Chapter Fourteen: Steinberg

Opportunities do not come very often, but when they do, one has to act quickly. After eight months working in the Steinberg's carpentry shop, the foreman, Abie Lerner, decided to start a business of his own. The person in charge of construction, which included the shop, was Adolph Papernick. He offered me the position of foreman, replacing Abe Lerner.

This was a complete surprise to me for several reasons: I did not speak French and very little English (although I attended evening courses) also, I was the youngest employee among the twenty some cabinetmakers in age and seniority, some of these employees had much more technical knowledge that me.

My reply to this offer was a suggestion: that he should assign Peter to this position, as he was more familiar with the company's requirements. His reply was a brief one - "when I need advise, I will ask for it."

I said I was willing to take the foreman's position, with the stipulation that if I did not meet his expectations, I would be able to return to work on the bench. Mr. Papernick having amassed a lot of experience replied, "if you take the foreman's job you should forget about going back - rather you should concentrate on succeeding in the future". His reply gave me the initiative to master my know-how and channel my energy in one direction -- to succeed in my new position.

The company's expansion program of new stores was in full swing. Besides all the store fixtures the shop produced, we also had to manufacture items to be assembled at store level. A permanent Installation Crew was established with a foreman in charge. Part of my duties were to work closely with the installation foreman, Robert, who spoke very little English and of course I had very little knowledge of French.

To make matters even worse, Robert was born and raised in a rural area north of Quebec city where the only Jew he met before coming to Montreal was a peddler, who was considered to be a dishonest man. As it happens very often in similar circumstances one generalizes and forms prejudices.

That was the case with Robert. At the beginning of our relationship, he shied away from me, as if he was afraid to have contact with me. But I was determined to prove to him that he was wrong to generalize, that we were both human beings.

It took me some time to win him over, but by helping him to make his job easier, and at times I covered up his mistakes, proving to him that I was not the Jew he thought I was. We eventually became personal friends.

As changes take place in most growing companies, our company was no exception. Robert was promoted to manager of the Carpentry shop and the Installation Crew, after the current manager, Bob Brown, had a stroke.

Robert thought that the promotion should have been given to me, as I was more qualified, but the political climate in Quebec was favouring the French element, so the position of manager was given to Robert. I was pleased to work with Robert, because he knew my qualifications and did not interfere with my operation.

One day, while at work, I developed a high fever accompanied by a headache. Not having a car, I would have had to use public transportation, which meant taking four buses - I did not want to go home.

A lumber Salesman came into the shop and noticed my flushed face and offered to drive me home. I gladly accepted his offer, not only did I feel miserable, but it also was pouring rain.

Arriving home, I saw our younger daughter Rosie, then four-years old, in front the house soaking wet, playing in a puddle of water. Opening the car door, I was beside myself, and in an angry tone of voice, said; "what are you doing outside in the pouring rain" - with a smile on her face, she answered emphatically, "waiting for you, daddy."

The salesman could not stop laughing due to my speechless state. My anger melted away. How could I be angry at the child, when she was waiting for her daddy?

The overall responsibility for the building where the shop was located was mine. I had the key to open the shop in the morning and close it at night. As a safety precaution, the manager also had a key to open the shop, in case I was not available.

Inventory was taken once a year in conjunction with the company's year end. In 1966, I received an order to take inventory in the middle of the year. At the same time an inside auditor came to the shop to check the accounting documents. I did not know why this was taking place - something was going on, but what?

The following Monday morning at a meeting with Robert in his office, I noticed one of the ceiling lay-in tiles was not in the track. Robert wanted to correct this when he noticed a listening device behind the tile, which was registering everything that was said in his office.

The same afternoon an officer from the Security Department arrived and interviewed several employees individually, Robert and myself included. When I was asked my opinion about Robert's honesty, I said "I would swear on the Bible of his honesty and integrity".

While all this was going on, I felt very uneasy. I was sad and troubled, and had a suspicion that my integrity was being questioned. Normally I came home, sat with my family to dinner, where we would carry on conversations, exchanging the happenings of the day. But while this investigation was going on, I was listening to the family members talk, but nothing penetrated because my mind was pre-occupied with the problems at work.

