15. FROM COCA-COLA TO VENDING.

Shortly after moving into our Northmont home, Danville Coca-Cola decided to go in the vending business and formed a separate company named ‘Southside Vendors, Inc.’ I thought this would have great potential and opted to work for Southside Vendors rather than Coca-Cola. There really was not much difference at the time since they were both housed in the same facility, shared the same offices and support staff as well as maintenance personnel. In other words, Coca- Cola practically supported Southside Vendors. This was probably designed that way since Mr. Whitehurst owned 25 % of Southside and none of Coca-Cola. Consequently, anything that Coca-Cola provided Southside Vendors was just like a gift to him. Several of the Coca-Cola owners complained about it, but did not have the courage to challenge him since he was so close to the vending clients while the others hardly knew them.

Figure 41 - Beverly & Blain, 1971

As best I can recall, Beverly’s first boyfriend was Kenneth Harris. He seemed to be a very nice boy that visited her on his bicycle. I recall on one occasion when he wrecked his bicycle on the way to visit Beverly. They had plans to go to Bubba’s for ice cream, but during the wreck Kenneth lost his money and I gave them a dollar so they would not be disappointed.

Sometime later, Beverly began dating Buddy Dix and did so for quite some time. He would have Sunday lunch with our family practically every week. All of a sudden, he wasn’t coming around anymore so I asked Beverly what happened and she seemed evasive as though she did not want me to know the reason. In view of this attitude, I let the matter drop. After several weeks of Buddy not showing at our house, he suddenly appeared at the Coca-Cola plant and asked the receptionist for me. The receptionist called my office to say that Buddy Dix was there and wanted to talk to me. She showed him to my office and he began apologizing for making me angry and promised if I would forgive him, he would never do so again. When I told him I was not angry and didn’t know what he was talking about, he said that he had tried to turn Beverly into something she was not and she would not see him again. I told him that was entirely up to her, but she never went with him again. I finally found out that he had tried to get her to do something that no respectable girl should do and am so proud of her for refusing.

Figure 42 - Beverly & Buddy Dix

During this time frame, we were very close to all of Barbara’s family and frequently had meals together as well as birthday parties, anniversary celebrations etc.










Figure 43 - Annie Ma & Yancey's 50th Anniversary - Left to right: Beverly Dillard, Jean Neal, Barbara Dillard, Ralph Wilkinson, Charlotte Wilkinson, Elsie Haskins, Annie Ma Wilkinson, Yancey Wilkinson and Blain Dillard.
The vending business grew by leaps and bounds and I was working more hours than anyone should have to work. I was doing all types of catering events from formal dance parties to poolside luaus. During the month of December, I would usually be gone the entire month catering Christmas parties for our customers. It was a 24-hour per day job with very little rest. Some might wonder if it was really worth all the work necessary for the small compensation that was paid. I was fortunate there were considerations other than just a weekly paycheck. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the food business and the art of catering. This knowledge was to turn out to be most helpful in furthering my career.

One advantage to the vending business was the opportunity of going to conventions. Mr. Whitehurst and I would normally go to the major convention sites, usually held in Chicago or Atlanta, and on one occasion, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Each year, however, there was a ‘Regional Convention’. This would normally be held at Myrtle Beach, S. C., or in Asheville, N. C. I recall it was held one time in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Most all management personnel would be allowed to attend these. It was like a bonus for a job well done and often substituted for vacations. We met many friends at these events and treasure those friendships dearly.

The vending industry always seems to bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. The very fact that it is a business that operates only on cash encourages many to steal. It is unfortunate, but happens all the time and is very difficult to catch since it is so easy to remove, say, a quarter from each machine each day.

I recall one vending mechanic, Charlie Rockwell from Chase City, Virginia, asking me for a raise and I suggested he wait until the annual review time. This was an evaluation that was done each year when I would sit down and review all the good and all the bad that I perceived in an employee. Charlie’s answer was that he could take a quarter out of each machine he worked on daily and it would never be known. My response was that he would know it and I would be surprised if he could live with it. I knew Charlie as well as anyone and realized he was simply kidding and would never do anything like that.

There were many situations where employees would get caught and one stands out in particular. During the late 1960s, we had a serious problem in the Chase City Branch. It seems every route we had down there continued to come up short on cash every single week. I must have spent hundreds of company dollars on motels and other expenses trying to ascertain who was stealing what. My branch manager, Manuel Hartsoe and I set traps and had continuous meetings with employees to no avail. Manuel and I had just left the Burlington plant in Drake’s Branch, Virginia, and I offered the idea that we had checked on and set traps for every single employee excepting one and that was Ernest Toombs, the money counter. While saying that, I tried to bet Manuel a hundred dollars that Ernest would never steal a dime. Even Manuel was so sure of his honesty that he didn’t even want to spend the time checking on him. I overruled that and we proceeded with the audit. We went into the plant at midnight and with a Polaroid camera, took a photo of the interior of the safe. We counted the money in each of the approximately fifty bags and using the photo replaced them as close as possible to the way they looked when we removed them. We did this so as to avoid suspicion from Ernest since he placed them there. After counting money until 3:00 A. M., Manuel went home and I went to the motel for some well- deserved rest.

