Two Tales

Read the Manual

The 1970’s featured two oil crises.  One was in 1973 and a second followed in 1979.  As a result,  gas prices escalated.  While the diesel auto engine was put into production in the 1930’s, its popularity increased in the late 70’s and early 80’s in part because of the oil crisis.   One of the reasons that  auto manufacturers promoted diesel engine cars was because diesel fuel was less expensive.

Prior to this promotion, diesel vehicles were primarily used for commercial purposes.  Their expansion was met by some with cautious optimism, because diesel fuel while being an economical choice, had a tendency to gel, or thicken, in cold weather.  This caused problems with starting the vehicle.  Most truck drivers left their trucks running in cold weather to avoid the starting issue or plugged them into heaters to keep the engine warm.  Today’s technology has helped decrease the number of starting issues that persisted in the past.

One of my friends, Rick, was the first person  I knew to purchase a diesel powered car.  It was a beautiful Ford Grand Torino.

Rick and his family lived near Devils Lake.  Their home wasn’t on the lake but it had lake access.  Devils Lake is the areas largest lake and known for wonderful  summer and winter activities.   While the home provided a great place to raise a family, its primary drawback was the lack of a garage to park the family vehicles.  This meant that the new car would have to endure the weather that fickle Michigan provided.

I’m not sure how long Rick owned the new car, or how often he may have had trouble starting it during the cold Michigan weather, but after a time he decided that he should invest in a block heater.  There are no auto dealerships near Addison, so he contacted the local service station/auto repairman, Red, and scheduled an appointment to have the heater installed.

Rick knew that once he could plug the new block heater in, all of this troubles would be behind him.  He’d have an economical vehicle with little, if any, difficulty in starting.

I expect that he was excited about his new investment because we spoke on the phone early that morning and he told me of his plan.  While we didn’t speak every day, we did speak on most.  Part of the communication was job related.  He was the middle school principal and I led the elementary school.  Some of our conversations were advisory in nature, and others were just two good friends sharing the news of the day.  Getting a block heater on his new car was news that he wanted to share.  So, he did.

A couple hours after dropping the car off at the service station, Rick got a call from Red.  A few minutes later, I got a call from Rick and he reported his news to me.

Red told Rick that he would be unable to install a heater on his new car.  When Rick asked why, Red’s reply was simple and direct.

“The car already has one.”

Who knew?  Certainly not Rick.  (He should have read the manual.)

Pizza – Pizza

When Rick moved on to become Superintendent of Newberry in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, one of the elementary school teachers was promoted and became my assistant principal.   Dave and I were in charge of three buildings.  Wayne Grey housed grades K-3, the Upper El held grades 4-5, and grades 6-8 attended the Middle School.

We worked together very effectively.  When we promoted him, I wanted him because he was very organized and detailed oriented.  I was more about developing ideas.   I believed that he would provide great balance to our two-man team.  He proved me right.  He was the perfect choice.

After four years together, Dave applied for the elementary principalship in another district.  He landed the job and worked there for over twenty years.

About the time that Dave was transitioning to his new assignment, Pizza Hut began its BOOK IT! program.   The program began in 1984 as a reading incentive program.  It remains the longest running corporate sponsored reading incentive program in the country.

The BOOK IT! program is offered to students in K-6 grades (ages 5-12) at the school they primarily attend.  Each year from October to March, teachers set monthly reading goals for the students in their class. Number of minutes, number of pages or number of books etc.  Also, parents can read with kids not yet reading independently. When a student reaches their reading goal, the teacher awards the student with a Reading Award Certificate for a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut.

There are additional components to the program, but its primary goal is to get kids to read more frequently.

One year Dave had a group of students who worked towards a special award.  In the end a hard working group of  dedicated readers  reached their goal and were set to receive a “special” school based pizza party.  Dave planned to serve the students full size pizzas and drove to the local Pizza Hut to work out the details.

Organized Dave reviewed the details of the party with the manager.  I’m not sure if eighteen students were going to receive four pieces of pizza, or twenty-four students were going to receive three, or even if thirty-six students were going to get two pieces of pizza.  I do know that Dave determined that a total of seventy-two pieces of pizza were required to pull off the final event.

The store manager said, “No problem.  Just tell my guy what you need a couple of days ahead of time.  He’ll have everything ready for you to pick up.”

Two days before the party Dave followed through and called the designated pizza guy.  I expect that the conversation went something like this.

Dave:  “This is Dave.  I’m the principal at Robinson Elementary.  I spoke to your manager several days ago regarding a pizza order.  He’s going to provide me with some free pizza for my students.  He told me to call you and that you’d get everything ready.”

Pizza Guy:  “Oh, yea.  He told me  you’d be calling.  He said you can have anything you need.  What would you like?”

Dave:  “I’d like 72 pieces with assorted toppings.  I’d  like to pick them up  on Wednesday around 10:45 so I can get them back to school in time for lunch.”

Pizza Guy:  “No problem.  We’ll get started early so they are ready.”

If I know Dave, he probably arrived ten minutes early to pick up the pizza.  He walked in the door and the pizza guy asked, “Did you bring a van?”

“A van?”

Dave surveyed the room and saw boxes and boxes of pizza.  There were a total of 72 pizzas with assorted toppings.  Each pizza had 8 pieces for a grand total of 576.

One man’s “piece” was another man’s “pizza”.  (Dave’s got to work on his diction.)

Bon Appetit.