More characters

I considered writing about many of the wonderful...and some not so great teachers in the Atlantic School System. There were some of the good ones were - Lowell Clausen, Richard (Senor) Seufort, Jeanne Howarth, Thane Hascall, Larry Lyons. Others...I could go on.

During my college years I met some interesting folks too - there was that gal from our dorm floor who picked her nose in the TV room. She was in vet school - I'll bet she fit right in with the animals.

A rare shot of Hauser and Moose washing dishes...

I know this breaks my vow to not talk about people I still hang out with...but this is about them long ago - so it's like other people right? We first met our friends Moose and Steve Hauser when they volunteered to coach our dorm floor in flag football. They were (are?) quite the characters too. Moose would punch Hauser in the arm and Hauser would yell, "You clipped me Moose at the top of his lungs." We loved hanging out on their dorm floor, Stevenson House in Birch with their friends Pig Farmer, Yellow Fever, Dirger and Dairy Cow and Shit for Brains. They had a broomball team and Vicki and I were their groupies. When we moved to our apartment at 230 Campus Avenue, those two would always flip the circuit breaker when they'd visit - turning out all the lights. Talk about a dramatic entrance!

My first job after earning that college degree was in Sioux Falls, S.D. Just where all the cool kids want to go! I worked for a grocery wholesaler as the office manager. I know - I was just happy as a clam to have a job making a whopping $12,500. Plus I didn't have to go home and live with my parents.

The manager of the Sioux Falls branch of Gamble Robinson was Kermet Torgersen - a good name for Norwegian guy from South Dakota. He seemed pretty old to someone right out of college. He was a WWII vet, and was probably in his early 60's at the time. (yeah, pretty young really!)

Through out my working career, several of my supervisors must have attended the same business school. The one where they teach you to leave the employee alone to self-train for long periods. Then, when an ego boost is needed, call the new employee in to "show 'em your stuff" - how adept you are at a skill, or how much "juice" you have with the company.

Kermet was that kind of boss. I was all of 22 and hadn't had many bosses at that point...but I was learning "on the job".  I knew, when he called out "Leslie" clean through the Assistant Manager's office, through two doors and a glass panel that I was to jump up and run in for a "lesson". Kermet loved to pontificate and I was the sponge to soak up his knowledge. I was a greenhorn when it came to buying and selling produce. But Kermet was teaching a PhD level of fruits and veggies.

But in my view the old boy was in the process of losing his marbles. It many ways, it was good for the company! He took his own "Kermet" discounts for was he perceived as bad fruit. As Office Manager, I reconciled the invoices with receipt tickets and wrote huge checks for loads of oranges. And sometimes we did have shipments arrive with a great deal of spoilage. In that case we would have to document what was not sellable.

Both he and I had to sign checks. (He'd sign with a flourish - using the cursive method taught back in the day that was so beautiful compared to my crappy post college crimped note taking writing) One load of oranges could cost $40,000 - and Kermet would out of the blue just cross off the amount on the invoice and deduct, say $5,000 for "bad fruit". He'd say - "some of that one was not good." And he got away with it! They might call and complain when they got the check.

In South Dakota there is a sect of German Americans similar to the Amish called Hutterites. The ones that came into Gamble Robinson could drive trucks - but only black ones. The Hutterites sold truckloads of sweet corn and tomatoes to our company. Kermet liked to get those 'ol boys in his office and put them through their paces too. We usually paid them right when they delivered their product to us.

One time when I was popping into Kermet's office for a signature, he whipped a huge pistol out of his desk drawer, showing it off to the Hutterite guy who must have drawn the short straw and got stuck taking the corn to market in Kermetland. Kermet said "This is what one of your German cousins shot at me with"! I didn't stick around to see if it was loaded or not.

It was shortly after that, Kermet was put out to pasture. I never heard what happened to the guy, since I soon transferred to the Omaha, NE branch of the business. Next time I'll fill you in on the character I met at the Omaha Gamble Robinson. The produce biz is chock full of nuts.