69. Father's Day

In this episode, Griff and Lex are joined by Daren and Jeff for a Father's Day roundtable.

Also, some direction on directions and who wants to run up Brady Street!?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to Loaded, the Hon Ready Mix Podcast. Today, joining us, we have Jeff and Darren.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

How's it going, guys? Good, good, good. We've got like a Father's Day roundtable here. That's the purpose here. We got Father's Day coming up. Well, when this comes out, it'll be the day after Father's Day.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

I mean, let's be honest, you just pulled us in two minutes ago. So exactly.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

So you're well prepared. This is kind of one of those come here now. Yeah. Okay, so full transparency. We were trying to get dad, Lex Nice Dad, on the podcast. And he he refused. He didn't want to be on the show. Yet again, yet again. So kidnapping did not work. Kidnapping didn't work. We have evidence of Lex trying to kidnap. We'll put that. Maybe we'll make that the picture for the episode. It didn't look like much of an effort based on what I saw. It was halfway between a hug and a kidnapping. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Brian had no interest. I gathered. Since we're here. That's why we're here. Well, we're also here because Andrea works uh part-time now. Yes. Yeah. She's building us two weeks in a row.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

All right. Let's start with some announcements. I have a few, but does anybody else have any to kick us off? Go for it. Okay. First one, we've had a number of folks that I think have gotten a little confused. And so I just want to reiterate. When we have instructions on the ticket when we're delivering concrete, those instructions are more important than the GPS directions you're getting on the tablet. So how that works is when we put a pin down where the job is, the system pulls the Google directions. And then we cannot change them. So if the job if someone on the job site says trucks have to come in from the north side, but the fastest way to get to that job site is the south side, the directions will always go whatever the fastest way to get to that job site is, even if there's not really access, because Google doesn't know that. So if you need to look at your ticket every single time. And if the directions are different from the GPS, follow the directions on your ticket, not the GPS ones. Because uh a number of times we've been on the wrong side of a job and not had access to it and that's had service interruptions. And so please, please follow the directions. It's very important. They're in there for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah. And on top of that, if you are struggling to understand the directions, please reach out to anyone, whether it's another driver, a QC person, or your batch man, or if one of us is floating around, please ask us because we want you to go in the right way. And we know directions can sometimes be very confusing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Uh my other two announcements are more fun. First of all, a year ago on the podcast, we talked about the Brady Street sprints at Bix. And we are a corporate sponsor for the BIX. And uh therefore we get to put a team in. We have never done this before, but we're going to this year, going to put a team in the Brady Street Sprint. So you're basically four-leg relay, uh sprinting up Brady Street Hill, 100 yards each person. Um, so we obviously want to put our best foot forward with our fastest folks. We have to have at least one female. That was good alliteration, by the way. That was very nice. We have to have at least one female on the team. So we are going to have the time trials to determine who our fastest folks are on July 3rd, sometime in the afternoon, depending on when uh workload is is kind of past us. Uh, we're gonna run down John Fell Road and see who the our fastest three guys and one gal is. So if you're interested, please let me or somebody know. Jeff, I'm ready for you to pull a hammy competing for Hon Ready Mix. Yeah, unfortunately, I will be at the John Deer Classic that day working. Okay. Working. Yeah. So we're gonna, but we're gonna do this uh time trial. So let me know if you're interested, and we'll make sure we wait for you or get you over there. So yeah, we're gonna win that that sprint on Brady Street. We looked at Sam pulled up last year's sprint, and the high school kids from Whitey's look pretty good, but I think we can take them down. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

That's great. A bunch of old men beating a bunch of high school kids. That's gonna look really good. It is gonna look good. Are you gonna try out there? Absolutely not. You do not want my fat rear end running John Fell or Brady Street anywhere. Who's gonna be the female participant? Well, there could be more than one if the females are faster than the males.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

That's true. We don't have to be uh just one.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

It doesn't say only one female, it just says there has to be at least one.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

At least one, yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Uh none of the office staff will be here that day because they're off.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Oh, yeah?

unknown 4:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Okay. Well, if we have to move the date, if it's uh if it's no good, then we can move it. But for now, we're gonna try for July 3rd. So anyway, most important part, let me know if you're interested and we'll figure out a time from there. Next thing is our World Cup pool. So very excited. Uh, Darren, how are you feeling about the World Cup pool?

