Randy Durst
My boss, Randy Durst, is one in a million! I have worked for this man for over fifteen years, and I have never seen him having a bad day. He always has a smile on his face and makes everybody around him feel good.
Randy is not the kind of boss who sits inside an air conditioned office; he is out on the floor helping out with whatever needs done. I have seen him take over a worker’s place on a machine while they took a break, help load and unload trucks, and even push a broom many times. He really makes us feel that we don’t work for him, we work with him.
No matter what happens, he sees it as an opportunity to learn and grow. If someone tells him of a problem, maybe an important piece of equipment breaking down, he always says “Great news! Now we can learn how to fix that!”
When a tornado took the roof off part of our factory and flooded the building a few years ago, the contractors were so busy they said it would be a month or more before they could get to us.
To make sure nobody missed a day’s pay, Randy put everybody to work doing repairs. The younger men were up on the roof getting it covered, the women were inside cleaning up the mess, and others were dragging out wet canvas and stretching it out in the sun to dry. We were back in production within seven days.
Our company makes canvas products for the outdoor sports industry: tents, backpacks, tote bags, canoe covers, rifle cases, holsters, etc. With the current economy we have taken some hard hits and sales are way down. Randy has searched far and wide for new products we can make, and now we are cranking out book bags, tennis shoes, and other items.
We are never left in the dark about what is happening with the company, good or bad. When we get a new customer or a large order in, he calls us all together and makes an announcement, and when we lose an account, he does the same thing. He has told us all over and over again that as long as he can breathe, we’ll have a job.
Our company provides Randy with a decent income, but he works a lot of hours and is sure not getting rich. Five years ago a much larger competitor tried to buy us out. Randy would have been able to walk away with a fortune, but he knew that they would cannibalize our company and then shut it down. He told them thanks, but no thanks. Many of us told him he would be a fool to turn down the offer, but he said he could not enjoy the money if he knew that by talking it, he was selling us out.
We are all one big family here. Randy has been to our children’s birthday parties, their school graduations, and he has helped many of them go on to college, and provided them with summer jobs. He has visited us in the hospital, laughed with us in good times, and cried with us in bad times. Randy has been a pallbearer at the funerals of some of our co-workers who have passed away, and has helped their families with funeral expenses.
It is good to have a steady job, but it is great to work for a man who is not just your boss, but your friend.
Submitted by Marilyn Downey
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