The Hollow Men - Episode 7
Fifi Murphy is still missing, Drew resigns from SouthWestern Tank to work full time at VP Tanks, and Rick and Drew come up with a metaphor to explain their business.
Last week in Episode 6 of The Hollow Men Fifi Murphy vanishes from an Odessa nightclub, Rick and Drew get a business loan and VP Tanks opens for business.
If you’re the type that likes to read things from the very beginning feel free to start with The Cold Days of Summer, the first collection of not quite true tales of Texas. Each episode of The Cold Days of Summer and The Hollow Men contains a link to the previous and next episode so you can easily move through all of the episodes.
She vanished, part 2
The year 1978 was a blur for us. Things moved fast. For many of us things moved forward, somewhat according to plan. For others what was happening didn’t make sense in any way or fashion.
The August 17, 1978 issue of The Odessa American had a short article about an award offered by the Murphy family for any information related to Fifi’s disappearance.
Two days later an article in The Odessa American said that lawmen had searched an area in the Gardendale area where a blood stained rock had been found and delivered to Sheriff Elton Faught.
On August 20, 1978 The Odessa American reported that the blood-stained rock was a dead end.
On July 21, 1978, two days after Fifi Murphy disappeared, her car, a white 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with a blue top, was found by two of her friends in the Safeway parking lot at University and Grandview. On August 27, 1978 The Odessa American reported that the car would be parked at the same location in the Safeway parking lot. Officials hoped that this would jog the memory of someone who had seen the car when it was parked and who parked it.
Baffled by numerous dead-ends officials were considering all possibilities, including psychics, to make progress on the case of Fifi’s disappearance. Nothing worked. Officials followed numerous contacts, hints and rumors, but as December 1978 arrived no progress had been made.
On December 1, 1978, The Odessa American reported that the Murphy family had increased the reward for any information related to Fifi’s disappearance to $25,000.
1978 ended with Fifi still missing.
The In-Betweeners
I gave my notice at SouthWestern Tank the Monday before Thanksgiving, 1978. My final day there was on December 1, 1978, and the following Monday I started working with Rick at VP Tanks.
We weren’t making tons of money, but we were doing all right. As my Dad said more than once, “Hell, you’re making money off of other people’s laziness, and around here, there’s a lot of money to be made from that.”
But we were still figuring the ropes, we weren’t willing to take on more work than we felt we could handle. We were happy with a little profit, we focused on making connections, on getting people to call on us, instead of us having to call on them, and from that perspective, it was starting to work.
As the winter of ‘79 waned and spring arrived, SouthWestern Tank turned out to be one of our best customers and marketers. The boys in the office were directing work our way, as long as we bought tanks from SouthWestern Tank. That was fine with Rick and me, because SouthWestern Tank had the best prices in the area. It only made sense to do business with them.
Despite all that I hadn't seen anyone from SouthWestern Tank since my final day there on December 1st. That ended one Tuesday morning in late February of 1979 when I dropped by the National Bank of Odessa to deposit a few checks and make a payment on the loan that Rick and I had taken out to start VP Tanks.
It was one of those pleasant February days in West Texas, a harbinger of the warm days to come. Not a cloud in a brilliant blue sky, and by 11:00 am, the temperature was already in the 70’s, with a predicted high of near 80 well within reach.
I walked into the lobby, filled out my deposit slip, then waited in line for the next teller. In a few minutes I was done, dropped over to my Uncle Bill’s office, leaned in and said hello, then headed to the front door.
And who did I see just as I was making my exit? Matt Johnson, the president and owner of SouthWestern Tank, was walking into the lobby. Neither one of us were great conversationalists so at first we just looked at each other, with silly grins on our faces.
Matt spoke first. “Drew, Drew Remington, well, how are you?”
I mumbled a couple of things and Matt smiled that big smile of his. “From what I can tell you and Rick aren’t doing bad. You bought six tanks from us last month and I hear you’re buying another ten this month.”