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I'm feeling really good right now. You win in the pool, man. If Portugal scores three more goals today, which is when we're taping, then I'm gonna look really good.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Yeah, there you go. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, we'll see.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

It's blind luck at this point. I know very little about World Cup soccer.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

You're doing great. You're doing great. So uh nice work on that front. Okay, we'll keep everybody apprised of that as the tournament goes on. All right. Well, uh, like we said in the opener, Father's Day's coming up. And so we wanted to talk a little bit about Father's Day and kind of how that relates to our business, you know, why we're here. It's a family business, so so having that kind of family orientation makes makes a holiday like this even more important. So anyway, um, and you know, to help us with that, that's why Darren and Jeff are joining us as as fathers themselves. And Lex is dog dad, right? Yeah, whatever. Yeah. Tough life. Yeah. Well, you you even brought your child in here with us, so that's good. Yeah. Kai doesn't have anything to say. Yeah. I don't know. Does anybody have a story about you know something their dad taught them or something you can share of a a core memory, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Well, I think, you know, my dad uh was a was a really hard worker. You know, you learned I learned about sort of not half-assing things from my dad, even though maybe I half ass things sometimes. Uh, but he, you know, he really instilled that in into me that you know it's it's important that you do the highest quality, no matter what you're doing, work, uh being a parent, whatever you're doing, put your full effort into it and and good things will happen. So I think I learned that from my dad. That's a great lesson.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Same, same thing, work ethic-wise. I don't ever remember a time my dad wasn't one of the first ones in, one of the last ones to leave. But and I use the same phrase quite a bit here at work, which is good news anytime, bad news now, which I like to live by and don't let people get handcuffed by news from somewhere else until you tell them first.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Yeah, we we you you talk about that principle with me quite often. Yep. It's a very big deal. I I I prefer it when we don't have those conversations because most time you bring it up when there's bad news. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

But it's better you know about it before it happens. Yeah, I that's one of the things I've always tried to live by.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Yeah. About you two. What what's your dad taught you? I definitely think a really strong like moral code of right versus wrong, right? And and um I think that he really pounded that into at least into me. I don't know what happened with Lex, but uh no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Uh he really pounded that into me and it it's it's stuck with me, right? And and then, you know, how to treat people, I think is I always try to emulate the way that dad has always gone about that. You know, he he treats people like people, treats people really well. And so yeah, that's that's important, I think. And and he's been always been a great role model on that front.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

I think you nailed that right on the head. Yeah, just understanding people and being there for them and understanding their situation and kind of understanding yourself and how you can respond to that has been kind of the biggest thing for me. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

All right, so this is a family business, like I said. And I think that's important to talk about what the purpose of a business like this is, right? So there's a lot of corporations out there that the purpose of the business is to extract maximum profit, right, for the shareholders. And that is not the case with, I'd say most family businesses, and certainly not with ours, is that it's about providing a living, not just for the shareholders, but for everybody in the company, right? And uh everybody that's that works here, that works with us, and and the concept of being a father is a lot about providing for your family, right? I think that's important for us in the way we operate to think about allowing people the opportunity to provide for their families and and helping them be successful with that. That's important. Jeff, you've worked a lot of different places. You know, uh how how do you see that kind of borne out and and you know, you have worked in some non-family business situations, right? I mean, like do you see that difference in the way that basically companies are run as a as regards to their employees? And you came from a family business. Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

I came from a previous family business, um, a little differently run, still treated employees well, but a little bit of a different culture than we've got here. I think the culture here uh really is like a family. I think that's why there's very low turnover. Uh that's why we have uh, you know, I think just the flexibility and the way people are treated and the way that uh people's ideas are important. Uh it's not just something we say, right? So it's easy to say we want to hear your ideas and then ignore them. Um and I think that happens at a lot of businesses. But here that is not the case. And we and we do have great discussion. Uh and I think, you know, I see that it starts with you guys. It starts with you. Certainly starts with your dad. I mean, your dad doesn't always agree with what I say. Um, he's quick to tell me that. Me neither. Yeah. And uh, but he but he respects our ideas and and in the end and understands that we're trying to do what's best. And I I think that's you and I have and Andrea have disagreements, but we all respect each other's ideas. And I think that's across the board here. So, you know, Darren and I have different ideas and and Lex and I have different ideas, but I think in the end, um we have we're able to have a conversation and and respect those ideas. And there's nobody here you don't walk in, and I think this is one of the one of the greatest things about this place, and and I think this is attributable to family business, is you don't walk in here, yeah, we have an org chart, and yeah, there's yeah, there's uh, you know, an executive team, but uh nobody walks in here thinking they're more important than somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

And I think that's I think that's the most important thing.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Yeah. And on that note, I I I definitely, you know, we have a lot of great women that work here that are providing for their families as well. So I'm not not at all trying to discount that or or anything, but the Father's Day just gives us a good opportunity to talk about this stuff, right? So that's that's all.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Well, and us are us dads are sort of not seen deemed as important most of the time. So we get this one day out of the year. We're used to that. We get that one day. I've heard how I feel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

I've I've heard the joke about like Mother's Day where the moms it's the hand the kids off to the dad and say, Here you go, it's it's Mother's Day. I'm it's it's my day for a break. And Father's Day, you hand the kids off to the dad and say, Why don't you spend time with the kids? Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Right. There's that.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Yeah. You know, we're talking about we 150 households here, right? That we're supporting. And I think that that's that's humbling. And it's also talks about how important the work we do is, right? It's not numbers on a on an income statement. It's real families being able to put food on the table and a roof over their head, and and that's why we do it, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

So I think that's I think that is, you know, when you walk in here, you feel that, right? I mean, you you definitely you feel that it's not just we're not just making decisions based on information. I mean, it's important and we use it, uh, but you function, and I mean you as the president of the company and your dad, I think generous people that just aren't aren't trying to make a big buck off the backs of everybody here. You want to give back, right? I mean, it's important to give back, and that's we talk about that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Agreed.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

