Wednesday, September 18, 2019
I will miss Ben's enthusiasm, generosity, nuggets of wisdom on business and politics. And the great lumberyard tours: When Ben told Kevin and Steven to go in the kiln, then closed the door for 20 sec - they came out red and soaked. When Ben had a race with Craig, where Ben fed boards into the planner and Craig had to stack them - after 15 min they were red and soaked. When Ben found a guy sleeping with his feet on a chair, kick out the chair and shouted "am I paying people to sleep?". The guy, eyes big as saucers, stammered "waiting for my truck to be loaded", to which Ben replied "there's a broom around somewhere, I'll get it for you". When Ben spotted two workers stunt driving a fork lift, asked them about several jobs, getting only "nah" or "yah" answers, and learned that a truck had not been loaded. Ben gave them a scowl, said "Well... Go Do It!", and as they shuffled away announced "Well.. there goes a couple ambitious Indians". When Ben told the customer on line 1 "don't know what I can do with 10,000 board feet, but I guess I could take it for $3.00 / ft", then pressed line 2, "I found 10,000 ft, but it's gonna cost ya; I gotta get $6.50 / ft ...". Hanging up Ben told us "I could have told A to call B, but thought I would facilitate". And we even learned a lot about lumber! Our sympathies go out to Carol and the Forester family, from Tom, Lynne, and the Potter family.