“Yes, sir, we’re doing all right. Business is picking up, we’re starting to get some solid customers, and we’re not having to make as many cold calls as before.”
“Well, when you provide a good service at a good price, it’s hard to not make money.”
That just about dried everything we had to say so we stared at each other politely for a few more seconds.
“Drew, why don’t we get together for lunch one day this week? I would like to hear more about the ideas you and Rick have. I’m free Thursday, would that work for you?”
It would work, most days Rick and I ate lunch at our office and usually that was leftovers from dinner the night before.
“Sure, that would be great. I’ll meet you at Manuel’s at 12:00 noon Thursday.” I knew from working at SouthWestern Tanks that Matt had lunch every Thursday at Manuel's, one of the two best dine-in Mexican restaurant's in town, the other being El Meson on south Grandview.
“I’ll see you then.”
Matt shook my hand, flashed me one more of those smiles of his as I walked out of the bank.
I stood by my truck and thought about what had just happened. It really shouldn’t have surprised me, everything that I knew about Matt said he was a decent, good honest man.
The day seemed a little brighter and I decided to hell with the leftovers. I drove down Dixie Boulevard to the best, in my opinion, Tex-Mex take out restaurant in town, Casa de Sopapilla. I ordered two Grande dinners with ice tea, then drove to the office. The food hadn’t cooled off much by the time I walked into the office. Rick had a surprised look on his face.
“What the hell?”
“I just felt like buying lunch today.”
“Did you keep the receipt?”
I pulled the receipt out of my pocket and grinned sheepishly.
“All right, business lunch!”
Over lunch I told Rick about running into Matt and that I was going to have lunch with Matt on Thursday.
“Be sure and pick up the tab Thursday. Who knows, he might send some more business our way.”
“I guess you want me to keep the receipt?”
“Hell, yeah, it’ll be another business lunch and that means another business expense.”
The rest of the day passed. Wednesday Rick was in a talkative way.
In between phone calls and one trip over to a painter/fabricator to get a crew lined up for a tank setup job on Friday and Saturday, Rick philosophized on what we were doing. That was not a bad thing, because I often slipped into thinking that we weren’t doing anything useful, we were just making money from the gaps. I must have mumbled something about the gaps, because he lit right into that topic.
“Yeah, we make money from the gaps, there’s nothing wrong with that. Look, here’s another way to think about it. We’re the in-betweener’s. We stand in-between, helping a tank move from who built it to who uses it.” He looked at the floor, I imagined I could hear the wheels in his mind grinding. “It’s like Mark this past summer. He took out Erica for a date and what happened?”
“She had broken up with Marty, her long time boyfriend, went out with Mark, then two weeks later was back with Marty and by the end of the summer they were engaged.”
“Yeah, and then he took out Sonya and the same thing happened. Less than a month after her date with Mark, she was back with her old boyfriend and just last week they announced their engagement.”
“Oh, shit, and then there was Julia. Same God damn thing, breaks up with her boyfriend of three years, goes out with Mark one time and within three months, she’s back with her boyfriend and they got married last month.”
“Exactly, exactly, Mark is just like us, he’s an in-betweener.”
I had always saw what happened to Mark as something sad and a little bit funny. We had all given Mark a hard time about how all he had to do was take a girl out and she would be married in a few months, just not to him. I now realized that Rick saw it all in a different way.
“The in-betweener has an important role in the world. The in-betweener gets people and things ready for the next thing. Mark got Sarah, Julia and Erica ready for the next stage in their lives. We help tanks get ready for their next stage. That’s an important role, one that doesn’t get enough credit.”
Rick seemed proud of himself and what he had said, then he turned everything around by asking me “What are you getting ready for, Drew?”
Shit, I had no idea.
Thursday morning I came in dressed a little better than usual: clean, not too frayed jeans, one of my better pair of boots and a button down shirt.
“Hell, you got a date after work?” Rick said as I walked into our office.
