Keep Doing Your Thing....

Are you a big believer in your horoscrope? I read mine mostly for entertainment as most folk do. My horoscope last Friday stated that I should continue doing things my way, even if they sometimes do not seem right to the observer. That day, it said I would soon be recognized for the things I had done and to be patient. Hummm.

The Zeigler Company I work for had a general sales meeting this last Saturday. We went over our numbers for this last fiscal year, what we did right and wrong. The emphasis was on using Neilson reports and our market figures in our ad presentations. I think all of us learned much this last Saturday.

After a nice lunch together, we closed our meeting with awards based on longevity and performance for this last year. Mr. Harmon began recognizing sales people with 10 and 20 and 30 years with the company. I was sitting in my chair, really thinking about the nice meal we had just had and about what I had to do that pm to take care of my mom.

My name? Huh? "Jeff Nutter has worked for the company 45 years and will you please come up on the stage and be recognized". I got up there, or someone told me I did, and got the nicest 45 year plaque from the company signed by Mr. W. Lackey Stephens, President. Nice! They took my picture with the GSM (general sales manager) Mr. Barry Harmon, and I am sure that picture has a surprised look on my face.

I got back to my desk and got seated good with handshakes along the way. Mr. Harmon continued to talk about the next award called the "T. A. Payton" Sales Excellence Award. I was too busy admiring the 45 year plaque that I don't recall what he said about the person getting the highest sales award the company gives.

Mr. Harmon got to the end of his description when he said something that went off in my head..."and this man is the most thorough, most detailed, and the best at communicating with our sales staff of anyone we have...and he has worked for the company 45 years". "Jeff, will you please come back up to the front and receive the T. A. Payton award".

I know my body got me up there and I do remember saying something to Mr. Harmon and all the salesmen about not feeling worthy of this award. But I would try to live up to the standard set by Mr. T. A. (Slim) Payton who I was fortunate to have worked with in Bessemer and in Birmingham. Mr. Harmon asked "Did we surprise you?"....

They did, as I had no earthly idea I was getting this! I am still numb from this last Saturday and Karen compared this to Amsouth Bank's Executive Sales Award. I am still in awe of this! Maybe it will sink in later....Having worked with Mr. Payton for about 40 years, this really means much to me! There are 7 other names on the cup and mine now is one among some very good men!

Thanks Mr. Stephens and Mr. Harmon! I hope to live up to expectation and the high standards Mr. Payton set for all of us! Jeff Nutter, Jr.

All they can say is NO!

I have always been one to bargain for the best price on anything I buy. This not only includes things you buy, but services you may be paying for. This story is about doctor visits and co-pays and other expenses.

I must set the scene as I am 67, semi-retired and not the richest person, monitarily speaking, in this world. I am rich in many, many ways but money has never been at the top of my list on acquisiton. That said, I am somewhat of a bargain hunter, making my funds go as far as I can. It must the the 1/16 true Scot in Sinclair lineage.

My doctors all have co-pays and I am sure set fees for the services rendered. But I always ask myself if there is any discount or lesser fee program available. Recently I went to see my orthopedic specialist and he came in with a limp from an accident while skiing on his last trip west. He did my exam, gave me good advice, and then we talked about how he injured his knee. He described in detail how he turned it and I ask him was he doing his PT on it using hot and cold compresses to reduce the swelling and discoloration. He said he was, so I told him that it looks like the right therapy and to continue doing it. He got up to leave and was making a note in my file when I handed him a note from my brief case with the following...
For Services Rendered...$65.00, signed Dr. Nutter. He laughed, said this had never been done to him before and I soon found him in the hall telling this to a cohort of his. They were laughing when I left and when Debbie got me to the counter to check out, she said "The doctor said your co-pay today was ZERO". True Story.

The next was a test I needed for bone density that my insurance does not pay for on males. I have a mom with orthopedic problems and the doctor wanted this test for me. I ask how much and he said $195.00. Too much, as I was retired. We talked some more and he ask if I would pay what my insurance paid him.. $128.00...Still really too much for my pocket book. He walked out into the hallway and ask the physical therapist if we could do this for "fitty bucks". He looked at me and I took out my checkbook. Does not hurt to ask does it not?

The most recent was my chiro doctor and it was the initial work up and the co-pay on this was $125.00, then paid 80% after that. Again, I talked about being retired and limited income and when we finished he said "I tried to help you out a little bit...the bill was $75.00.