I think we also have to recognize that this industry is a sacrifice for everyone that works here as well. You know, you talk about fatherhood, and and there are certainly times where our our team, when it's in season and we're working long hours, when they miss sports or school plays or whatever, because they have to work on a Saturday or they have you know, we're we're working late in the evenings. And so I definitely recognize that that sacrifice and and I just want to thank everybody for understanding that we we have a job to do too, and we're gonna be as flexible as we can and always will be. Um, but we're gonna be holding to our customer schedules. And so that's part of the industry. And and so I just want to recognize that, you know, Darren, I I know you've talked about it, took you 20 some years in the industry to before your wife understood that you didn't know what time you're coming home every time. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

She told me about about 10 years ago. She said, I just quit asking because I didn't, you didn't know the answer and it wasn't worth asking you. Okay. That works out fine because I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Still waiting for my wife to uh to oh, you got a ways to go back, but hang on. You got another 10 years or so before she figures it out. Does she listen to the podcast? Oh gosh, no.

unknown 14:37

No.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

No. Occasionally, like Lex will send me the finished edited draft and we'll be driving somewhere. And I like to listen to them before we post them, just in case there hasn't been anything yet, but just in case there was something we wanted to change or edit out. And um, and so she most of the time when she hears it, it's when I'm listening to it. And if we if we happen to be in a car somewhere. So, but no, she doesn't listen. So we're all safe to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

I don't want to talk about it, right? No, no, that's not what I was doing here.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I just what I want everybody to know on that on that topic is while we we ask a lot, um, we're not unaware of what that sacrifice is, I guess is what I'm saying of for people with families and and the things you might miss out on. And so, yeah. Let's talk a little bit about passing down culture. We have we have a number of uh multi-generational employees here, right? Yeah. Um, and uh so so not just Lex and I, but you know, Bear and Braden, Sean and Jill, who else am I missing? I know I'm missing uh Wolfs, Wolfs, yeah, Ryan and Ryan, Trav and Dawson, um Kelsey and Kelsey and Kelsey and K2. I I think that's one of the things that I am super proud of, right? Like if if you as a father encourage your children to work the same place you do, then it must be a pretty good place because most of the time we want better for our kids than we had ourselves, right? And so if we if we view this as a place where things can be better or it's so good that it is worthwhile doing, I think that that that's pretty incredible. And I'm I'm very, very proud of that, that we that we have that. And I think we everybody should be proud of what we built where people want to be multi-generational in this company. I think it's pretty special.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Henry said he'd be happy to work here if we could find him a job that'll pay him a little over a hundred thousand a year to start.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Well, I know Isaac wants to work here. Oh, yeah. Well, he he's uh he he's told me he's not interested for a long time. It was don't hire a forklift driver because I want to drive the forklift. He was always worried. He's like, You haven't driven you haven't got a forklift driver yet, have you? And uh, no, not somebody that's that's our whole job. And and he's like, Okay, good, because that's gonna, I'm gonna do that. And now he's he's pretty certain that um he's going to be a ready mix driver after he's played for the US men's national team in soccer and become a scientist and studied and helped animals, and then he's gonna do ready mixed concrete. So he, yeah, he does want to come here, but kind of in his third career, it sounds like.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Well, it seems like he doesn't have a high bar to be a better Ready Mix driver than his dad.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

He's not a very high bar. Right, that's a low bar. He's gotta get across pretty small. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

But if he could reach the pebbles now, it might be he might be able to probably handle it.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Yeah, that's rich coming from someone who's never even ridden in a Ready Mix truck, Jeff.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Uh I do drive a 39-foot diesel pusher, so I'm I'm good at driving that. Yeah. Dan Berthoud's still waiting for you to show up for your ride along. He's he's he told me he didn't want me to do it anymore. He's mad at me because I didn't he didn't actually give me a date. So I don't just making things up.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

We got to put it on your calendar if we want you to be there, right? Absolutely. I agree.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Yeah. Oh, geez. That's funny. Well, Dan, here's the time. Let's make it happen. Let's make it happen. We'll see if Dan actually listens to the podcast. Oh, he listens to it every week.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

He's religious about it.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Yeah. Well, uh, I think that's everything I had to talk about, but um, I'm just uh just thank you to all the dads out there and hope you had a great Father's Day. Yeah, we're we're still looking at a good year and excited for if the rain will ever stop, we'll just keep on chugging along.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yeah. Happy Father's Day to all.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Happy Father's Day. Well, thanks for joining us on such short notice. Happy Father's Day to you and you, Darren and Griffin. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Thank you. And I guess Lex is dogs rolling around. His dog's here, so I guess it makes him a dad. Yeah. I don't even know if I'll see any of my kids on Father's Day.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Oh, I will. I definitely will.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Well, about time you spend some time with them. Yeah, yeah, I guess. All right. Well, thank you for listening to Loaded the Han Ready Mix podcast, and we'll catch you next week.