One day the dream customer came in. He wanted five 4x8s, he wanted them to look real nice, he gave us the copy already written out , and he said ”You guys know what you’re doing, I need these in three weeks”. He never quibbled about the price, even left a deposit. Lenny told him he could have them Friday because he told everybody that. He thought that was what they wanted to hear. He said that even on Thursdays. “So, when can I pick all this stuff up?” “Friday.” “What? You don’t mean TOMORROW!” “Yeah, if tomorrow is Friday.” It never happened. Lenny would never correct his errors, either. Once it was out of his mouth he would defend it to his grave. He had a phone man come to the shop once and told him he wanted 3 phone lines put in. The guy says “You don’t mean all in this room?” Without thinking Lenny said “Yeah, yeah.” The guy asked him several times as he was installing the phones if he was sure he wanted them all within 6 feet of each other, and Lenny would NOT go back on what he’d said. So that’s where the 3 phones, that I called “Ma Cerberus”, went. His quote; “The Boss is never wrong”.
The customer called that Friday, just checking, but of course nothing had happened, yet. For once Lenny actually bought the MDO early enough to have gotten them done on time. But he kept putting Marv, the alcoholic helper, onto other projects until the day before they were due. On this day Marv staggered in just as the rest of us were leaving for lunch, and Lenny got out of the truck to go get him started. When we came back from lunch Lenny told me to start on that project, because the blanks ought to be ready by now. To Lenny an hour is more than enough time to prime and finish coat both sides of a sheet of plywood and it should also be dry. And of course I should be able to bang out five particularly nice 4x8s in an afternoon.
There were no 4x8s to be found. There WERE a bunch of 4x5s, though. Instead of five 4x8s we had eight 4x5s, coated using an old sheepskin roller, with hand prints, gravel, and dead bugs embedded in it like a third grade archeology project. And no more sheets of MDO. Lenny’s credit had long since disappeared and so had the deposit money and we couldn’t get any more. There wasn’t time anyway. We lost the job, the customer, probably everybody he could tell and it took months for him to get his deposit back. The competition got the job, but THEY got a rush job; Awful Al - 5 / Lenny - 0
For months after that we had a “special” on 4x5s and 3x4s.
Lenny’s favorite T shirt says; “I’m RIGHT”
Posts: 1859 | From: / | Registered: Nov 1998
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I have a 4x5 & a 3x4 on special too. Fact is, I've had them for quite some time, though I guess I haven't mentioned it to anyone yet. Seems no one orders 4x5's or 3x4's lately, but at least I did get the 4x6 job out on time, just cost me an extra sheet of MDO for not writing things down though.
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Mike, Lenny, sounds like my old boss.."Flay"
One time he told me to get my Sign Kit ready and go down to "TYRO" and letter a couple of Poultry Trucks at this Plant.........Well TYRO was only a cross roads community.....about 20 miles from the Sign Shop..and I did not remember seeing a Large Processing Plant anywhere in that area...I asked Flay where in TYRO was the plant located?? he said "Hell you can't miss it it is on the south end of Main St right in the middle of town.....Drove there....and looked for about an hour.....all over the area.....ask everyone..(About 10 people)....the Processing Plant did not exist..........
Returned to the Shop with this news........Flay said "Have you Lettered both of those trucks in TROY and got back this early"????
I said TROY ???????.....you said TYRO !!!!!!... Flay said...."T Y R O....???....T R O Y"...???....What is the difference ????? It has the same LETTERS !!!!! Well TROY was about 40 miles away in the opposite direction.........
He sent the Crew out one day to install a Western Auto Sign in "Yanceville"...turns out it was supposed to be "Yadkinville" about 100 miles in the opposite direction......then there was the same type of incident.........went to "Boone".....should have been "Boonville" about 75 mi in the opposite direction.....but he was ALWAYS RIGHT........
Thanks for sharing this story about "Lenny" brings back some great memories. Shep'
-------------------- Arvil Shep' Shepherd Art by Shep' -------- " Those who dance are thought to be mad by those who cannot hear the music " Posts: 1281 | From: Mt Airy NC | Registered: Mar 2001
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Shep, thanks for YOUR story! I had another boss who used to say things like "Get on the freeway and go to where the old Such-and-such Building use to be". I'd say which freeway? He'd just laugh. This is in L.A. - land of freeways, and he would have in mind buildings that had been demolished before I was born. As I walked in the door one morning he handed me a pattern, made by the janitor, and said "Get your butt up to 350 West Broadway - they gotta have this gold job done this morning". I couldn't find it so I tried East Broadway. No go. Then I unrolled the pattern to see what it was - big numbers; 305. Posts: 1859 | From: / | Registered: Nov 1998
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you know,stuff like that happens every day even now,but people dont talk much about there mistakes you know?.....had a guy a couple weeks ago..needed his racer lettered...do a lot of em you know....give me info on phone i wrote it down told him id e-mail a layout in a bit....he got the layout said why the 70 on doors.i say it was number 70 right..he said 7T YOU IDIOT!..I AGREE I WAS IDIOT THAT DAY!! HO HUM LIFE GOES ON!lol
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These are great ! Shep, your old boss would have had a field day in NW Alabama. There are two towns there just a few miles apart Guin and Gu-win, man I'd love to hear the story behind that one Gary, I can remember a Chevy coach modified that ran at the Nazareth 1/2 mile back in the sixties. It had FIVE ( spelled out ) in big white letters accross the flanks. Never knew if that was a put on or a really dumb sign painter. Course I'm been known to pull a few pranks. I had one customer with a LM race car that always entered it in the big World of Wheels auto show. I'd go to thier garage in the day time while they were at work. They'd leave little post it's all over the car showing where the sponsors and what not went. On the rear of the spoiler one year they put a post it with " pinstripes please" on it. Naturally I lettered pinstripes please in a script strectching the width of the spoiler.. I thinned the paint with 30 wt so it would come off easy but , man you should have heard THAT phone conversation
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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