justjam-packing your visit with golf
and visiting with family andfriends and the manpower staff

(01:28):
and kevin and I were talkingseveral months ago about how it
would be kind of a uniqueopportunity to do the hub with
you, and so I'm glad that we'regetting getting to do this
together today.
So part of what I hope to dotoday is just kind of go over
part of your, your personalstory, kind of chronicle for our

(01:49):
followers how, um, our family,business, manpower, began in
Richmond.
However, before we get to that,I want to start with our hub
tradition and every guest.
Uh, we asked them about theirvery first job, and I think I
might know what it is, but I'lllet you share it with everyone.
So, going back several yearsago, what was your very first

(02:12):
job?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
First job was at Wayne Dairy and it was ice cream
, and I was getting ice creamfor people for, like, I think,
65 cents an hour, and it wasdowntown, where Wayne Bank is
located, all right, and so thatwas my first job.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
So was that just like a ice cream shop?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
It was actually it was like a soda shop, but people
would come in and buy smallpints of ice cream and I would
go back in the freezer and pickout whatever flavor they wanted
and bring it in and I would goback in the freezer and pick out
whatever flavor they wanted andbring it in and that's really
all I remember.
But I was 16 years old andmaking 65 cents an hour and it
was a great job, I think.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
It was cold in that freezer, by the way.
Did you do that?
Was that like a weekend job, oryou're doing that after school?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, that was during the summer, actually.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
All right, so it was during the summer actually All
right, so it was during thesummer, but so that isn't the
job I was thinking about.
I was thinking more about.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
You used to talk about the bottling company, the
Coca-Cola, coca-cola, I thoughtyou were probably thinking about
that job because I did thatwhen I was in high school and I
was actually able to drivetrucks around.
I had to get actually achauffeur's license and had to
drive the Coca-Cola trucks outon US 40 to their warehouse,

(03:34):
basically around the corner.
So that was my first job and Iguess you might say that was
seemed to be more important tome because I was able to have a
car in my senior year at highschool.
I was able to pay for my owngas and I felt pretty cool
driving around that 1956Chevrolet yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Tell us a little bit more you know about the.
Was it called the RichmondBottling Company?
Or was it Coke, or was itactually Coca-Cola?
Yeah, it was they?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, I guess it would be a franchise bottling
company.
The Witherby family that ownedthat, and so that's what I
remember about it.
I remember.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I'm not sure when they stopped doing it, but I can
still remember.
I mean they would fill thebottles with Coke.
Oh yeah, it was going through aconveyor line.
Absolutely, it was a coke.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
oh yeah, I mean it was going through a conveyor
line it was a bottling companyand, um, it was very interesting
because I would unload seventrucks at night, I can remember,
and there were open trucks andyou had to take off these and
you would throw them on aconveyor and a lot of times
they'd be filled, uh, with otherthan coke, because they're
being returned all the time.
They actually brought thebottles back in the trucks and

(04:47):
so we would load those off andthen we'd reload the trucks with
new product for the nextmorning.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
So it wasn't just Coca-Cola that was being bottled
.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know, actually it's all I remember.
I don't remember anythingexcept Coca-Cola.
It could have been somethingelse but it's what I remember.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
It just sort of seems like that's what everybody
remembers.
I think that's what everybodyremembers about it.
So it feels a little weird toask you this question because we
know each other, but I guessI'd just like for our followers,
just kind of go back, sharewith everyone where you grew up
and just growing just you know,growing up as a child and and

(05:27):
where that all started and well,uh, of course, uh uh, richmond
has always been my home.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Um, I spent uh some time in uh in uh.
Maybe a couple other placesthat uh other than richmond, but
basically uh my full time inRichmond.
And growing up I remember toPleasant View Junior High School
and went to Highland beforethat and then eventually, of

(05:56):
course, richmond High.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right, it's funny because we had spoke to Skip
Reynolds a while back and hewent to.
He mentioned view and highland,right and uh, where?
Where were you living at thattime?

Speaker 2 (06:11):
what part of town it was, uh, williamsburg pike, and
it was right before they startedto build interstate 70.
Okay, and so, um, my parentshad built a house, as you may
remember, uh, or no, you didn't.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
You were already told about it, but they built a
house.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
As you may remember or know, you were already told
about it.
But they built a house and thenhere comes along Interstate 70,
and they built a fence right infront of the house, about 15
feet from the house, and tookall the frontage that we had
going to Williamsburg Pike.
So that was kind of interestingand we had to find a way back
out of the property, the backproperty, another road to get

(06:48):
past, the access to theinterstate.
So that was the neighborhoodand back then they had a farm
across the street.
Oh, I forgot about that.
One of the first jobs I had was11 years old, actually helping
get hay in the farmer next doorand that was 75 cents an hour,
right, that was a lot of moneyback then.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
That makes me think that when.
I interviewed Roger Golden.
It was quite a while back andhis first job was like that.
He was like pickingstrawberries.
That was his job.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Why they let me drive a tractor 11 11, because I
could hardly reach the pedalsand after I'd knocked most of
the hay off of the trailer, Ididn't get to.
That was my last day for thatjob, by the way, that's what's
kind of cool, though, about?

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I mean, for people that work on a farm, kids that
work on a farm and everythingthey're normally way ahead of
the curve on driving because,they get to drive tractors and
stuff, and I don't think OSHAwas involved back then too much.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I don't think I'd been driving a tractor at 11
years old, yeah probably not,but I think the rules for out in
the farm are a little bitdifferent.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, that area.
I mean, it's just hard tocomprehend.
The interstate 70 wasn't eventhere, yeah, and a lot of people
wish they were, and there'splans to do some major
renovations of 70, but you knowit's pretty bad going from
indianapolis to richmond thesedays.
It's really not a pleasantdrive, I I suspect back then

(08:16):
they were just all pouringconcrete.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Oh yeah, yeah, just all concrete well, I can
remember that, uh, I think itwas too all concrete road.
I can remember that, uh, Ithink it was too.
Uh, it was.
There's only a section.
It stopped at ohio line and itwent into indiana maybe five or
ten miles and we would get outand drive from the east side to
the west side because there'sfour, four exits on on 70 and it

(08:42):
was, and for some reason thatsection was done.
So that was.
That was fun to go out and andtake off and and go from point a
to point b and on on theinterstate.
You know, thinking what it wasgoing to be.
It was.
That was kind of unique.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
I uh did, uh, did your parents, my, my
grandparents?
Did they get any compensationfrom the state at all?

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh yeah, Whatever, I can't remember it was but they
did get compensated for the landthey took from that part of the
property?

