Glass Inc. - Reflections 1999-2019

but I didn’t want to shovel the rest of my life. “A light bulb went off,” Smith said. Smith told his father, “I think I’m going back to Mississippi State. Going to study engineering.” “Son,” Bobby Smith said, “how are you going to do that?” Bobby had just started a real estate company. His capital was tied up in the business, and he had assumed his boys were off the payroll. “I don’t know,” Smith said, “but I’m going to figure out some way to do it.” “Well, hell,” Bobby told his son, “you didn’t even do good in business school; how are you going to break into engineering school with a wife and a baby?” “I don’t know,” Smith told his father, “but I’m going to figure it out.” Smith applied for loans and grants and housing assistance. “By God, I figured out how to do it,” he said. “I started off in the summer time,” Smith said, “and I went Summer, Fall, Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring, —and never took a break.” “I would go to school in the morning; I’d get out about lunch; I’d go to Vanlandingham lumber company and work there all after- noon,” Smith said. “Then at night I’d go to the library and study.” “I was motivated,” Smith said. “I liked it, even though I was tak- ing things like chemistry and physics.” Smith completed the engineer- ing program and made the best grades of his life. The S&L Crisis and Fate “The Summer I graduated, nobody was hiring,” Smith said. “It was 1981 in the midst of the S&L crisis.” Smith went back to Green- wood with his wife and child and moved into his parents’ house. “I’m living with my mother and daddy, and I was looking for a job,” Smith said. “I took the Commercial Appeal and the Clarion- Ledger . I was reading them every day looking for job openings, sending resumes to anyone I could find. After about a month of searching, Smith noticed an ad in the Commercial Appeal that sought someone with construction expe- rience and sales experience. The company advertising was called Kawneer. Kawneer manufactured storefront framing, aluminum win- dows, and curtain wall framing. Robert’s father was familiar with the company from his time with Glass, Incorporated. “So Daddy called his friend Paul Merrick,” Smith said. Merrick, who had taken over the reins at Binswanger in Green- wood, had moved up the corporate ladder at the company. He was now in management at the company’s national headquarters in Memphis. “Paul,” Bobby said while talking to Merrick on the phone, “my son just earned his engineering degree at Mississippi State. He’s interviewing with Kawneer, and he really needs a job. Can you put in a good word for him?” Merrick agreed to give young Robert Smith a recommendation. Then he added, “And when he finishes with that interview, you tell him to come by our corporate offices. Tell him to come see me,” Merrick said. Kawneer and Binswanger offered Smith jobs on the spot. Kawneer wanted him to work in an office in Michigan. Bin- swanger’s offer required relocation to New Orleans. “Being a Southern boy,” Smith said, “it wasn’t a hard choice. Plus, Binswanger was paying $1,000 more a year.” Learning the Glass Business “When I graduated, I thought I’d be working for a big general contractor,” Smith said, “But I ended up working for a glass com- pany. I didn’t know the difference between safety glass and plate glass. It was kind of a fluke.” Smith worked in the contract department of the New Or- leans branch of Binswanger. “They had all kinds of big projects going on in New Or- leans, Lafayette, and Slidell,” Smith said. It didn’t take long for Smith to learn the business. The skills he’d learned in the construc- tion program at Mississippi State — reading plans, estimat- ing, accounting — translated well to the glass business. The first major job Binswanger gave Smith was to oversee the Cajun Dome in Lafayette. Smith thrived in the business from 1981-1984, but he wasn’t fond of living — and raising children — in New Orleans. Smith had heard through the company grapevine that the Bin- swanger office in Meridian, Mississippi, was looking for a contract manager. “A contract manger is the second in command,” Smith said. He thought the job would suit him perfectly. Smith interviewed with the Meridian branch and was offered the job. He was excited about getting back to small-town life. Plus, his uncle Eddie owned a radio station in Meridian and was willing to introduce Robert to his friends in Meridian. Smith found a home and agreed on a start date in Meridian. On Smith’s first day of work, the manager of the Meridian branch, Andy Dowdle, gave him a tour of the facility. As Dowdle escorted Smith through the building, he said, “This is your office manager; this is the secretary; this is the shop man- ager; these are the guys that run the crews, and, oh by the way, I resigned from the company. Today’s my last day.” “Really?” Smith said. “Yeah,” Dowdle said, “I’m going to work for a guy here in town named Sammie Davidson.” Davidson was opening a hardware business and had hired Dowdle to run it. “That office over in the corner is yours,” Dowdle told Smith. Then he pointed and said, “That file cabinet’s got every job we’ve got going on in it.” As Smith walked over to look inside the cabinet, Dowdle added, “I’ll see you. I’m going to play golf this afternoon.” At the age of 25, Smith found himself as the highest-ranking manger at the branch. One Unhappy Customer On Smith’s first morning at Binswanger in Meridian, he found himself in charge. As Smith was familiarizing himself with the files, he overheard a customer say to the receptionist, “Where is the manager?!” (Top) Robert, Jr. on prom night. (Above) Patricia Smith, who said in 1965, “The best thing about glass is that it breaks.” 14 15