“Nope, I just thought Matt deserved better than worn out jeans, t-shirt and work boots.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot, you’re having lunch with him today. Not a bad idea, maybe I ought to try looking a little more professional one of these days.”
There was really no need, most of our days we were on the phone, lining up sales or getting tanks prepped up for the field. When we left the office we were usually in tank yards or fab shops, places where it made little sense to wear good clothes, instead you were better off wearing clothes you didn’t mind if you had to throw away at the end of the day.
The morning was busy and it would be a busier afternoon as we had more than enough quotes to put together. Business was looking good. Around 11:40 I got off the phone and got ready to leave.
The drive over to Manuel's didn't take long. I was parked and standing in the lobby of the restaurant by 11:50. I had arrived before Ray, who walked in the lobby at a couple of minutes before 12:00 noon. We said hello, shook hands and waited to be seated.
Once we were at our table, the waiter brought us chips, salsa and iced water with our menus. He knew Matt on sight, saying "Mr. Johnson, good to see you, sir. Who's your friend?"
Matt introduced me. "Arturo, this is Drew Remington, he used to work at SouthWestern Tank but he and a friend have started up their own tank business. I'm predicting big things from them."
Arturo and I shook hands and exchanged quick pleasantries. Matt didn't even look at the menu asking for a combination #1 and iced tea. I quickly glanced at the menu and ordered a combination #3, one open faced taco, one cheese enchilada, rice and beans with iced tea.
While we waited for our lunch, Matt and I made small talk, anything we could thing of, even Permian basketball, which showed how desperate we were to not let any time pass in silence. Permian emphasized football, practically all the other team sports were training grounds for football. In fact, if you wanted to see some of the roughest, hardest hitting basketball you will ever see, Permian basketball was for you. A moving pick by an all-state offensive lineman was a sight to see. Bodies would fly as the referee's whistle blew. If the game was being played on Permian's home court, about half of the time the referee would just shake his head as he watched bodies bounce off the hardwood. Permian didn’t win many basketball games, but the hits were always entertaining.
Our food arrived quickly. Two steaming plates of food were placed before us.
I had fork in hand and was ready to take my first bite when I noticed Matt with his head slightly bowed. He was praying. I wasn't used to that, but Matt was a religious man, so I put my fork down, bowed my head and watched him, waiting for him to finish his prayer. He didn't say anything out loud, but his lips moved for a few seconds, then he stopped, took a deep breath and raised his head. I did too. He smiled, then reached for his fork, said "Looks good." and took his first bite. I did the same.
We ate in silence for a few minutes before Matt spoke.
"I've been thinking about what you and Rick are doing. You're filling a spot that needed filling. I never liked having to arrange for a tank to get set up in the field. I just want to build them and set them up in our tank yard. I don't want to deal with all of the painting, sandblasting, coating, delivery and hook up. Never liked that part of the business. Problem is, more and more of our customers want the whole deal, not just the tank. You're not the first to think of this, but I like the approach you're taking with it. You want to make a little money, you don't seem too greedy."
It felt like a compliment so I took it like one.
"Thanks, Ray. A lot of it was Rick's idea. He worked the numbers and showed me how we could do all right. Luckily we had both saved a little money and my Uncle Bill was willing to loan the rest until the first sales came in."
"How long of a gap between you paying us and you getting the money from your customer?"
"First few tanks, it was about a thirty day gap, mostly because we had trouble with the timing of everything. We moved slowly, maybe a little too cautiously, but we just wanted to make sure we had everything lined up right before we started things moving. As a result, we ended up with the tanks sitting idle for a few days in between all the things we had to get done before the customer would accept the tank. But since then, we're getting better. Last four tanks we had eight days from when we had the tank moved out of your yard to when it was delivered and set up in the customer’s tank farm. Since you're net 30, and so are we, we're only talking at worst eight days float between when we pay for the tanks and when we get paid for them. We're thinking we can trim that a little further."
