Ca. 1974–I was married to my wife, Paula, and had just graduated with my Associate’s degree in electronics engineering. I had the second highest grade point average in my class so I was looking forward to a bright future in the up-and-coming computer business. I was very fortunate in interviewing with a company called Industrial Nucleonics, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. They used the Honeywell Mainframe Computer (which weighed almost 1,800 pounds) to measure flat plastic sheets extruded from hot plastic presses. They used nuclear material to do the measurements. I was hired, went through three months of extensive training and was assigned to be the Lead Consulting Engineer (their fancy name for a Computer Technician) in a brand new plastic extrusion plant that had just been built in New Jersey. This was the job I was hired for and trained for by the company. They gave me a company car, expense account, travel allowance, and they paid a very good salary.
I called and told Paula we would be moving to New Jersey. Oops! Big mistake! Paula was very close to her family in Indianapolis and she didn’t want to move that far away. I was certain that if I asked for a closer assignment Industrial Nucleonics would object. It had cost them a lot of money to train, house, and feed me for my three months of training. My boss at the time was Charlie Rich. He had the same name as the country singer, but the singer Charlie Rich had not come into the lime light yet.
I remember going to my boss’s office to ask for a closer assignment and I was very nervous. I knew any other assignment would require them to pay for even more training and that would take a lot more money and trouble on the company’s part. I wasn’t going to move Paula to New Jersey if she didn’t want to go, so I was truly between a rock and a hard place. I went into the office, sat down and explained my dilemma! Mr. Rich listened intently. He tried to talk me into moving to New Jersey to no avail. He asked me to think about it and said that he would also think about my request. He offered to take me to lunch the next day to give me his final answer. Of course, I didn’t sleep at all that night. The next day, I met him at Popeye’s for lunch and he told me this story right off the bat.
He told me that when he was a young man he was very ambitious. After he earned his Master’s Degree in Business he went to work for IBM managing a small group of technicians. His goal was to work hard and climb the IBM corporate ladder to success! He was so sure he was going to the top! He had good technicians under him but the harder he tried to get promoted the less success he had. Well, one day he gave up trying to get to the top. Maybe, he thought, I am not good enough. He had some great people who worked for him, so he decided from then on out, he would help them get ahead instead of himself. That became his new purpose in life and within a couple of years his department had more promotions than any other. Soon after that, he was promoted to National Manager of the entire East Coast.
He had figured out a magic way to be successful. It wasn’t about him, his work, or his extra effort to push ahead of others. It was about what he would do to help others get ahead that ended up making him successful. He told me the more you do this, the more good comes back to you. He said, “That is magical, isn’t it?” I was impressed with his story but I thought to myself, “What did that do for me?” …I found out soon enough.
As we finished our fried chicken, he told me that he had decided to reassign me to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He said it was a hard decision but if it was good for me, it would be good for him. We would be able to visit Indy from Kalamazoo. He agreed to pay to retrain me on the different computer system and he would hire someone else for New Jersey. I thought, What a huge sacrifice he was making for me! I was so grateful and happy and I knew Paula would be ecstatic! I flew home for that weekend to tell Paula. That very night, I woke up from my sleep with the entire Helping Others poem running through my head. I wrote it down in my notebook beside my bed and went back to sleep. I had to fly back to Charlotte for the additional training on Monday. I had the poem printed and framed at the airport. I autographed it for him before he hung it behind his desk. He said it was exactly how he felt about life in general!
That poem has won several first place awards in poetry contests and it has been published in some national poetry books over the years. I gave it out at computer conventions all over the country as a free gift with our business card taped to the back. I figure, that at least multiple thousands of copies have been distributed over 50+ years and I try to live my life by its principle. One year, I purchased 500 picture frames from a wholesaler for $1 each. We passed out all 500 poems, in frames, at a big computer convention in Chicago. We put our company’s business card on the back and our business, Selas Computer Corporation’s Sales, expanded a lot that year. It hangs in my home office to this day!
The day I graduated from training, and before I was headed home to move to Kalamazoo, we had a huge party and about 100 employees were in attendance. They had a big stage, lights, great food, and a small band to entertain us. It was about 10PM and everyone was having fun when someone asked me to sing a song or two. They knew I loved to sing because I had brought my guitar with me and we sang songs after training sessions were done, once or twice a week. I had never sang to a big audience before and this, to me, was a huge audience.
I asked the band leader if he had an extra guitar and of course he did. We chose three songs that we all knew and out on the stage I went! I gave it my all, sang my heart out, and the band behind me was absolutely great! They made my songs sound so good! I sang three popular songs and the last one was “Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home” by Gordon Lightfoot. We all were ready to go home anyway! Emotions were running very high. The applause was loud and wonderful. As I made a big bow, smiling, and waving goodbye, a pretty, petite young lady with long blond hair ran up, jumped on the stage and kissed me full on the mouth! Wow, I had my fist “groupie!” She was probably drunk, huh? L.O.L.
This had been the first time in my life that I had a real opportunity to “Show Off!” I will never forget that evening or those people. I felt like a star performer. Everyone should have a chance in life, at least once, to have the feeling that I had that night! It was just plain awesome! I have been a singer ever since and I’m always looking for an audience and applause to this day. Sometimes, I don’t get enough applause though.
Roy Lee Barrett
P.S. I have told these True Stories to my family, friends, and especially, my three daughters. Each time I tell anyone these stories, these are the comments I say at the end:
- Try very hard to find and create great memories! (They are helpful when you get old. And your children and grandchildren will want to hear you tell stories about your life.)
- Go find yourself an audience and get some applause.
- Celebrate life and count your blessings everyday.
- Go, be a “Star” to someone, and help others become “Stars” in their own right. The rewards are great!
- Life is good… if you don’t weaken!
Click to go to the next True Story,
“The Fight of My Life as a Teenager”
Roy Lee Unchained 