[Fledermaus]

“Even more seldom do you hear someone say, “That is my responsibility. I will take care of your problem and report back to you soon.”

So true.

When I worked in fancy hotels, even as an accountant, if a guest made a request it was YOUR responsibility to make it happen. Calling housekeeping or maintenance wasn’t good enough. You had to be sure it was done.

[Sequoyah101]

There was once a company owned by one Eddie Chiles of Fort Worth, Texas. He also owned the Texas Rangers baseball team. The company was Western Company of North America and they provided oilfield pumping and cementing services. There was also a drilling company that had a great ad back in the day. Can't find the ad but it was girls in hot pants and hard hats hanging on a drilling rig and the catch phrase was, "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" Southwest Airlines took over from Texas International at the same time frame, the flight attendants wore long white boots and orange hot pants and looked like Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleaders. Beer was free and there was lounge seating in the back of the airplane. We thought it was exclusively the Texas oilfield airline.

There was a service point at Lindsey, Oklahoma during the boom of the 70s and early 80s. I would call there for trucks or to set-up a pumping or cement job. Sometimes it might be in middle of the night, holiday, weekend, whatever. The oilfield runs constantly. There was a fellow there who ran the operation and had worked for Western since no telling how long. The company started in 1939.

NO matter when I called he always answered the phone the very same way with the very same level of enthusiasm and energy:

"Western Company of North America! This is Frog Halverson, how can I help you today?"

He meant every single word of it and once you had him on the line things were going to happen the right way unless they were out of trucks. It was simply wonderful. No matter how bad things were he always made them better for me with his sure and dedicated response and action. I simply don't know how the man was able to be so reliable and have such energy.

If things did go wrong, and they can without warning in the oilfield, he just asked how he could make it right and promised they would do better next time. He was good to his word.

I would tell him that Eddie Chiles nor any other man could ever pay him what he is worth. He just smiled and said, "Thank you."

I don't know how things are now but for most of my 40 plus year career the companies I stuck with for service were a lot like Western Company of North America but there was never another Frog.

One oilfield story leads to another and in all those years there are hundreds and hundreds if not thousands. I've thought of writing some of them down but I don't know if anybody would be interested. I had a wonderful time and still do in my memories. It was a great way to make a living when it was good and it was a cruel mistress when things were bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Chiles