Lessons From My First Job

I was eight years old in 1960. My dad quit his job as an actuary at Bankers Life and Casualty to start a data processing services bureau. His first products were accounting general ledger and payroll. He rented a small office space on Touhy Avenue in Skokie. He knew computers were the future of everything. He worked at building his business, on average, sixteen hours a day for more than ten years. 

I would often go to work with him on weekends to spend time with him. My first job was to clean ashtrays. He smoked two packs of Camel cigarettes a day. His team was small and included Ronnie, Marilyn, Peggy, Bill, and Judy. Ronnie keypunched. Marilyn sold the products. Peggy supervised the office. Bill worked in the machine room. Judy programmed computers part-time. They all smoked a pack or more of cigarettes every day. The ashtrays were always full. I emptied them. I also threw away the half-full styrofoam cups of cold coffee from the week. Some had red lipstick imprints around the rim. When bored, I would go into the back room and play with a stack of plug boards and colorful wires. I would sometimes sit at an empty punch machine and type messages on the rectangular cards. My dad would put my cards on the computer and print out what I wrote. I felt thrilled. 

As time went on, his business grew. All his first employees had one or two people working for them as his customer base and product line grew. Customers would retrieve their listings from labeled pigeonhole boxes using their customer numbers. The numbers expanded from 001 - to 015, to 001 to 130 over the years. An overflow room was set up with more mailboxes. 

Often, my father would worry about making payroll. He appreciated his employees, and they honored him with their trust, hard work, and loyalty. He did not pay himself much, sometimes not at all, so he made sure to pay his employees. My mother did not work outside the home as was customary in these years for women. We all sacrificed for the business. It was a way of life we accepted. 

I continued working for my dad part-time through junior high and high school. My responsibilities increased. I had a key task of checking the general ledger reports against the machine tapes for accuracy. My father liked to explain his accounting package in detail to me. I learned about how a vision became a concept and then became a product. I discovered that products had markets. I learned about checks and balances and quality control. I learned that employees, when treated with respect and fairness, remain loyal. I found out that computers are amazing, but they may be expensive and not always dependable. I learned that it takes vision and sacrifice to build a business, and there is no guarantee of success. I learned that competition with more money often won the customers over. I knew our customers stayed loyal because our products helped their businesses thrive.

My father sold his company to a prominent New York-based diversified organization. The company offered him a job, but he became disappointed with it and decided to move to California. He started a new service bureau in Oakland. I learned that the entrepreneurial spirit lives on and gets passed on. 

What is your family's legacy story? I love the stories about small family businesses. I would love to help you tell your story.