One Company – Four Men: Part V

Not long after I went to work for Sammy he was in an auto accident that almost cost him a leg, in fact, it did cost him a part of his leg by the time they were through putting him back together. He got a wife out of the deal – one of his nurses.

During his convalescence Sammy ran our department from first his hospital room and later his home, so I ended up spending a lot of one-to-one time with him in those early days. Now my friend Sammy is as rough as coarse sandpaper – but I couldn’t ask for a better boss or a better friend. In some respects Sammy and I are a lot alike, I’d say we are both acquired tastes. We also tend to speak our minds to peers and people in authority and we try to protect people who work for us. When Vickie and I were married Sammy and his wife, Sharon the nurse, stood up with us and took us out to dinner. Prior to that I had been with Sammy at his wedding.  When Sharon’s mom died I delivered her eulogy. Considering that I didn’t want Sammy to get the VP’s job, and considering that I didn’t think I’d like him, I think we’ve done pretty well over the years.

Sammy may be the most aggressive person I’ve ever worked for – in a good sense. Now I’ve worked for aggressive people who brought with their aggressiveness a callousness toward people and a disregard for ethics, but while Sammy was (and is) no social worker, I never saw him do anything ethically questionable and I always saw him treat people equitably – he was hard in his expectations, but he was fair. I’ve seen men as smooth as can be outwardly, but devious and untrustworthy in their affairs – I’ll take Sammy’s sandpaper anytime.

We had a great working relationship, I trusted him and he trusted me and that trust led to a lifelong friendship. You just never know do you?