[PEN-L:30034] Re: Re: Re: Consolidated Freightways

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I may have been boob enough, but I was enrolling at UC Berkeley.  My
boss's parting words were that Michael is so f* moral, because I stood up
for my secretary.  By the way, most of the people were rabidly pro-Vietnam
war.  As the stock soured and I connected the stock price to the war, they
began to listen.

On Wed, Sep 04, 2002 at 03:50:25PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Are you saying Michael's a complete boob?
>
> Doug
>
> Eugene Coyle wrote:
>
> >Why did you leave?  You might be president right now!
> >
> >Gene
> >
> >Michael Perelman wrote:
> >
> >>  In the early 1960s, I was manager of Market Research for Consolidated
> >>  Freightways.  Since the business was regulated, I actually had nothing to
> >>  do, which was fine.  At 3:00 my secretary would give me a piece of paper
> >>  that added up the telex reports from each of the terminals, to give the a
> >>  daily summary of the "sales".  Sales would be driven by petty bribes that
> >>  the salesmen would give the shipping managers -- $, whisky, women, ...
> >>
> >>  My boss, the sales manager, would congratulate me or ask me what we should
> >>  do, depending on the results.  I never met any of the sales managers nor
> >>  had the slightest inkling, but I would say something that he could not
> >>  understand, and everone would be happy.  I had a beautiful office with a
> >>  patio.  I could read most of the day, but I would have to look busy at
> >>  times.
> >>
> >>  The higher up you went in the company, the more incompetant people seemed
> >>  to be.  The person who became president was a complete boob, but probably
> >>  less so than the president at the time.
> >>
> >>  It wasn't Enron, but still ....
> >>   --
> >>  Michael Perelman
> >>  Economics Department
> >>  California State University
> >>  Chico, CA 95929
> >>
> >>  Tel. 530-898-5321
> >>  E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx