Page 77 - MY STORY

They figured that 1) I knew whom to contact to get

accurate information and 2) they trusted me to tell them
the truth.

When I offered to give them the technical contacts and
leave, they made it clear that was not why I was invited to
this meeting. Robbie, who was one of the toughest,

honest, no-holds-barred buyer I had ever met in my life,
handed me the speaker phone as I was instructed to place
a call to the mill NOW! with the three Douglas managers

in attendance.

This was normally considered the responsibility of the
sales staff, not the technical services staff at TIMET, and
it was possible that I could get into a little chastising from
my management for taking this action. The phone call to

our bar plant manager revealed that our precision grinder
was out of commission, and would not be repaired until

the following week. This meant the bar stock was still
about two weeks away from delivery. All I could do was
to get the mill manager to agree to send the entire

shipment air-freight. My false friends thanked me for
helping them resolve their problem and promptly escorted
me out of the plant.