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I'm sure it's not, as maybe if they were doing it
today, I bet it'd be a lot moremoney.
Probably would be given therebecause it's like, hey, we're
taking this property and here'sa little bit of change and you
know, maybe, maybe they got more.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I don't know, I mean I don't, I don't remember it
being a windfall, as they say.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah so that, and later, I mean years later that
area where your parents livedand then also, I believe, my, uh
, grandpa Allen's, his mom,right down there.
And then the first couple ofyears of my life.

(09:54):
There was, there was a like a acow barn or something that had
been converted into a house, orsomething?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, it was, and that's eventually where I lived
with you.
Yes, you actually lived in thathouse.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, if you called it a house Converted cow barn
and I think my mom or you toldme once about that.
You could like hear the micerunning in the ceiling.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, it would be subject to small animals and
rodents coming into the building.
Yeah, to the house.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
It was quite normal, Some humble beginnings there.
Later Dana built buildingsthere.
Isn't that the same propertywhere Dana built their corporate
or whatever headquarters inthat area?

Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's kind of where that was.
Yeah, they did.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
For those that would know that part of town, I mean
then that all shut down and thenWolverine was out there for a
while Now Wolverine's no longerthere and I believe another
company has purchased thatcorporate building and they have
plans to use that for theiroffices and then lease some

(11:00):
offices out.
But that's interesting thatthat's where that property was.
Yeah, exactly right, it changedquite a bit, leased some
offices out, but that'sinteresting that that's where
that property was.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, you know exactly right yeah it changed
quite a bit.
Um, originally it was atrucking company.
It was going there and thatnever developed for whatever
reason.
I think.
Actually a bankruptcy evolvedout of it.
Um, rmcd, I think was, was, uhwas the name of the trucking
company and they had planned tomove from, I think, downtown

(11:25):
rich Richmond out there.
It just never happened andeventually Dana came in, as you
said.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
So chronicling after your life, kind of go through
your work career.
I mean, we talked about youknow scooping ice cream, getting
ice cream out of the freezer orstacking bottles an ice cream.
You know getting ice cream outof freezer or stacking bottles,
but you're, you're, you're grown.
Your first kind of grown-up jobwas where that was.
It was a natco.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, yeah, had an opportunity to go to natco and I
was there for two years.
And then in 67, actually twoand a half years in 67, I got an

(12:16):
opportunity to go to Belt andWire and Cable and I was there
for six years.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
What did you do at since you were there a little
bit longer?
What was your job at WayneWorks?
What did?

Speaker 2 (12:27):
you do.
The first job was I wasassisting in all the different
departments filling in forvacations.
So I was and became a full-timejob.
Belden had so many long-termemployees back then you got to
remember they probably had.
The number I remember is like1,800 employees.
It was just a major employer inRichmond and so it was.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
So we're talking about Belden, or?

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Wayne Works.
Well, we're now already goneand we can go back to Wayne
Works.
If we go back to Wayne Works, Iwas in the scheduling
department and helping and Iwould go and track all the buses
from each department until theywere finished and then we would
get a call from whoever hadplaced the orders and when is

(13:15):
our bus going to be ready fordelivery.
And so that was the job for mytwo years in that two-year
period and then actually springof 67th when I went to belton
wiring cable.
Okay, and that's when you wereinitially filling in for I was
filling in, but they had thatpeople with up to five weeks
vacation and they had.

(13:37):
I mean, I I couldn't tell youhow many parties we celebrate
for people with 30 years, 40years, 50 years of service at
belton, for people with 30 years, 40 years, 50 years of service
at Belton, and they always had abig party.
They would go down in thelunchroom and have a big cake
and they would literally almoststop production for everybody
and bring everybody in tocelebrate, especially when they
hit the 40 or 50 years.

(13:57):
And so, with that many weeks ofvacation, they needed somebody
to work full-time.
At that time it really feltlike it was a part-time job, but
I would go from departmentwhether it was a wire mill or a
cabling department and help withthe production and lining the
schedules out for those weeksthat I was filling in, you

(14:18):
probably really kind of learnedeverything about the company
doing that, every facet of whatthey did.
And then eventually they movedthe sales department from
Chicago and then I took a jobfor outside sales, inside sales,
for some of their distributors,and it happened to be West
Coast distributors of Belden.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
So you went in a little bit later because it was
West Coast.
I mean, what were your hours?
Well, I took that job.
You went in a little bit laterbecause it was West Coast.
I mean, what were your hours?

Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well, I took that job and that was probably my third
year in Tobelden I think it waslike 1970.
And so the job was from 9.30 to6.
And so it didn't matter and itwas a promotion and I was happy
to have the job.
I didn't have to be outside inthe factory and it wasn't air

(15:09):
conditions in some of the areas.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
It was still pretty hot in there to this day, I know
.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
But anyway.
So I was happy to get thepromotion and was able to handle
and enjoy the job of talking tothe west coast customers.
They had and, and distributorsand uh.
So that's what I did until 1973the technology really changed

(15:35):
since then.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
What were people using wire and cable for then?
Do you recall what, how, their,what kind of cable was being
made and what they were using itfor?
Well, I mean or even we'reprivy to that.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, I mean really the cable that I involved was
all specialty.
So the customers that I, someof the customers I had, it was
custom-made cables.
You got to remember thecomputer was and the computer
chip was just being developed inthe early 70s.
So computers were beingdeveloped.

(16:08):
But the typical in any wiringcable, for example all the
wiring that used to go into slotmachines, you forget there
seemed like hundreds, almost 100feet of wire in these big
bertha machines and all of thatwas done by wiring.
There was no computer chips andeventually it changed.

(16:30):
Obviously, but during thatprocess anything that required a
cable, any wiring, it couldhave been anything you could
imagine that took a wiring.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Power cords.
Telephone cords to Power cordsyeah sure.
Telephone Cords to handsets.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I mean, Plantronics is another company they did
originally and they requiredwiring, same as we're hooked up
now.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, do you remember ?
Do you recall if they did anykind of government work at that
time, they were providing anyproducts to the government for
stuff they were using?

Speaker 2 (17:07):
or whatever.
Livermore Labs was one of theaccounts in California, and so
it required all kind of wiring,of course.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean, back then the computers were like a room,
yeah right, I mean they werehuge.
So, belden, that was until 73.
And then that's when you wentto California, right, for a few
years.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
That was until 77.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Okay, and then that's when you came back here for
Manpower, so that chronicles toyou came to Manpower, correct,
so so that chronicles to youcame to manpower.
But but let's go back now andtalk about uh, the the manpower
business and uh how that gotstarted.
So, uh, your mother, mygrandmother, geneva Allen, uh

(17:59):
started the manpower franchisehere in Richmond.
But tell us a little bit aboutuh, her career.
Just, you know highlights aboutyou know her, her work history,
leading up to the point thatshe became a entrepreneur, a
female entrepreneur, in 1966,which in and itself is pretty
remarkable well, um, my motherwas born in 1924.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I was born in 44.
And you were born in 64, right,okay, so things are quite
changed.
So what was amazing is thatabout my mother, which I think
is quite unique.
So she's in high school,getting ready to graduate, and
she's 18 years old, and theyannounced that anyone would like

(18:46):
to work for the FBI, thatthey're taking applications.
So she applied for the FBI andwas hired, and later, on.
She gave me a copy of the letterfrom J Edgar Hoover that says I
want you to report at thislocation, washington dc.
Don't tell anybody anybodywhere you're going or what

(19:09):
you're doing, and uh, so so youknow.
Finding that about your motherwas, I think, pretty cool and
pretty unique that someone thatyoung left this city for a job
that she was and I can explainmore about what the job was for,

(19:32):
but that was her first job, andso she left Richmond and
eventually came back.
But when she was there she wasproviding documents of persons
of interest for the FBI and sheactually ended up managing a

(19:54):
group of seven people in herdivision providing these
documents, and that's what shedid.
And then she eventually workedfor the Red Cross for a short
time also after that and thencame back to Richmond and then
took an accounting position.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
What was the guy's name that she worked for?
Do you recall his name?

Speaker 2 (20:18):
In accounting department.
It was a CPA firm.
I want to say Wilson is what Iremember.
And that's been a long time ago, I think it was right off of A.
I think it was South A, noNorth A and 8th Street.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, I kind of remember kind of the location
years ago, that area where sheworked.
Right, it was interesting abouther going to work.
Going back a little bit aboutthe fbi was I mean they needed a
lot of women to do differentjobs during then because our
country was at war?
Yeah world war ii, and I meanso you know the, the guys that

(20:58):
she was in high school with.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
They were probably in the military they were off the
war absolutely tons of them.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
So it opened up an opportunity, probably for women
during that time, to do jobsthat typically they wouldn't
have had the opportunity to do.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
You think that's probably fair.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Absolutely yeah, so that kind of helped catapult her
into, I think, probably in aprofessional world, in a working
world where maybe it wouldn'thave turned out that way
initially.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
I mean the need for a college education or all those
qualifications weren't required.
They just needed people to goto work.
That's the reason they had somany women in the workforce in
manufacturing at that time.
Rosie the Riveter, there you go.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
She was doing accounting.
She was a public accountant.
I'm not sure how she I don'tknow if maybe you even remember
how she ended up obtaining thataccounting skill.
I mean.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
I don't remember that .
That I probably also don't know, although her mother, my
grandmother, also did accounting, so it you know.
Somewhere along the line it waspassed on.
Yeah, that's a whole notherpodcast accounting, so it you
know somewhere along the line itwas passed on.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, that's a whole nother podcast, like you know
going back to my grandma'sparents, because they were
really kind of unique and very,uh, interesting people.
You know, especially granddad,your grandfather, melvin smith.
He I mean we, we could talk allday about him.
We just loved him to death.
I mean Vida too, but he wasmore of a kind of an out front

(22:32):
person than she was.
But we definitely could spend alot of time talking about that.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, because now you're going back to 1899, when
he was born.
Absolutely, I had a lot ofstories about what happened
during his lifetime.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
But back to Geneva.
So she was doing accounting andwell, I think she liked it
because she did it until 10 daysbefore she passed.
She was still doing that kindof work, Exactly In her 80s, in
her 80s.
But so, from your recollection,how did it go from her working

(23:09):
for this accounting company CPAfirm?
I don't know if they were CPAsback then, or not but if that
was the right term.
But how did it come about thiswhole manpower business idea for
her?

Speaker 2 (23:24):
well, um, from the accounting, uh what?
How did she ended up with herown accounting firm?
Okay and we have to kind ofback into how did that happen?
so what happened?
There is, unfortunately.
She had breast cancer at 38years old, okay, so she had to
go home and recover from that.
Well, when she's home, she hasa lot of people call her and say

(23:49):
we would like to have you doour accounting, even though
you're home and recovering.
And that was a uniqueopportunity because there was,
you know, back then there was noFMLA or any type of benefits
for people that need to be homefor several weeks or even

(24:11):
sometime, technology and surgeryfor, for breast cancer I mean?

Speaker 1 (24:14):
I mean, her surgery was was pretty intense, yeah
very, very major and uh invasive, exactly.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
so in recovery time was much more so anyway.
So anyway, he had people cometo her and bring actually work
to the house, and so she workeduntil she's a recover.
She was going to go back towork for, let's say, wilson was
in them and they said why dothat?
Why don't you start your owncompany and you'll be some of

(24:44):
our first customers.
And she was brave enough to dothat.
So she opened a small office onuh, on uh, south 11th street,
right off of right there wherewelling I think it was uh, I
want to say welling real estateas a whaling, whaling, whaling.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, I always remember that, it's even as a
kid.
Thanks for helping me there,son.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
I am a little bit older than you.
You know, I remember that, youknow how I remember that how,
even as a kid.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Thanks for helping me there, son.
I am a little bit older thanyou.
You know how I remember that?

Speaker 2 (25:09):
How's that?

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Had a whale on their sign.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
That's right whaling, that's right Whaling.
And it was very kind of coolhow they built off of that name.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
They had like a big whale.
That was part of their sign.
It was real estate insurance orsomething, wasn't it?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:25):
and the other side of this.
I think it was four offices.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
There was a barber shop right, and so there was two
offices in the middle and sheopened her accounting firm there
yeah, so she was doing that,she had clients and and she must
have been doing fairly well shedid, she ended up up.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
I remember quite quickly she had like four staff
members working for her and thenshe grew quite quickly within
about two years.
The first two years.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, was that what?

Speaker 2 (25:57):
it had been so that would have been 60, now we're
talking about 66.
When she looks in the paper,can you imagine the palladium
item?
And she saw an ad, somebodywith an accounting background
interested in opening atemporary help service.
And before they became betterknown as staffing companies, the

(26:19):
word was temporary help.
And so she had an accountingbackground.
And here's a woman already hadworked for the FBI, so she was
not afraid to try new things andso she answered the ad.
She went to Milwaukee,wisconsin, where Manpower was
founded in 1948.
So the company was only 18years old and the way they were

(26:45):
expanding was through franchisee.
And so she decided that okay,I'll go check it out.
And they they found out whather background was.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
And she went, she trained, came back and opened
manpower in september 21, 1966wow, yeah, it's uh, it's amazing
, and so she started that, andkind of around that time, I
think that's when also you wouldhave been at Belden right.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, around that close to that time.
Yeah, 66.
I was actually still at.
I was at Wingworks.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Okay, but then you had.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Then in 60, so within six months after she opened the
office.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Now I was at belton right and you were working um
that 9, 30 time yet, or were you?

