Like Father ...
Herman at Ding-A-Ling
NO MONEY DOWN Shortly after we set up in business Herman got a surprise call from AT&T. A nice lady named Mrs. Zax told him that AT&T required a $20,000 up front fee for its equipment. Herman was dumbfounded. We had nowhere near that much money to give them. He called Frank Brooks, one of the two brothers we bought Ding-a-Ling from and asked him what to do. Frank was blunt; “Tell them to go to hell.” Herman reworded that and told Mrs. Zax. She said, “Then, in that case, Mr. Shooster, we will need a bond.” Herman researched this and found that a bond only costs $300. But before he called back he spoke with Frank
that now handle phone traffic for the inter- national clients and brands we represent. Back then it was the height of technology. Herman made some wonderful deci- sions as we went along and the business grew. Today that little busi-
ness is a nationally known call center and within it there is still the answering service. I’m proud to say, many of the most trusted brands in the world use our company to take care of their customers. When we began it was much different. Herman didn’t give himself a salary for the first two years. I did the posting of the checks, sold customers on our service, called to collect payment for service, did the payroll every week, kept track of taxes, did the bookkeeping and typed about 65 bills a day. Now the bills are computerized so no one has to type them any more. When the day was done so was I. Some- times Herman would ask me to drive home and I just couldn’t. Still, I did the marketing after work and when I got home I still cooked big dinners for the family. And often at midnight I found myself still dusting. I felt very responsible to take care of everything.
240
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator