He had a nice car and an expense account and a membership to a country club,

All paid for by the steel companay

 But

 I never felt like a rich kid. 

From the outside looking in,
 we appeared as if we were living
the life of Riley,

all my friends were allowed to go into the halfway house or pro shop

and purchase what ever their hearts desired,

we were not allowed to sign our name for a single coke.

Another story

My father met a man who owned a company
that sold stainless steel windows and doors
who asked him to work part time to earn some extra money.

 My very proud and ambitious, hard working dad
did not want anyone to know he worked nights and weekends

 for another company.

  I think he was afraid his day job employer might object.

Regardless,
my brothers and I were sworn to secrecy.

That’s another story

Actually the entire family was involved.

 When he began this second job, my mom had to drag us along.

  She worked the show room and the phones while my dad would get leads from her,
drive to the customer’s houses,

close the deal and then measure for the installation.

Occasionally we would ride around with my dad from house to house.

  No telling how long we would have to wait in the car,

Long enough to convince someone who wanted to buy the sale windows
to spend their hard earned salery on the most expensive ones.

He never thought he took advantage of anyone
 because it was a good quality product that lasted the lifetime of the building.

We did a lot of homework and read a lot of books in the back of that oldsmobile 98

My brothers and I kept track of how many sales he made and how long it would take him.

  Let’s just say his record was phenomenal!

My dad always said, that in sales,

 all you’re really doing is selling is yourself

Another story

When we were younger we spent an eternity in that place
my mom would help us with our homework and we would play office or store

I'd pretend I was my mom
and my brothers were my customers

Whenever someone walked into the store,

my brothers and I were forced to hide in the back room

        where we peeked thought the peg board room divider

 and watched my mom give them her sales pitch. 

Trying to be as quiet as possible

My mom was pretty darn good too. 

However, she never got any credit for it.

 Everyone thought she was a stay at home mom,
and had it made 

 when actually
she was an extremely hard worker
and
quite gifted in the art of selling.

I learned a lot about sales from both my parents

Another story.

 I’d listen to their sales pitch over and over again,

 until I could recite it in my sleep.

 I watched them size up the customer to decide how much they could charge.

 They knew the bottom line, the amount they needed to break even

and it was up to them to name the price,

 the difference was their commission.

We were always amazed that the people who looked like they didn’t have money

were the ones that did
Those individuals paid in cash

I soon discovered

The ones that looked like they had money

didn’t

 Eventually
 when we got a little older
my brothers had no interest in doing homework
 and hiding out in the showroom
so they stayed home
but I liked going there for some reason
and riding around in the car with my dad
we had some great conversations
and
I received alot of one on one time together with both my parents

eventually
they let me work the phones
 and
sometimes I'd get the opportunity to deal with real live customers,

especially if my mom was too busy taking care of someone else

 but that’s another story.

 Mostly, I remember all the time we spent hiding in the back room,

in the dark while my parents tried to earn some extra money for the family.

On a typical sunny Saturday afternoon,

While I was home
alone
cleaning the house

If any of my parents friends happened to call,

 I was instructed to say my dad was playing golf and my mom was out shopping again.

Everyone figured that the spoiled daughter was probably reading a book.

I always wanted to tell the truth

That’s another story

stay tuned for being partners in his own steel company
and the hot dog stand