Yeah. We always had animals for them to look after. They had their
chores to do in the morning before they went to school. They had chores
to do in the afternoon when they got home. The weekend, we'd cut
firewood and did hay and whatever. Then when they got up old enough,
rather than get bored, I didn't have so much work you could do, I'd take
them to go to work for other people. My oldest boy, he worked on another
hog farm, Dennis Humphries over on the other side of Burgaw. They all
worked in the blueberries during the summer and the tomato fields and
stuff like that. That's where you learn, it's working for other people.
Daddy might say you can slip off early and go to the dance tonight but
that damned guy over there paying you by the hour. That's Kelly and
Jobe, that's my youngest and next to youngest, they were working on
Thomas's tomato farm one summer. Harry Thomas was a tough taskmaster.
Well, Kelly overheated and passed out. So they drag him over under the
shed. Well, that afternoon when they got paid off, Jobe, he got more
money than Kelly got. So Kelly went over and said, 'Mr. Thomas, we came
to work at the same time and we're going home at the same time. Why'd he
get paid more than me?' He said, 'I ain't paying you for that fifteen
Page 38minutes you was laying over under that shed.'
Now see I told them, 'I said, 'Boys, you learned a real lesson.' They
worked for another guy on a blueberry farm. My wife would take them over
there at five o'clock in the morning, and they'd get home after
midnight. They were working in the fields and the packing shed. He paid
them for one day, eight hours. They did it all summer. They were
whipped. We were talking about Harry and we were talking about the
blueberry deal and all that. 'You learned a valuable lesson. That's why
I've got you working for other people and not me. You two learn how not
to treat people.' I said, 'One day when y'all get up and if you've got
your own business, and a guy, if you start having employee problems,
you'll think back and well, I'm doing the right thing.' Because people
don't buck up at you if you're doing them right. You treat them right,
they aren't going to blow up at you. That's like that old guy out there
at the other farm. He's been here twenty some years. I give him a place
to live; pay his expense. He's not real bright but if I were in his
situation, I'd sure appreciate somebody looking after me. I told my
wife, 'If I die, he's yours until you die.' When I went up to Boeing one
time to go to school on the 767, my youngest son was home for the
summer. The second day I called and he answered the phone. I said,
'How's it going Jobe.' He said, 'I fired Sammy today.' I said, 'You
can't fire Sammy.' I said, 'Go get him.' I said, 'He's there for the
duration. You can't fire him.' He said, 'He didn't do what I told him.'
I said, 'Is he smart enough to do what you told him?' He said, 'Well, I
don't know.' I said, 'Think about it. I said, ' Go get him back anyway.
You cannot fire that man.' I don't know, you just have to—.