This Old Man

Another year is soaring by and I still wonder how my life has taken the shape that it has. I am made up of so many people. There are so many people I have encountered in my life that have impacted who I am today.

One person in particular is my old boss/friend/mentor/father figure. When I was 18 years old, I had returned home from college and worked at Toyota Motor Credit. It was that summer that a "weekend" job fell into my lap that I met Bill Glass. I took a year off of college for personal reasons and ended up working 40 hours during the week and another 20 or so on the weekends. At the time I thought it was just to make some extra money when I return to school, but little did I know that this "weekend" job would alter my life forever.

Bill was in his early 60s when I first met him. I didn't have a father figure in my life because of cultural differences, language barriers, and other things that I could not really pinpoint. Needless to say, I am fortunate to have my father, but we were never able to communicate well. For 8 years of my life, Bill was that person to me. For over a year, I spent every weekend with Bill. I did brainless work, including typing up letters, filing, etc, but many times in between, Bill would tell me stories about his past and boy did he have a colorful past.

A month before I was headed back to UMass for my sophomore year, Bill had asked me to work full-time. I jumped at the opportunity for several reasons. One, I hated working at a big corporation. Two, it gave me the opportunity to learn more about the ins and outs of small business. Three, I got to spend more time with my friend. I spent most of that last month learning the ropes and getting more involved in all aspects of the business.

When I left, Bill said to me "whenever you want/need a job, you always have one here". At that point, I could have dropped out of school and been in a better position than most college grads, but Bill had always encouraged me to finish school. I spent the next 3 years of summer break, winter break, and spring break going back to Chicago to work with Bill. I learned so much about business, the world, and, most importantly, about myself. He truly opened my eyes to many things I was completely blind to.

For as long as I remember, it was my goal to own my own business one day. This job was turning into just that. I was being taught, molded into the next generation/phase of the future of the business. While most of my peers were stressing about what they would do after college, I already had all my plans in place. The day of my last final, I jumped in my car and made the 15 hour drive back to Chicago. I had an apartment already set up and my job as VP-Operations waiting for me. I was truly blessed, but felt that I had worked really hard for it.

Less than 2 years after I graduated, things went bad both with my relationship with Bill and also the company. I wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but I made a decision to leave my job and start over. The stress I had was more than I cared to deal with at that stage in my life and I knew I was bound for bigger and better things.

Since I left, I have not spoken to Bill. Leaving that job was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do because I knew it would tarnish my relationship will Bill forever. To be honest, the single thing I miss from that job is Bill. We were so much more than just boss/employee. We were truly friends. He taught me so much of what to do and what not to do. He wasn't perfect by any means, but he did not judge. Bill was who he was and he didn't apologize for it.

I don't know where he is today or how he is doing, but if I ran into him, I would tell him, thank you.