Speaker 2 (27:35):
no that wasn't initially.
That was kind of later, whenyou know that that was until a
couple of years later, but butif you want to talk about my
first job at manpower, yeah,like well, she had that.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
I mean there's kind of two parallel stories.
You know the business startedbut you know, so I guess just
share about like you kind ofhelped out with the business but
tell us a little bit about.
I mean, do you recall at all?
I mean it's so hard to go, Imean it's a long time time ago
but so she opens the doors.

(28:06):
Do you do you recall about whenshe got her first clients or
how that that started coming,that the work started coming in
for the manpower side?

Speaker 2 (28:18):
sure, he had established accounting business
and staff and that was going,but it's well, being an avid
golfer that both of us are andwe like to golf.
The first job, the first majorjob she had was helping put in.
They needed 20 part-time peoplefor the fall of 1966, and we're

(28:39):
talking October, november of 66, to put in the irrigation
system at Forest Hills, a newsystem.
So she had an order for 20people and that was really.
I mean, back then that wasconsidered a big order, believe
it or not?
Oh sure, and so from there it'sa good order today.
Yeah, that's right, we wouldtake that right in a minute.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Oh yeah for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
So anyway, that was one of the first actually that I
remember talking about.
But it was one person here, oneperson there.
There was a company called WallLake Door and they became kind
of a major account back in theearly days and so a lot of them

(29:23):
was in office jobs.
So a lot of them was in officejobs and originally one of the
reasons that Elmer Winteractually started Manpower.
The story I remember it waskind of interesting, which also
kind of gives you an idea howthe concept started.
Actually, his secretary, she hadmajor surgery, she was going to

(29:48):
be off for months, and so hesaid what am I going to do?
I've got to hire someone tobring in, and now I've got to
pay the workers' comp, theliability insurance, make out
the paycheck, w-2 at the end ofthe year.
So how do I handle this?
And he said, guys, wouldn't itbe nice to let somebody else's

(30:11):
company find me a qualifiedsecretary that I could call up,
who wants to work, maybe onlypart-time, that does this and
works for this company?
And I just called the companyand said send me a secretary for
the next three months.
And that's literally howManpower started in Milwaukee in
1948.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
He identified a need and kind of came up with a
solution.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Exactly yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
And those early years it probably was more
predominantly, maybe, likeoffice jobs.
And then it got intomanufacturing and industrial,
which ended up being more of thesweet spot for staffing in
later years, yeah, the wholespectrum of technical and then
permanent placements also.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
So well, so back.
Maybe I can back up a littlebit.
Actually, the first job I hadwas in 1968, in in right after I
just had one.
So it was 67 to start at Beldenand 68.
I had one week of vacation andMother came to me and says what

(31:13):
do you do on your vacation?
I said not much.
I don't have any money to goanywhere.
She said well, gosh, I needsomeone to unload a boxcar of
lumber and it's an old town inOhio, I can't remember now for
some reason.
Anyway, I said okay.
She says and you've got a carand you can drive these other
three guys and do that for aweek, because it's going to take

(31:37):
a week to do that.
And I said that'd be greatbecause now I can work, have an
extra paycheck for that week inaddition to the vacation week.
So it was, it was just and whatelse was going to do.
So that was my actually myfirst job.
And then in 1970 is when I tookthe new position at Belden in

(31:57):
my job, and then my day startedat 9 30.
And then that's when she cameto me and says oh, by the way,
why don't come in and open theoffice at 6 and work till 9 and
dispatch people to go to work,and then you'll have a half an
hour before you go to Belden andthen you'll work till 6.
And then why don't you come inon Saturdays and do the payroll

(32:19):
by hand?
And I said well, that's greatRaising two small children you
and your sister and back thenworking 12 hours or working
extra jobs was necessary and Iwas happy to do it.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Just needed the money .

Speaker 2 (32:39):
I needed the money and was lucky.
And what better to work foryour mother and learned some
skills and accounting skillsfrom her that.
I didn't have Right Doingpayroll and by then you had to
open a book and say, okay, howmuch for taxes.
No computers, no cell phones.

(32:59):
It was a different world backthen.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
When people came.
What was the office like backin those early days?
Because I know I know theanswer to it, but I think it's
really interesting what it waslike when people came in looking
for work or whatever.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well, you, had a chair that you had about maybe
10, 12 chairs right in front,right as soon as you walked in,
and then you had it with.
From here to you there's a deskand another desk behind that
and I think maybe one more, andthen the restroom and it
literally was like a hall, andso they would come in and it was

(33:34):
called and back then theycalled the waiting room.
Now you got to think about it.
That's the way they operated.
So they came in, they sit down,you got an order and then
normally the person who had acar was one of the first ones.
That's just pecking order, yeahwho chose?
how can?
Who's got a car and that wasthe first okay you got, and they

(33:54):
all maybe qualified, they allwanted to go to work and and a
lot of and these were mostly Iwas dispatching that early in
the morning people who werecalling the, calling the office
and said we had 10 people absent.
Can you send us 10 employees tofill in at this particular
position?
They were just general laborpositions.
So that's what we did.

(34:16):
That's how I would dispatchthese individuals to a different
job and sometimes I would drivethem to the job, leave the
office, take them there myselfand then come back and and then
someone will help take care ofposition of filling orders.
Why I was not there for thosethree hours?

Speaker 1 (34:34):
yeah, so god, and they were probably predominantly
men at that time.
They were just all guys comingin, sitting in in chairs in the
waiting room.
Absolutely Probably smokingcigarettes Very common.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Bringing in, maybe, their donuts.
We provided actually that wasone that I think they came in
for the donuts and coffee.
You had coffee, I had coffeeand donuts and they enjoyed that
Even somebody to get a job theywere just happy to be there be
inside warm.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yeah, were these.
Do you think some of these guyswere kind of people that were
kind of down on their luck orwhatever, or just happened to be
unemployed, I think?

Speaker 2 (35:21):
it's just people trying to get into the labor
force and maybe they had lost ajob.
People trying to get into thelabor force and maybe they had
lost a job, maybe they were laidoff or maybe they had lost a
job for not being there on timeor or too many absenteeisms or
what it didn't know the case.
So we just took the applicationand and and of what their

(35:43):
situation was and back then youknow, maybe we didn't have all
the knowledge to find out.
You know, obviously, what theirtotal background was, but as
long as they were willing to goto work and performed well and
the company wanted them back,then that helped build their

(36:04):
career to getting another job.
In a lot of cases the companies, as you well know, end up
hiring a lot of our staffingemployees because they were
dependable, they went to workevery day and they wanted to
have a full-time job eventuallythere was a a short period early

(36:31):
on in, uh, the franchise'scareer where grandmother was
trying to make it work and Idon't think it was really going
that well for her initially frommy memory and I think she
called uh elmer winter thefounder and I think, if I got
the story correct, she hadcalled because she was concerned
about even keeping it going.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (36:47):
She actually had a letter that said you know,
things are becoming difficult.
And it had to be, it wasprobably 68, maybe or somewhere
around there.
And they said, well, we thinkthe economy is going to turn
around, we talk about theregoing to turn around.

(37:09):
Um, we talk about during theVietnam war, you know, there's
just a lot of unsettled,unsettled issues going in the
country, but um, anyway.
So they encouraged her tocontinue on and um, and she did,
and, and, and.
Glad she did is that?

Speaker 1 (37:24):
did that somehow coincide with that Forest Hills
job, or was it not?

Speaker 2 (37:28):
No, I think that was actually the Forest Hills job
was in 66.
Okay, so it was a couple yearsafter that when there was just a
tough time.
And I'm thinking whatever thatwas, because, remember, a lot of
people don't know cash flow andI think much of't know we.
Cash flow and and I think itmust have been anything is
probably cash flow, because whenwe at manpower, as you know, we

(37:52):
bring in someone to work, youpay them the next week, right,
the customers may not pay youfor four weeks or six weeks or
60 days and sometimes 90 days,so you have to have it's, that's
basically our inventories, ourreceivables, and you have to
have cash flow, so be able tomanage cash flow.

(38:14):
I can remember having to go tothe bank and actually trying to
get a line of credit for $40,000.
And it was not easy and it wasdifficult for $40,000 and was
not easy and it was difficult,and so we did have some help
from some nice banks in townthat able to look, look forward
and say you know what we'llwe'll this is, we'll take that

(38:37):
chance and do that, but beforewe need that's really you needed
that cashflow.
Without the cashflow youcouldn't survive.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
And I think that's what she was struggling with.
But we were able to get throughthat period of time right and
for any new business, you know,having you know, you haven't had
a chance to accumulate anyretained earnings or any profits
or whatever to try to helpbecause ultimately, you know,
through the time that we'veworked together, it's always
been trying to set back retainedearnings to cover your
receivables.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
So you're not borrowing, right you?

Speaker 1 (39:11):
hope to be in a position to do that right it's
not like you know you make money, you just bring it in and oh
yeah, there's a little bit moreto that you know people maybe
don't don't realize, right, uh,that you're covering that and uh
.
So, yeah, just to be able to,like you said, just to have the
cash flow to be able to pay yourstaff and pay the employees pay

(39:33):
your overhead.
You know the rent everything.
Yeah, so you were in californiaand, uh, it was in 1977 that
Grandma contacted you aroundthat time, right, and so kind of
walk us through thatconversation which eventually

(39:56):
would bring you back to Richmond, right.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Well, out of the blue , Walt Perman, the owner of
Control Master Products inConcord, california, called and
said would you like to be mysales manager?
So I was inside sales and to meit gave me an opportunity to do
something much different andmaybe hopefully have some more
skills to develop from sales.

(40:19):
So that's what got me out toCalifornia from 73 to 77.
That's what got me out toCalifornia from 73 to 77.
And things were going crazy andbooming in California.
It was nice.
I covered the whole Bay AreaTahoe, reno, carson City, napa
Valley, monterey, carmel.
So it was like this is reallydifferent from Richmond, indiana

(40:43):
.
And then all of a suddenmanpower is growing.
This is really different fromRichmond, indiana.
And then all of a suddenmanpower is growing.
And she called me up and saysoh, by the way, if you'd like to
come back and manage themanpower office, it's grown to
the point where I need your help.
Her accounting company had alsohad grown.
And so I said well, do I wantto leave California for family

(41:08):
reasons?
And coming back to this area, Imean you got parents, you got
grandparents.
And I said you know.
I think that would be anopportunity I don't want to pass
out.
I feel like I'm going to passout right now.
Anyway, so pass up that.
I said, yeah, I'll come backand do that and obviously I was

(41:31):
very glad I did and that was inMarch of 77.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Right, yeah, because just to clarify for our
followers, you and my mother haddivorced and you were.
You were um in California, butDebbie and I were still here in
Richmond.
Right, so that you know.
And so we were here yourparents were here.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
your grandparents were still here, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Sister was here Right .
Still, whatever cousins,whatever we may have had, they
would have been here.
So there was like no familyconnection whatsoever in
California.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Right.
And when I said come back for afamily reason, it was obviously
you and Debbie were here and Iwanted to be more part of your
family.
I brought you out to California.
We talked all the time but youknow, those visits weren't maybe
once a year, once a year, andmaybe so many holidays.
Maybe I would you know.

(42:28):
So it was limited.
So I wanted to be more involvedin your life, and so the
combination of coming back andwas, you know, high on the list
and then having a chance, shesaid well, you can come back and
conventionally manage and maybeown the company, and so we're a
sub-S corporation able totransfer stock to me and

(42:51):
eventually buy her out by 1990.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
So working.
How was that transition comingback?
I mean, she was running thingsand now all of a sudden, I mean
you did know the business, youhad been around it, you had
dispatched people, you haddispatched people, you had
helped with payroll.
It's like you knew how thebusiness worked Right.
But what was kind of thattransition like coming back and

(43:18):
where was the office then?
Was that on the northwest sideof town at that point or not?

Speaker 2 (43:27):
We were still down on 11th Street, even in 77?

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Yeah, and then we moved to on the west side of
Northwest 5th Street and so wewere there until 94 and then
went to the second floor ofWayne Bank and Trust when that
was built.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Believe it or not, we've been in our current
building for 30 years, 30 yearsthis year yeah, that's hard to
believe.
We've been there at the 500east main, you know, longer than
any other location.
You know and probably willnever move from that facility.
I would think, yeah, the uh.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
So the transition in 77, what was that like, coming
back and, you know, working well, I mean, you know, I was, uh,
you know, it was a kind of afairy and it was just totally
different California, obviously,and the Bay Area.
It was a transition but beingnext to my son and my daughter

(44:36):
and family and my parents and mygrandparents, it was also good
to be home and I enjoyed thatvery much and never regretted
coming back when you came back,did you just kind of start
visiting clients, trying to knowwho the contacts were, what the
business was?