Bela was the only person who knew me through and through. As soon as I entered the house, before she had even seen me, she knew that something was wrong. To her question as to what was bothering me, I replied, "something is going on at the shop but it does not concern the family, shop problems are for me to resolve". To this, Bela answered "anything that concerns you affects the family. What would happen if you should get sick, would it not affect the family?" and she continued, "what's more, by not sharing your problems with us, we might think that it may be worse than it actually is."

I listened very carefully to what Bela said. Suddenly I realized that I had completely ignored my family -- I was so wrapped up with the shop investigation that nothing else existed for me.

Slowly I started to tell them what was going on, and to my amazement the following morning, while travelling to work, the heavy burden I had carried with me the past several weeks, all of a sudden, disappeared. It evaporated into thin air. It's like one pricks a balloon and the air escapes. I could see the present situation from a different angle and could analyze it more clearly.

In the afternoon Robert was summoned to a meeting with Alice King, head of the Audit Department. She was considered the most powerful person in the company sauf Sam Steinberg. She was a mean, vicious person. Many people were discharged from the company through her intervention. Robert spent all afternoon at this meeting and at the end of it, he submitted his resignation.

I found out the following for the reason behind the investigation and his resignation. One carpenter in the installation crew was Robert's brother-in-law. One early morning, before my arrival, this brother-in-law drove into the loading dock with a big truck and removed a load of plywood from the shop.

To accomplish this task, he obtained the key from Robert. The Security somehow were aware of it, and they wanted to find out who else was involved in this racket. By taking inventory, they wanted to know if it would show the missing plywood or if we covered it with fictitious charges against an ongoing project.

I was suspected of being part of this racket for several reasons: a) I had the key to the shop (security was not aware that the manager had a duplicate), b) I was responsible for the inventory, c) I told the Security Officer that I would swear on the bible of Robert's honesty and integrity.

What cleared my name eventually was Robert's statement during the meeting with Alice King -- that he was afraid of me because he thought I wanted his job. Alice King was a heartless but very bright individual. She quickly deduced that if Robert was afraid of me then he would definitely not take me into his confidence, which was an indication that I could not be part of this scheme. Robert had no choice but to resign.

When the final audit report was issued to top management (my name was not included) but I got a copy. Reading it very carefully, I noticed plenty of insinuation, innuendo, and indirect hints (without substantiating facts) directed towards me. Needless to say I was very unhappy.

I decided to have my name cleared, knowing full well that nobody ever wins an argument with Alice King. I called her for an appointment. She told me very politely that she was very occupied at the moment -- I should try again in a few weeks, which I did, and got the same reply. She most likely thought that by postponing this meeting, I would eventually give up the idea of meeting her, but I was determined to have my name cleared without a shadow of a doubt. After three months, she finally relented.

She set aside a half-hour for this meeting to start at 1:30 p.m. I entered her office with a copy of her report in hand. (I had underlined all the innuendoes for discussion). As soon as she saw me holding her report she said "you are not supposed to have a copy of that report." My reply was "why, doesn't this report concern the operation which is under my supervision? And should not this report be unbiased? Why all the insinuations and innuendoes without facts?" Her response was that the report was written by the Auditor who was assigned to carry out the investigation and she only affixed her signature to it.

The meeting was scheduled to last a half-hour, it went on for five and a half hours. Towards the end of the meeting, she said "when you walked into my office with the report in hand, I felt like throwing you out." To which I replied "I spent close to six years in German concentration camps and even they could not tarnish my reputation. I will definitely not allow my name to be smeared when I am not guilty."

She tried to convince me that I ascribe and interpret things which are not meant to be. To prove her point she said "you are still employed by the company, where is Robert?" He is gone.

The fact alone that I dared to confront Alice King - the most powerful and mean person in the company, earned me respect from many, including Alice King.

In the early 1970's I was offered the position of Manager of the Workshops and Installation, which I initially refused.