Guys and gals, it does not hurt to ask and be up front with medical service providers and they may be able to help you when they can. Three good examples of how mine have helped me. They all too give me drug samples of meds I use knowing this saves me big time at the apothecary....Later..Jeff

My 1991 Oldsmobile, Humbling Event

I inherited this car from my mom when she had to give up driving and it only had 51,000 miles on it when I got it. The only way to get any worth out this car was to use it as a 14 year old car does not have much resell or trade value.

I is nice to drive, everything works, has power windows, door looks, remotes, nice radio and upholstery and carpet is almost mint. It has the 3.3 V6 engine and gets 26/27 mpg in mixed driving here in town and has gotten 36 mpg on interstate trips. I am trying now at 105,000 on it, what to do, what to do.

The car is a clean one owner, and still looks mint with only a place or two where the gray paint has faded. I drive it mostly back and forth to my mom's 25 miles away almost everyday to take care of her and get her day off to good start. Now that I have prefaced my story about the car, let me tell you about yesterday.

I call on a warehouse for my company and drive my 14 year old car and park in the salesmen's parking lot provided. Humbling when you park next to new Camreys, Chevys and Fords of all varieties. I am getting into my car yesterday when the BRYAN salesman arrives in his 4 door, 4 wheel drive, off road, Z71, brand new 2500 heavy duty Chevy Pickup with tires up to here!

He gets out of his truck in his hunting green slacks, browning shirt, and tan leather jacket and carrying a $500.00 Coach briefcase. He greets me and say's "HI" then reaches into the cold box on the back of his pickup truck and out with a BRYAN syrofoam box filled with (I am sure) a big variety of products for the the 3 meat buyers. He even has someone with him, a younger guy, to carry this huge box of samples for him. What is wrong with picture when he sees me climb into my 14 year old car. He just smiles!

I am not unhappy, just glad to see someone is apparently quite successful in this business. Oh, it would be nice to have a nice new(er) car but really it is only transportation. I try to rationalize buying a new car at times, but when I get down to the car payment part, I realize how good my 1991 Olds runs and gets me there everyday.

These are just my thoughts this morning and thought I would share them with you. Now were is today's paper with the new car ads? Jeff Nutter, Jr.

My Life Is NOT boring!

I have not heard from you in some time but then again you have not heard from me and Karen. So here goes, a short note of 'goings on' in this Nutter family.

Karen has a pinched or disk problem at C4/C5, a whip lash injury of sorts, she gets pain proceducers for from Dr. Bradley Goodman at MCE. He did 2 facet blocks and 2 cortisone shots last Monday and worked a 1/2 day Tuesday, wrong! She talked to the doctor and he said for this to work, she needed to rest. She has been off all this week doing just that.

We have heating pad and those bean bag therapy bags you heat in the microwave and I have kept this on her neck for the majority of the time she is resting. She said this am that the spasms in her arm and upper shoulder are receding and she is feeling some better, really looking forward to going to work next Monday. We plan to continue this rest and therapy this weekend. No lifting, no vacuuming, mopping, clothes, etc, just get well. May be wearing the cleanest dirties in the hamper before I get clothes washed today...kidding!

I changed my work schedule around taking care of her and mom. Once I got Karen settled in on the sofa or in the recliner, I put in a shift at moms but made it as short as possible. Mother is OK, took her to the beauty shop Thursday and she did fine and always seems to feel better after this trip and getting her hair all puffy.

Anyway, the bottom line is we are fine, Karen feeling better and mom doing OK. Jack Nutter had to make a run to moms night before last after she hit her alarm she has around her neck and alerted the Baptist LifeLine that called us. Jack said she was fine, still dressed at 10pm, apron, piddling around in her kitchen. She did not realize she had hit the alarm around her neck and had not hung up her phone correctly. I had put in 8 hours earlier Thursday so Bro Jack made the pm run. I talked to Peggy Lewis, her pm caregiver, about this and she ask if we would call her in the pm, she would go to moms and see if she is OK and reset her machine. Thanks.

Anyway, our life is not boring! Mom keeps us all on our tiptoes and throws a curve every now and then. I could never hit a curve ball...Jeff and Karen

Two Trunklids Up and A BAD DAY.

