Then there’s T. L.’s gift to his long-time employees. I couldn't find the letter outlining the details of the gift, but I clearly remember the basics, and can give you a pretty fair idea of the scope and impact of this wonderful gesture on his part.
1.
A SHAKY START
It
all began in one day in January, 1959, when I received a phone call
from an employment agency on the north side of Chicago, where I lived
in a bachelor pad with three other friends. I had registered with
that agency earlier, part of a job search that I’d been on for
weeks, going back to late 1958.
The
nameless voice on the phone asked if I was available to talk to a
local company about an opening they had in “inventory control.”
I
said yes, and he set me up for an interview at the Maybelline
Company, a mile up the street from our apartment. I got there at the
scheduled time, to meet a Mr. John Cole. The street address was 5900
North Ridge Avenue, and as I entered the building I saw a large sign
proclaiming
MAYBELLINE
World’s
Largest-Selling Eye Beauty Aids
It
wasn’t too late to chicken out, but I swallowed hard and opened the
swinging door and walked in. After all, I was so broke I couldn’t
even afford gas for my ’53 Ford, among other things.
John
Cole couldn’t have been more gracious. He was older than me by ten
years or so, a trim and friendly man. He gave me a brief rundown on
the company and the job in question, and politely asked me about my
background and experience. After that exchange I guess he thought we
could go to the next step, and made a call to a Mr. Tom Williams.
That
cleared us to walk down the hall to another, larger office. I met Mr.
Williams and we continued the interview, the upshot of which was a
job offer. John offered a starting salary of $5,500 per year, with
annual raises to be discussed on each anniversary. The company would
also reimburse my employment agency fee, about $300, after 90 days on
the job. I accepted, and we agreed that I would start on January 19. (Tom Lyle Williams Sr. Birthday.)
As
I learned very quickly, John would be my boss and trainer. He
functioned across all operating areas of the company, with heavy
involvement in purchasing and supplier relations. Also, I learned
that Mr. Williams was the son of the company founder, T. L. Williams.
At that time and for years afterward, I heard the elder Mr. Williams
referred to only as “T. L.”
John
needed me to help him with the heavy detail in keeping the inventory
balanced. In turn, this function required heavy contact with the wide
range of packaging and product suppliers, located literally across
the country at that time. This would relieve John to concentrate on
his many other responsibilities, both external and internal.
That
was the thinking and high hopes as we began. No luck. Things began to
unravel almost immediately because I had no direct experience in that
kind of work and couldn’t avoid making an almost immediate mess of
things. Of all things, Tom Williams saw the disaster shaping up, and
stepped in personally. The main tool in daily inventory actions was a
hand-posted weekly inventory report listing all Maybelline items,
starting with the finished-goods quantity, followed by the quantities
of all component parts that related to that item. Well, those numbers
were supposed to shout for action if they were out of position,
particularly if they were dangerously low. Shout? Those numbers just
sat there on the report, and they all looked the same to me.
Okay,
Tom and John could have fired me right then, but I guess they figured
I was the bird in hand, and they’d be farther ahead if they could
salvage me rather than starting over again. So Tom would get that
weekly inventory report ahead of me, and leave me with an “action
list,” hand written, with detailed instructions to call such-and-so
and order this much material. While this burdened Tom with what I
should be doing, it was something he had done in his earlier years
with the company, and he was good at it.
Slowly,
slowly, two things began to happen. The inventory began to resemble
the profile that Tom wanted to see, and I began to understand what
needed to be done without Tom’s time and attention. In my case I
was like a newborn bear cub, coming into the world unable to see for
the first part of his life, then slowly gaining vision and focus.
If
Tom hadn't spent the time he did in this early phase of my
Maybelline experience, this would be the end of the story. Both he
and John had salvaged my job, and now I was out there in solo mode,
thanks to them. In sum, that was a close one!