To replace Robert when he resigned, the company decided to hire an Engineer from outside who became my supervisor. Bill was a person who was afraid of his own shadow, could not make a decision, he was always wispy-washy. He interfered with my operation, and as things went awry he blamed me. When an opportunity arose for him to get a promotion, he offered me the position of Manager of the Workshops and Installation. I declined his offer and he in turn notified his superior, V.P. of Architecture & Construction, Irving Louder of my decision.

The same afternoon I was called to meet Irving in his office. He wanted to know why I refused the promotion. I replied "I do not like Bill, I have difficulties working with him". Irving, with a grimace on his face, said "to whom do you report now?" "I said to Bill". He laughed and said "it does not make sense" and he continued, "when we offer a promotion to people, it’s because there is an opening that has to be filled and we choose the most qualified person to occupy this position. Now we offered this position to you and you refused it, this is an indication that you are not willing to meet the company's needs. We cannot force you to take it, but remember there will be no advancement for you in this company so I advise you to think it over."

Before I left Arvin's office I accepted the promotion.

Rumours were spreading that the equipment produced in the shop was more expensive than what was available on the open market. There were people in the company who initiated this rumour for personal gain. After several meetings it was decided to have the shops bid for the store fixtures in competition with outside manufacturers. By initiating this system it could be proven if the shop was an asset to the company or a liability.

I called my staff, including the unionized people from the floor, to a meeting. I explained the situation we were facing to them. The first step, which was my responsibility, was to submit a tender, which had to be the lowest priced in order to get the contract. But this is only one side of the coin. The other side was to produce or manufacture the fixtures to meet our estimates or do even better. In order to protect our jobs, I asked those present to submit suggestions as to how to realize savings in order to improve the operation.

We faced a serious problem. We could only submit tenders for work our company needed, whereas outside suppliers had an open market. In other words, should we lose a tender to the competitors, I would have to lay off personnel, in order to cut our overhead costs.

We also had an advantage over the competitors. By being a non-profit entity, we did not have to borrow money, as the company covered the cost of labour and material. I had a constant struggle with the human element at the Purchasing department, who seemed to have personal gains by giving orders for fixtures to outside shops.

I could not entertain buyers nor could I hand out free hockey or baseball tickets or Christmas gifts, where outside competitors could. Through the years l972 to 1984, we proved to the company that not only did we manufacture the fixtures within our estimates, which were less than the next lowest bidder, but we came through with more than ten million dollars profit for which, unfortunately, taxes had to be paid.

Another change had taken place at the upper management level in the Architecture and Construction division of which the shops was a part. Arthur Southwood, Director of Purchasing, was promoted to take the workshops and construction under his wing.

Arthur had learned through his many years with the company, how to survive - he was a typical politician. At meetings that I attended with the construction project managers, Arthur came to these meetings with his mind made up as to what he wanted to achieve. He conducted the meetings in such a fashion giving all member the opportunity of voicing their opinions, and at the end obtained the approval for what originally had in mind.

He was a stickler for reports, everything, all communications with him had to be in writing. One Project manager - Claude Maynard, an Engineer who detested writing reports, was a man of action and often came into conflict with Arthur.

I tried to point out to Claude that banging his head against the wall, would not make a dent in the wall, but would hurt his head instead. He understood, but his temperament was such that he could not abide by Arthur's demands. The end result was Claude had to resign. Although Claude left the company I maintained the friendship already established and once in a while we met for lunch.

I received telephone calls quite frequently from Steinberg owner's family members to do personal carpentry work for them. One such call requested that I come to her residence to take measurements for two flower boxes, to replace the ones that were falling apart. She said her husband liked to plant flowers, and she wanted to please him. That was why she requested I make these flower boxes to last a long time.

The boxes were made of clear cedar with an inside copper lining -- she was very pleased. A couple of months passed when I received a telephone call from the husband asking why he had received a charge of $151.00? At the moment I forgot about the flower boxes, but on checking the work order number, I told him what it was for. He replied in a very sarcastic manner, "did you make them out of gold?" I very calmly replied "no they are made out of cedar with a copper lining." His last sentence during this conversation was "I'm giving you an order not to do any more work when my wife calls." It was his place to tell his wife not to call me but I learned not to comment under these circumstances.

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