This is an experience of some years ago and this bard's advice should you run upon this situation. I was traveling in the Jefferson County area of Alabama calling on super markets for my company. It was my habit to park away from the front door as a courtesy to their customers to leave the closer parking spaces open.

This faithful day, I did not park in the parking lot as but parked on the street in the middle of the block. I noticed two men talking next to the curb between their two parked cars with both car trunk lids up. My first assessment was one car was disabled and this was a friend helping him with getting his car back on the road. Boy was I wrong,,,big time wrong.

Suddenly the two men started swinging fists at each other and one went down in the road. One then reached into his car and out he came with the jack stand (not the jack handle but the stand) swinging it like a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. The guy on the ground came up with a knife in his hand but before he could attack, he took a crashing blow to the arm and shoulder when his opponent saw the knife. He rolled on the street like he was hit by a car. But now with his broken arm hanging down limp, he attacked the fellow welding the jack stand. Fortunately someone who knew one of the assailants got in between them and kept them from killing each other.

I went into the store visible shaken and one of the men who broke up the fight followed me in. I told him he was brave to get in between these two guys as they went bent on possibly killing each other. I ask what was the reason for the fight. He just said quietly..."They are both drug dealers and it apparently went BAD!" He said both of them were very high and it took several men to get in between them to break up the fight. I was truly lucky to get away from this without getting hurt.

I finished my business in this store and the next supermarket was in he middle of the next block. I drove around the block and parked on the side of the store again out of his parking lot. It had begun to rain and I had the windows up but soon heard something that sounded like firecrackers going off. I was getting my briefcase off the floor on the passenger side when small chunks of bricks and mortar rained down on the hood of my company car. I looked again heard the firecracker sound going off but soon realized it was rapid gunfire. More chips were now falling on my car and a ricochet soon whined over my car. My first thought was to slide down in the seat and wait this out...But something told me right away that the skin on this car would not stop a bullet.

The sounds were coming from behind me and to my left so my decision was to go right and forward away from the barrage raining down on the cars. I slid across the passenger side of my car and onto the pavement, keeping the car between me and the continuing barrage. I made my was low on the ground, onto and down the sidewalk and around the corner of the brick building. Bingo, I ran into two men hugging the building on the avenue side of the street.

I ask (without looking) what was going on. The answer one gave me was that the two men down the alley behind the store had a fight over a mutual girlfriend and they fought and the loser went home and got his rifle. He was standing next to a building shooting down the alley and the other fellow was returning fire and these were the bullets hitting the building I was now hiding behind.

I was in the service and had seen men hurt 'looking' at fires, explosions, and putting their heads up when they were told to keep them down. For some reason this training came into play and I let the drama play out without me getting hit by bullets or debris flying off the building. The Birmingham police were called but the guys were gone and the witnesses went with them. They talked to me briefly but I told the officer I was "ducking, not looking!" Good advice was his only remark.

This was not what I call a good day when within one hour you run into a drug deal and a gun fight. I was lucky or fortunate not to have gotten hurt in either confrontation. My military training was a wonderful resource that kept my head down in both situations and I am here today to tell about it. I worked on the road for 42 years and this was undoubtedly one of the worse days I can remember.

Is Anyone Listening?

My son Chris is a writer and works for a division of Time, Inc. in NYC. I write this thinking..."where did that writer gene come from?" I was never interested in writing as a child or a younger person but as the years past and life pours wonderful memories on you, you feel that urge, that need to put 'something on paper?'

Why? I don't really know why? I worked in a sales job for decades and soon found myself in our corporate office writing of all things, a newsletter for the company. They knew nothing about how this was done and neither did I. But they gave me a new Macintosh computer with the earliest of "newsletter" programs and my writings began.

It is interesting how this works. You have so many experiences in your professional and personal life,that soon the stories of the people and our interaction soon found it's way onto the printed page. It was truly a revelation to me to see the first printed or published letter that went out not only to our employees but also to the selective customers I had written about.

Stories are funny how they come together and I had so much input from other managers and employees as well as customers that soon I had files of stories I had yet to publish. I had legal pads up the kazoo (whatever a kazoo is) and these were my constant companion in a leather binder I treated myself to. Oh, it got on the expense account, but not as a personal leather binder...another story.

