My job was like coaching football, win the profit quest or find another team. I found myself opening new truck stops for corporations that were moving into the business. I enjoyed putting the location in order and setting up all of the business arrangements to do business. Various methods of payments and fragmented supply chains made it a challenge to accomplish without experience is the business. Once the business was open and active, the process to streamline and create better profits became the priority. This was not my forte.

in my last job, it was a huge ethanol business wanting to enter the business to expand profits on their product in a retail setting. Not a good location and an area where the local traffic would make all the difference. A restaurant had been promised and was needed badly in the area. Bottom line, the lack of a restaurant stifled traffic and created resentment. All of these things pointed toward about a two year engagement. I had opened about 10 new truck stops by then, and went through the processes. The money they wasted to create the type of organization they were used to was amazing. I had to take a 6 day trip for a one day meeting every quarter until I convinced them to let me attend on phone. This cost about 11 thousand dollars for you basic dog and pony show. In any event, I finally convinced the person in charge of me to fire me after I had made arrangements and marked my calendar. She brought the big dog to help her and called as I was leaving town after working nine 12 hour days at the minimum, letting my help enjoy a holiday. I met, we talked, and I gave them my keys, phone, and computer. Nothing hostile, but I wanted a file of some my kids photos off the computer sent to me, she promised, we parted ways. I set off for the knee and hip replacement I had scheduled over the previous 2 months. The next day, a manager I had trained called me to get a password for the safe that they had forgotten to get from me. I wouldn’t release it to him and told him to have the boss lady call. Later that day, another manager called, same conversation. The next day, she called. Angry. But she couldn’t argue with the logic that I couldn’t release the code to $10,000 or more in cashier drops and change funds. Settled down, but when she asked nice, I had to ask, “Did you get my kids photos sent to me?”. She hadn’t. I said call me back when you do and hung up. I knew that when she got back to corporate, the first thing she probably did was drop off the computer to have it wiped and reassigned. They had special programming and had few extras. She did. No call. I assumed at some point, her IT got to the manufacturer and worked it out. I think they had probably ran the change dispenser out the second day and had to innovate to get by until they freed the safe. People need to understand a persons job before they fire them. The next day the manager called to see if I would give her the password for the diesel point of sale so they could change the fuel price. Up. I did. A half hour later, she needed to change the price on the corner. I told her I had forgot something and needed her to have the corporate woman call me first. No call. It was late in the day, so there was a good chance it took hours or a day to figure that one out. There were another half a dozen or so passwords and processes that had to be gone through in about the same process, the most notable, documenting fuel inventories. When the state inspector came to check that, he could and should have shut them down for not being current, that process is critical for keeping drinking water safe. I enjoyed the fact that the individual that stymied the restaurant and everything else that was important to building a good local business ended up in the motel across the street from the truck stop for a number of months.