Matt smiled at that, put his fork down and looked at me. "That's good, Drew, real good. If you can minimize the time between when you put the money out and you get it back, it's going to be hard to lose. How much are you making on a tank on average?"
"We aim for 15-20% off of everything, the tank, the prep and coating, moving the tank from yard to yard and the final hook-up. That's seems to be a reasonable margin, not too little and not too much."
"I like that, not too little and not too much, just right in the in-between."
That caught my attention, being awfully close to what Rick had said the day before.
"Funny you say 'in-between,' that's something Rick said yesterday."
"And what was that?"
I told him about Rick had said about us being in-betweener's. Once I had quit talking he said: "You know your bible much, Drew?" I shook my head no, but that didn't stop him.
"I've always found scripture comforting. Sometimes I just open it up and read from a random spot, other times I read specific parts that have been pointed out to me. Years ago a friend of mind suggested Mark 11:25 to me. I was dealing with a bit of anger, I felt someone had wronged me and I was having a hard time letting go of the anger and the resentment."
That didn't sound much like Matt. In all my time working at SouthWestern Tank, I had only seen him angry once or twice and even then the only reason I thought he was angry was because his face was all red. He never quit smiling, never said anything harsh, but he did get his point across clearly.
"Mark 11:25 says 'When you stand praying, forgive if you have aught against any.' That really caught me that day, it was such a strong warning to me that my prayers meant little if I had anger in my heart. It took me awhile to see the wisdom of my friend, but once I did I was able to let the anger go."
He paused for a moment, took a bite of his food and washed it down with a swallow of iced tea.
"That story in itself doesn't mean much if I don't tell you about something that happened shortly after World War II. My brothers and I had decided to go in business. That's when we started SouthWestern Tank and Sandhill Steel. The first few months, well, the first year didn't go well. I at times wondered if we would be able to keep things afloat. One night I confessed to my wife my worries. All she said was 'Mark 11:23.' That piece of scripture reads 'whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.' I read that and it meant to me to believe in what I was doing and that if I believed in what I was doing with all my heart then I would succeed. I asked God for the faith and strength to believe and I have believed ever since that day."
He looked at me for a moment and asked me "Do you see my point?"
I had to think it over for a moment. I thought about the words, one set talked about forgiveness and the other about faith and confidence. I didn't see the connection there. I then thought about where the words came from: Mark 11:25 and Mark 11:23.
"What does Mark 11:24 say?
He smiled at that.
"Drew, yes that's it, what does Mark 11:24 say? What does the in-between scripture have to say?" He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then said softly "all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."
Those are strong words, Drew, if you look at them, just as strong as Mark 11:23 or Mark 11:25, personally, I think they're stronger. Strong words. You know how the weld is stronger than the metal it joins?"
I nodded my head.
"That's the beauty of the in-betweener's. When it's right, what's in-between is stronger than what's before and after. It's the glue that keeps everything all together. Without the glue, even if there's a tight fit, if there's the slightest tension, things fall apart. You got to have the glue, and it has to be strong. I think what Rick was trying to tell you is that you and he are the glue, and that's all right. You thought being the glue wasn't that important, and in one way you're right. Without the parts, then the glue doesn't help much, but without the glue, the parts won't stay together. The glue is what makes the parts become more than what they are alone. Each of us can do our own thing and take pride in what we've done, but it is only until the glue is used do we wind up with something bigger, better than ourselves.
"Once I read the in-between scripture I started looking for the in-between in all things. Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don't, but I always look. When you first left SouthWestern Tank, I didn't see it at first. Then I started think about it and I realized you and Rick were the in-between and if you did right, you would serve a good and true purpose. So far, from what I've seen, you've done that. You should be proud of what you've done in just the last few months."
Again, a compliment, and me, well, I've never been good at receiving them, but sometimes the people around me affect me and I catch myself being more like them than I really am. That was the case that day. For a moment I was more like Matt than I really am, and because of that I accepted his compliment.