Speaker 1 (44:55):
part?

Speaker 2 (44:56):
of being comfortable, sales, uh, that, that, uh, that
I did and I was not not afraidto knock on a door and explain
our services and how they workedand what they particularly
needed additional staffing forbecause they were growing their
company, because they werelosing like, for example, belden
I mean a lot because they hadso many long-term employees.

(45:17):
As they lost employees.
How they replace those people.
Do they bring in new peoplefull-time immediately, or they
bring them in part-time and andthen eventually see if they want
to hire them?
Or did they just have an uptick, uptick in business seasonally
that created that need?
So that was my job, obviously togo out and explain how those

(45:37):
services maybe could be neededor was needed, based upon what
the company was doing andwhether it be back then roses
you know, we used to be the rosecapital of the world, you know
right, and and that's, that'sthe seasonal job and they don't
need full-time people.
They wanted people to come inmaybe sometime for weeks or

(45:58):
months to to do some of the workand, like again another one of
the big companies with Wall LakeDoor, all of a sudden during
the building season they wouldneed extra employees and they
would have to staff up,sometimes 20, 30 people a day
additional, and also forpeople's vacations and holidays.

(46:19):
That took people out of thecompany and they needed people
to come in and fill for those.
So that was my job to go outand hopefully knock on those
doors and find out where thoseneeds were and hopefully fill
them.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
We've had a lot of great, we've worked with a lot
of great companies over theyears and there's been just
changes, ebbs and flows of howthey approached staffing their
companies, whether it's throughtheir own means or through using
, hopefully, manpower.

(46:53):
I think one of the companiesthough that was a really great,
and this isn't discounting anyother company we work with.
I'm trying to say but when Ithink of just my knowledge a
little bit about a company thatreally was a kind of helped,

(47:15):
probably helped our stabilitywould have been Colorbox.
Do you believe that to be atrue statement?

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Well, that was interesting because Colorbox
came to town I want to say 1972,so about a year before I went
to California and Jack Creechwas one of the managers and
owners and he came to me andthey had just come from Ohio and

(47:42):
moved into where they're stilllocated G Street and he needed
five employees.
First five employees went inthe company.
He wanted to start from scratch.
He needed some help.
He didn't have the staff, hedidn't have the personnel, he
didn't have the HR department,obviously anybody here except
himself and he was sent here toopen the company and get it

(48:04):
going.
So we got the first fiveemployees there and I was I
remember having that smalllittle handwritten order for
these five employees and uh, andthen from there it grew
substantially over the years andand then um, and that was uh,
and then when I came back andobviously the company was, we
got to be very involved in thecompany and help staff them in a

(48:26):
lot of cases for a lot of theirfull-time employees.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Right, they did well.
For those that maybe don't knowthat color box name now it's
Menasha now and still work withthat company even today, right,
but they kind of had a uniqueway of ordering that may uh, I

(48:48):
mean at least a part of the timethat I remember where they
would actually call in the orderevery day, right, oh, yeah, oh
yeah, yeah, they'd say, okay, weneed X number of employees it
could be five or 10 or whateverthe number would be every day,
and so you would have todispatch those people for first
and second shift.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
And and so it was.
Uh, it was a challenge, butthat was, that was what we did.
That was, that was how youcould grow the business and um,
and the service was provided andyou could get a call, sometimes
at uh, seven, six thirty in themorning for people and first
shift, and then the afternoon,and then sometimes at lunch well

(49:29):
, I actually had three shiftsand then you'd get a call, maybe
at 10 o'clock at night, uh, andsay I need somebody for
Thursday.
That became a challenge.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, that was still our job.
Yeah that we.
We did that so many years andthat's really not part of the
business today, which I think isprobably healthy.
I mean to call somebody in themiddle of the night and have
them get up and go to work.
Now we try to prepare peopleand say what shift do you want?

Speaker 2 (49:58):
to work and they say any shift.
Well, it's because they want ajob.
Now the question is have theyhad any sleep so they can go to
work?
And in most cases people kindof geared themselves yeah, I'm
going to prepare myself, maybeyou're going to call me tonight.
And a lot of people expected tobe calling because they
probably had, let's say, had aspouse or someone that was

(50:19):
working day shift and the onlyjob they could maybe was able to
handle because of child care.
Back then they would take thenight shift and wanted to.
So a lot of cases they would bepreparing themselves and
getting enough rest so theycould go to work on third shift.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
In today's world, though I mean there's still a
lot of companies that require apre-employment drug screen.
We want to run a backgroundcheck on people.
There is onboarding that peoplewill have to do.
I mean there's employmentverification, and the onboarding

(51:01):
today includes, like differentsafety training that they have
to do before they're evenallowed to be out on the floor.
I mean, just throughdevelopments and safety and and
just the way you put people towork.
It's just not.
You just don't.
People don't get thrown into ajob anymore and and it's just.
It's just changed and it'sprobably overall for the better.
I mean, it's sometimes it'd benice to be able to, if you were

(51:25):
a company needing someone rightnow, to be able to call and get
somebody in there, but it's hard, that it's.
It's a challenge to be in thatposition to do that today, right
with all the stuff that peopleneed to need to know or or do
before they show up for a jobyeah, they.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Today.
They call it vetting.
You know it's like everybodywants everybody.
You hear it all the time, areyou?
Has this person been vetted?

Speaker 1 (51:50):
there's uh any other, so you came in 77, took over
running thing, any any otherkind of just noteworthy well,
this year, I mean there'sthere's been ups and downs in
the economy all through thesedecades.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
We've seen ups and downs and recessions, and
downturns and upturns, and andshortly after coming back, of
course, things were pretty goodin the late 70s, as I remember,
and then of course we got I meanuntil 78, 79, into the Carter

(52:29):
years, not getting political,but things got to be a little
tough.
And then of course, reagan camein.
And then of course Reagan camein and up until 82, it was some
of the lowest years that I canremember.
Actually, in part of 82, therewas myself and one other person
in the office, and so it wasn'tuntil the spring of 83 when

(52:58):
Reagan started going to createmore jobs and remember they were
building back the military atthe time but that spurned all
other types of job opportunitiesand growth.
Unfortunately, you'd hate tothink we'd spend so much money
in the military.
Unfortunately, that's just theway the world is and that was

(53:20):
one of the things that turnedthe economy and I can remember
actually it was March of 83,like somebody in Richmond turned
the lights back on and then westarted back again.
So that was kind of a.
I always remember that timeframe of ups and downs in the
company and that was tough, butwe just we got through it yeah,

(53:42):
I mean that's in 82.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
That's when I graduated college and uh, in
hindsight, I really wasn't readyfor an academic career at that
point, but I really didn't go tocollege full-time at that time
because there really wasn't thefinances available to go.
I remember I was 17 when Igraduated high school in May of

(54:11):
82, and I turned 18 in Augustand that's where you know I had
worked.
You had helped me get startedwhen I was at.
You know you passed on the, the, you know the tradition of it's
good to work.
You know and and uh, um, youknow I've had different waves of

(54:33):
maturity during that time butyou kind of helped me get um
into mowing some yards in aneighborhood that you, that you
lived and I did that and Iworked uh um fast food for a
while at uh burger chef, butthen you um.
And then I remember the timeswhere you, you'd let me come and

(54:53):
sweep the sidewalks at theoffice or shovel snow or things
like that.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah, that was fun.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
But then in August of 82, that's where you gave me
the opportunity to work atImperial Products, which making
door thresholds, and that wasanother nice business that we
worked with for many years niceuh business that we worked with

(55:23):
right for for many years and, uh, so, uh, that was my first uh
experience in a manufacturingenvironment and I don't know if
I can't remember not liking itor I don't remember disliking or
liking it, but when I look backnow I'm I'm very grateful for
that opportunity to do that job.
I really look back now with fondmemories of of doing
manufacturing and then alsoworked uh some time uh at color

(55:48):
box as well, but those uh, Ireally uh, maybe it's the times
where you were trying toencourage me to go there.
I wasn't always, maybe tooexcited about it, but now I'm so
thankful that I got to do thatbecause it gave me a insight
into the manufacturing world andit also gave me insight of what
it means to be a manufacturingworker and how that's not always

(56:12):
easy and to try to.
I think it's served me to helpunderstand more of the people
that I work with, even to thisday.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
So I'm really thankful for the opportunities
you gave me there.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Well, let me tell you .

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Before we get off that subject, I want to tell you
, corey, the fun thing about ourmemory together is about
working, of course.
My dad said you know, nothing'sever going to become good of it
.
It'll become good if you don'tgo to work.
Nothing good is going to happenif you don't go to work.
So I said, well, gosh, I bettergo to work.
We ought to buy food or have acar or have a house.

(56:48):
So that was pretty simple.
So, hopefully, I passed that onto you and your sister and got
that from my parents, obviously,but besides Imperial Products.
So the fun job is it was thatsummer and and I needed someone
to work second shift at colorbox and and I knew you could run

(57:09):
a tow motor and I, you know Ihad some skills that I said,
yeah, I think you could do that,michael.
So I put you on that job andyou were working for a while and
he said, well, dad, I'd like tomeet you for breakfast at
Al'sops.
And I said, okay.
So we went for breakfast and yousaid, uh, now AJ's and now AJ's
yeah, yeah, 16th and main andsaid, uh, oh, by the way, uh, I

(57:30):
don't like working second shift.
And I said, oh, you don't.
And he said no.
I said I like to see my buddiesand go out.
You know that's during thesummer, you know, really, we're
all hanging out at night.
I like to do that.
And he said well, michael,unfortunately you're the person
I need for second shift.
You can run a tow motor.

(57:50):
I don't have anyone else, sounfortunately you don't have a
choice.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
So you looked at me and said, okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
So that's the way that went.
But yeah, but you know, I mean,obviously I was, uh, you know,
trying to be as kind as I was,but I said real, son, I really
need you to do that job and Iknow you want to hang out with
your buddies, but you know, you,we, I really need you.
So you got to do it and yousucked it up and did it yeah, I
really, and I talk all the time.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
I run into people about working there and and did
drive tomorrow but also workedon the.
Uh, it was hot down there and Iremember at work on the end of
a corrugator and all these, uh,these uh sheets of cardboard
would come, and you know thingshave changed so much
ergonomically, but you know youwould all.

(58:39):
You get all these stacks of uhcardboard.
Then you flip it up and youbalance it on your head I'm
gonna say this microphone, yeah.
And then you uh, you threw itfor these two pieces of boards
to help you stack it up, andthen you would push it down the
conveyors and now, like, a lotof that stuff is just
automatically done for you.
You know, these people don'tunderstand what it used to be

(59:00):
like.
Yeah, I remember hands there wasa period of time down there it
was so hot and I literally wouldwould go home and I could wring
my shirt out.
It was just so saturated withsweat back there and I'm
surprised I didn't get skinny.
I've never been skinny my wholelife.
I'm surprised I didn't getskinny.
I've never been skinny my wholelife.
I'm surprised I didn't losetons of weight that that summer,

(59:20):
that that summer, because man,it just would physical labor and
sweating and everything.
But uh, yeah, no, I Idefinitely appreciate those
times and so, uh, I, uh, youknow, I went eventually through,
you know, just some trial anderror and some whatever with

(59:42):
college.
I did end up at Ball State in 85and finally kind of turned
things around for myselfacademically and there was times
.
I don't want to go through thewhole story but my academic
career was pretty spotty for thefirst three years out of high
school.
But I really appreciate thefact that you really never gave

(01:00:04):
up on me.
You knew the importance at thattime of education was important
and even though it was achallenge, you were still trying
to encourage me to go on and onand uh.
But I remember going to ballstate.
Uh, you know, for theirfollowers here when I, when I

(01:00:25):
went to ball state, uh, my wifeand I my girlfriend at the time,
fiance beth we, we both decidedwe're going to go to ball state
and I don't remember this.
So, my, my wife is excellentacademically, she's to this day,
she's extremely intelligent anduh.
But so we both apply and shegets accepted and, if you
remember they, they told me, no,sorry.

(01:00:48):
I said sorry, we don't want you, and it was because my grades
were so bad.
My, my gpa was 1.729.
I'll always remember thatnumber because I had horrible
grades, I'd gone to school atthree different places and just
totally immature, unfocused, andso I don't know if you recall.
But we got into the car and wewent up to Muncie and we talked

(01:01:12):
to admissions and said, hey, isthere anything we can do here?
So they said, okay, we'll letyou in next quarter, we're gonna
make you sit out.
If you really want to come, youcan come.
You're being on academicprobation and, uh, that was hard
because, uh, my wife wasplanning on going to go to
college with me and she had togo to ball state alone, without

(01:01:35):
me.
Yeah, and that was a reallyjust difficult time for me.
It was somewhat humbling andhumiliating, but it was
definitely a learning experienceand I thank you for not giving
up on me, but anyway it was.

