Friday, August 25, 2023
Rich, I meet you at a time on my life that I needed a mentor and direction. Apparently we needed each other at that time. You were trying to get that dog fence company going and needed someone to trust, I needed work and the tools.
You were so relieved to have someone you could trust and allowed you to focus on expanding and marketing. Sitting in your office with a big grin, like a giant in a swivel chair, you could focus on finding the right word to implement and pitch to Innotek. You came up with “Smart”. You saw that a a huge marketing key word and you were right.
Although you thought of your self as some kind of Kung Fu ninja thing, that I thought was hysterical, what you actually were was generous.
Cheryl and I were battling infertility and kept loosing. One day, after we received another round of bad news that was not covered by insurance, I was in the office in obvious despair when you returned to the office with that huge Rich smile and a pile of cash. You just had someone pay you in cash that you had been chasing down for a long time. You saw my pain and asked what was wrong. Another failed round and now we were out of money and unable to do another round for a long time. I may have been crying, but let’s not talk about that.
You asked me how much does it cost. $900, we had been saving and had all of our hopes on that last round. You walked up behind me and I heard a thud on the desk, you dropped an envelope with $900 in front of me. No strings, no expectations of payback, just a gift of generosity. I am eternally grateful.
I still carry with me my employee review that you gave me after a few months of working for you, which read:
Area of employee improvement- and you wrote - John could clone himself.
Becky, you made Rich so happy, he definitely sparkled after he met you. And suddenly living in a house with the constant smell of dying rat was unacceptable. You made him better as I am sure he made you a better person.
I will never forget Rich with the first ever mobile bag phone, he loved technological gizmos. He would take me for ride in his car just to show off how he could call someone from the car! At $0.49 per minute, he kept it a short call. “I’m calling you from my car!” Whoooeee
Till we met again, my friend, you and Yorgie
John Crisp