"Matt, thank you. I'll admit, I've been struggling with what we've been doing. At SouthWestern I could draw a tank, then watch it being built in the shop, and that was always good, I could see how I got it started and see how others finished, even added to it. Nat was the first one to teach me that, showing me how the pipe, the flanges and all fit into the tank so I could draw and measure things more accurately. But I had lost that feeling since I left. We're making money, but a part of me felt guilty about it, because I couldn't see the value we were bringing to it.
"Yesterday, Rick got me thinking, then you added to it today and, maybe, I'm beginning to see things better. I'm beginning to think our value is in doing what needs to be done, even when others aren't so willing to do it."
Matt flashed his best smile and said "And, if you're doing something that needs to be done, but others aren't willing to do it, there's always money to be made. The trick is to not get greedy and end up extending yourself so that when things turn in a direction you're not expecting, you're able to adapt and keep going. That's the real trick of business."
We kept talking, this time more naturally and comfortably, until the hour passed. Matt noticed it first, glancing at his watch and mentioning he needed to get going. I moved quickly and grabbed the lunch tab before he could and told him "Today's lunch is on me, the conversation was well worth the cost."
Matt smiled at that, and said "Fine, you can pay for today, but next week, lunch is on me. Shall we meet here again, next Thursday, 12:00 noon?"
"Yes, that would be great."
I left a good tip for Arturo then paid for lunch at the front counter, adding two pralines to the tab, one for Rick, one for me. I offered another to Ray, but he declined, saying "No, that's enough for me. I'm not like you, I have to watch what I eat, or at least act like it, so my wife doesn't get angry with me."
We laughed at that and walked out the door together. A final handshake, then Matt walked to his Cordoba and I to my truck. We drove off in opposite directions on Highway 80, Matt west toward SouthWestern Tank and me east to VP Tanks.
As I was driving back from lunch with Matt, I thought about what he had to say, about the concept of the in-betweeners but also about his warning to adapt when things started moving in a different direction. It reminded me of what Uncle Bill had told Rick and me the day we signed for the loan, we needed an exit plan and we needed to know when it was time to execute the exit plan.
Once I got back to the office I told Rick what Matt had to say.
He laughed and said, "The in-betweeners, heh, Matt understood what I meant, didn't he?"
I had to admit to Rick he was right. That's a dangerous thing to do, because he can at times be insufferable when he knows he's right.
"That Matt, he's a wise-guy. He really understood, it's all about the glue. Sure, the parts are important. Without the parts you can't build anything, but without the glue nothing stays together. He really understood that, and that's what we're about, Drew, we're the glue. We find the pieces, different people, different parts, different work. We see how they all go together, then, since we're the glue, we put them all together and the end result is more than the individual pieces. That's the value we provide."
Rick paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought then said "Maybe I ought to have lunch with him sometime myself? I think it would be an interesting conversation."
I told Rick, "I think we can work that out. I think he would enjoy it. You just can't go next week, next week he's paying for lunch and I don't think it would be right for me to show up with a guest."
Author’s notes
Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of companies and clients to develop better ways to organize work and people.
I have noticed that good teams and organizations usually have one or more people that, by traditional measures, do not seem important, and, in fact, seem to be overhead. In more than one case I saw one of those people removed from the team and the team’s performance dropped significantly. That led me to beleive that a good team always has someone who is the grease and the glue. The grease keeps things moving forward smoothly. Maybe they are the person who removes or mitigates impediments that would otherwise slow the team down. Maybe they are the person who looks ahead and makes sure the path is clear so the team can keep moving forward. The glue is the person who helps the individuals on the team work together. They are the weld that Matt Johnson talked about, the bond that makes the team stronger than the individual team members.
I feel I’ve gotten good at recognizing people who are the glue and the grease in their organizations. When I find them I strive to make sure their organizations realizes how important they are.
Next week in Episode 8 Fifi is found and lots of changes (some good, some not so good) occur for Drew and his friends.