(01:01:55):
You know you said, hey, son, youknow, if this doesn't work out,
I'm just not just not sure what, I don't remember that, but
it's just like I'm just maybeyou just have to come back and
give you a job here at manpower.
Yeah, ironically, in 1990,right, I came back and started
working at manpower.
It was out of, it wasn't out ofnecessity, though it was, it

(01:02:18):
was a choice.
So that was.
It was a little bit different.
It would have been out of justcircumstance, right?
So I don't know if you remembermuch about us meeting and and
uh decision to come back and andwork in April.
It was April of uh, 1990 when Icame.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Yeah, 1990, when I came to Manpower.
Yeah, I mean barely having thatconversation and I think you
know, at one time you haddifferent aspirations or ideas
of what you wanted to do in yourlife and again, the company was
in a growth period.
Your sister had already startedfor Manpower.
And so here we had the thirdgeneration working and it just

(01:02:55):
felt like a natural opportunityor transition if you wanted to
consider it, and obviously I'mvery glad you did.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
No, I'm glad I did too.
I mean, it's really.
You know, there's differentthings I thought I wanted to do
and through, I'd say, god'sprovidence, he led me back to
Richmond and into manpower.
And here it is, you know, 30,34 years later for me, and you

(01:03:25):
started in 77.
I started in 90.
I believe my sister started in87, 86, 87.
And so we've had and at one time, all at one time, in the
building we've had, you know, mygrandmother, your mom, you, me

(01:03:45):
and Debbie and your sister Paula.
We were at one time, all of uswere in the business together.
Grandmother passed away.
She was doing all of ouraccounting and staff payroll
whatever.
And ironically my wife was a CPA, just like my grandmother and
had an accounting background andshe came into the business to

(01:04:09):
fill that void withgrandmother's passing.
And now she's been in thecompany and been a great asset
to the company as well all theseyears in the company and been a
great asset to the company aswell all these years, and so
it's uh.
It's been great to have uh bepart of a family business and to
work with family.
Uh is definitely, at times,challenges like there would be

(01:04:29):
for any job that you do you know, but, all in all, I, I, I thank
God and I thank you for justthe the opportunity to do all
this.
And you know we talked aboutthe ebbs and flows with the
economy.
I mean, really, after COVID,it's had a big change on
business and it has had aprofound change on the staffing

(01:04:53):
industry overall, overall, um, Iand it's been interesting to
try to find different ways totry to provide services to our
clients and, uh, it's it's stillthis learning process and and
trying to um find ways that wecan help different companies and

(01:05:15):
it's just not all today, youknow, just providing temporary
workers no, completely differentuse this in all kinds of ways
to for full-time positions forthe recruitment process, and and
so it's.
It's definitely still changingto this day, and and so it's
it's.
It's been really wonderful tobe a part of it.

(01:05:38):
I don't know if there's anyother things, any things that
you want to share or talk aboutthat we maybe thought we might
discuss, that we haven't talkedabout.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
I mean, you brought out about the transition and my
mother died on 11-11 of 08, andI believe Beth started 11-19 of
08, and I believe Beth started11-19 of 08.
So literally, we just had tosay you know what do we do for
accounting?
And so she came into thebusiness and so, you know, it's

(01:06:15):
been a celebration of, I guess,family working together and I
guess the appreciation that Ihave that my mother was able to
do what she did at an extremelydifficult time for her life and
go through all that and, at thesame time, provide the

(01:06:37):
opportunity for the communityand the surrounding counties
that we've serviced for almost58 years now, and it's always
been satisfying to see peopleaccomplish what they want,
whether it could have been forworking for a few days, a few
weeks, a few months andeventually full-time for the
companies we serve.
So that's always been verysatisfying.

(01:07:01):
So it's been a job that youenjoy because you saw people
being successful and in somecases they got a second chance
and maybe even a third chancewhen they came back and they
didn't perform well or theydidn't go to work every day and
we said, well, we got to takeyou off this assignment.
And they came back and said youknow what, like we all do, we

(01:07:21):
make mistakes.
We want to improve ourselves,we want to get better at what we
do.
We grow up a little bit, wemature.
And some of these people cameback to us and it was the first
place they came back and theysaid well, it didn't work at XYZ
, but I really would like, maybe, this job.
I see you have an opening overhere at this company.
Could you consider letting mego there?
And we would become sometimesfelt like a counselor just

(01:07:44):
saying well, you know, mike, yougot to go to work every day,
you got to be defendable and Ithink there's going to be a
great opportunity for you andanything we can do to help you
get started again, let's give ita try.
And it was always rewarding tosee that.
And so I think that was one ofthe things that you kind of

(01:08:04):
forget about.
You know you're there, you'vegot to make a profit, to grow,
you've got to provideopportunities for your full-time
staff employees and you want toalso be one of the things I
almost forgot when my motheropened the office in 66, that
was when the Chamber of Commercestarted became from the group

(01:08:26):
of 100, and she became a member,one of the first members a
charter.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Member of the.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Chamber of Commerce in 1966, because that's what she
believed, and so she passed onsome of those important values
that, hopefully, we alwaysthought about and a lot of
companies in our community feelis necessary to help support
your community.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Right, it's been interesting through all these
years.
I think we would be at theservice if we didn't mention it.
But I mean, we've had family,we've worked together, but we've
really had a tremendous amountof people work for us over the
years.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Well, we still do, and we just had one of our
employees celebrate his 30thyear with our company and they
have become like family.
We enjoy being with them anddoing events together with them
and sharing the joy.
Hopefully, that is working in acompany and the satisfaction

(01:09:26):
they get from doing the thingsthat I just discussed about, and
that's helping people find apath to their career or having
another opportunity to dosomething they always wanted to
do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
Yeah, we've had a lot of staff with long tenures and
it's uh, uh so appreciative forall the work that they do and
and, uh, they've represent uswell in the company and, uh, the
community well, and so, uh,shout out to all of you, if
you've worked for us before,work for us now.
We we appreciate you so muchand uh, so well, dad, this has

(01:10:02):
been great to get to do this.
I think we'll probably wrap itup.
We've been going a little overan hour, okay maybe we'll have
to do a part two in uh, our 60thanniversary coming up in a
couple years yeah, so that'd begreat, but thanks for coming on.
People ask me all the timehow's your dad doing, how's he
doing?
I said, oh, he's doing great.

(01:10:22):
Whatever, hopefully they'll getto see here on the hub how
you're doing and get to see youthis way.
It's been great to have youhere.
I appreciate you and love youvery much.
Happy you could be here and dothis today.
Love you, son, thank you verymuch Thanks.
Okay, michael Allen fromManpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.

(01:10:44):
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save

(01:11:06):
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.