[PRCo] Business clubs

[Bob Rathke]

I believe it was Groucho Marx who said, "I'd never join to a club that
wouldn't have me as a member." (Or something to that effect.)

Bob 1/18/03

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----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 7:00 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh-Some Place Special

> My dad had vivid memories of joining that church in the late 1930s.  He
was
> working for Gulf Oil at the time, and his mentor at Gulf asked him several
> questions ... "Who owns Gulf?" (Mellon), "Who built East Liberty
Presbyterian
> Church?" (Mellon), and "Where do you think you should be seen on Sunday
morning
> if you want to be promoted in this company?"  Winfield Boyd knew the right
> answers ... he became a Vice President for Gulf in the Philadelphia
office.  Dad
> only stayed until he found a job in electrical engineering in the late
1930s.
> But he did take Winn's advice and joined the correct church.  Unlike most
> churches, he was forced to sit and be interviewed by the church governing
body
> so they could determine if he was acceptable material for Mellon's church.
Dad
> ultimately designed and built the sound system for the church and ran it
every
> Sunday morning and evening until we moved to Lancaster in 1949.  And just
before
> he died he remarked that he still had the keys to the church  ... he'd
never
> turn in his set.
>
> Remember Paul Harvey?  Well here is the rest of the story.  Corporate
America
> still told you where you must worship ten years later.  When we came to
> Lancaster he was told by Armstrong Cork Company where he could worship
(First
> Presbyterian, St. James Episcopal or Trinity Lutheran), where he could
play golf
> (Lancaster Country Club -- ONLY) and where he was allowed to live (School
Lane
> Hills).  He defied them on two counts out of three which is probably why
he was
> never advanced again and moved across town to Central Engineering. .In the
early
> 1970s my brother-in-law had an interview with Armstrong for a sales
position,
> and was told that, if they hired him, he would "insure that hiis wife
would quit
> her job as a teacher and do things more appropriate to the role of an
Armstrong
> wife."  Frank, never one to put up with bull shit, found a paper company
sales
> job instead and became their number one salesman within the first month,
earning
> $200,000 in the first year (in 1974).  So much for corporate rules.
>
> The rules are not published today but they probably still secretly
determine
> higher level promotions.  In my life with government, I didn't experience
those
> rules ... just a different sort of political B. S.