But time went by, and the companies interest in a bi-monthly newsletter waned. I publish the newsletter for over 2 years and was, in my opinion, just beginning to get the hang of it. But the thrust of the business took a new direction and my assets were needed to build an in-house marketing division which we currently outsourced back then. I did this for a number of years and trained two, no three assistants in the department. Oh, I still used my writing skills in this capacity but the newsletter went away.

I have a file cabinet downstairs that has copies of each of the newsletter I wrote and the company published back in late 1985 through early 1988. They are fun to read and bring back lots of memories. Some of the memories are sad as the people I wrote about have passed away. In truth though, this is a small window of the history of Jeff's writings that I would not have had the president of the company not called me back almost 20 years ago. Thanks Lackey for the wonderful chance to express myself and polish my writing skills that I enjoy today....Thanks Again.
Jeff Nutter, Jr.

Lakewood's Geese

I pass by a small lake on my way to my mom's each day and this is home to some 20 or 30 white geese and some 15 to 20 black and white smaller geese. Birmingham has a very temperate climate and these geese do well here.

The gest of this story is the lake is split into and 4th Avenue in Bessemer cuts right through it. The geese like to cross the road during the day and forage on the the other side, presenting a little problem from time to time. Fortunately everyone who travels 4th Avenue know of these geese and are reminded by signs on each side of "drive slowly, geese crossing".

When you approach the lake and if they are ready to cross they will gather at the side of the road with a larger gander sticking his neck out signaling that they need to cross. When both lanes stop, he will honk and all the geese will wobble across the highway, a real treat to see these beautiful birds.

I have been there when they have crossed going each way and the routine is the same. They stay on the far side for 1/2 the day and in the evening it is a replay of the morning routine. We even have some migrating geese that visit from time to time and the lake may have 50 or 60 migrating geese having a ball foraging with their domestic cousins.

We have some wild geese who now for some generation have called Birmingham home. There are several lakes around Birmingham and I have seen these black and gray geese come and go off the local lakes all over Birmingham. These offspring, I guess, have lost the migrating memory as their parents and grandparents have all been here now for generations.

Sometimes traveling I459 North or South they will parallel me as I travel. They fly in the traditonal V formation but only go some 8 to 10 miles back and forth to the various lakes around here in Jefferson county. They are God's creatures and a permanent resident of the county. I hope you get a chance to see them sometimes as they are just beautiful in flight....something inside me feels better when I see them and reminds me HE has HIS hand in this...Thanks..Jeff

The Apron

Subject: THE APRON


My mom is 90 years old and wears an apron, a Zeigler apron EVERYDAY! She
will not do anything around the house without that apron on. She worked
for the R. L. Zeigler Company for 31 years and retired at 65, the year they closed the Bessemer, Alabama plant August 30, 1979. It broke her heart but I told her why we had to do this.

She is adament about that apron being a Zeigler apron. I think I have 3,
in various stages of wear, but 2 are clean all the time and hanging on the
wall on a coat rack in the breakfast room. She heads straight to that Zeigler
apron when she gets up in the morning. I am there by 8:30 or 9:00am and now I fix her breakfast and she now enjoys my cooking, a complete role reversal. But it is so nice, so good that I can now do this for her.

I read a story about grandma's apron and this stirred me to write his story of my mom and her apron. I grew up with mom cooking in the very kitchen
in the house she still lives in. She does not cook anymore but the
memories are all around me when I am there each day.

There are handwritten recipes, notes on what goes where, even a diagram written inside of a kitchen cabinet of what breakers affect what outlets in the house. One drawer in her kitchen has hammers, screwdrivers, plyers and other things she used to use to repair things around her house. There is a neat spice rack on one kitchen wall with nuts, bolts, washers, nails, and screws. All are in little jelly or spice jars she saved and there are her repair supplies neatly labeled.

Mom is 90. Mom has caregivers now that do for her as she did for others for so many years. It is a little sad but I walk away fullfilled each day. She can't do much for herself anymore and her memory is very selective but she is still my mom.
She still amazes me on what she can do.

She loves me just like I was her little kid of long ago. "Drive safely son." "Be careful son". "I love you son!"

I leave when the pm caregiver gets there and her are her words as I open the back door, "when will you be back?" "Tomorrow mom, I will wake you and fix your breakfast." "See you tomorrow morning, I love you!" "I love you too!"....She is my mom and she is 90!