The next afternoon, as was usual, Manuel and I met in the office to receive the count of Ernest. We took his count and compared it with our count from the night before to discover there was exactly 5% missing from each bag. What a disappointment and a joy at the same time to discover we had finally found the perpetrator we had been seeking for so long.

Since Ernest did not work for Southside Vendors, but instead was an employee of Coca-Cola who had the responsibility of counting our money in conjunction with Coca-Cola money, I had no authority to fire him. I reported the incident to his boss, Harwell Stovall who suggested I call in a private detective from Greensboro, N. C., and have him do an investigation. I called in Bill Tuttle, who had done some similar work for me previously. Bill and I went to Chase City and I got two rooms at WESCO Motel, one for Bill and one for me. I then called Ernest and asked him to come over. When he arrived I introduced him to Bill and told him he needed to answer some of Bill’s questions. They went into Bill’s room while Harwell and I waited in mine. After 45 minutes, Bill came over and showed us a signed confession to stealing approximately $6,000.00. We all went over to Bill’s room to confront Ernest and he was in tears. I told him that if he needed money that bad why didn’t he ask and I would have loaned it to him. He said that was what was so sad about it since he knew that I would. He started off by taking some cash and then paying it back but eventually, it became so much, he could not replace it.

Harwell advised him that he was fired and prosecution was up to me. I gave him five days to bring me the money if he wanted to stay out of jail and he agreed. Although he went two days over, he did replace the cash and did not go to jail although it may have been a mistake on my part. I guess I am just an old softy. There were many more, but none as dramatic as this one.

In 1965, Greensboro, N. C., Coca-Cola bought out Danville Coca-Cola and Southside Vendors. Southside Vendors became Southeast Vendors to conform to Greensboro Coca-Cola’s vending company name. I felt this was a good thing since Greensboro had a different style management than Danville. By all accounts, they relied more on their managers to delegate without having to report every little problem to ‘top management’. This was the case with Danville, in that Mr. Whitehurst had to be the final decision maker on even the smallest problem. We, in Danville, did not even have a hydraulic lift gate for moving those heavy vending machines. Each time I would request one from Mr. Whitehurst, his response was, “Wait until we install Westinghouse or wait until we finish installing Goodyear.” The fact of the matter was that we needed it in order to install those accounts.

I recall, after the Westinghouse promise and after we had completed the installation, I reminded him again and his answer was, "Wait until the end of the year.” This happened in September and our fiscal year ended November 30. On my return to Danville from South Boston, the Westinghouse location, I took my service manager, Marvin Davis to Barkhouser Ford and ordered a new truck with a lift gate. I instructed Russell Aaron, the truck sales manager to deliver it on December 1st with no notification to anyone until that day. Everyone knew about it with the exception of Mr. Whitehurst and they all were anticipating the outcome while wondering if I would survive this. On December 1st, the truck arrived and I entered Mr. Whitehurst’s office to break the news. I started off by reminding him of his promises regarding the lift gate and whether or not he remembered. When he said he did remember, I said, “It has arrived.” His response was, “What truck are you going to put it on?” When I said it was already on a truck, I thought he would go nuts. He said, “Surely you didn’t buy a new truck; I was planning on getting a used one from Greensboro.” It took him a long time to get over it, but I decided that this time, the end justified the means and everyone agreed with the exception of Mr. Whitehurst.

In 1970, Bob Kochli and John Czerwinski were hired to assist in the running of Southeast Vendors. Bob was to be groomed to replace Mr. Whitehurst when he retired and John to run the Greensboro portion of Southeast Vendors. This all worked out quite well for a lengthy time. I was reporting to Bob and really enjoyed it since he was not a ‘hands on’ type manager as was Mr. Whitehurst. He would give you an assignment and wait for results rather than make all the decisions himself. Bob also was much more generous in the compensation area. The first thing he asked me was how much I felt I should be paid and I added $4,000 to my salary of $11,000 and he said that would go in effect the next payday. I will always regret not having asked for twice that amount

After working for Bob for several months, he attended the opening of a new account I had sold and just installed, Central Apparel in Danville. While there, he asked if the two of us could go somewhere private and have a cup of coffee. We went to a local restaurant and he advised that he would like me to move to Greensboro and be the Region Sales Manager. He seemed to be unhappy with the performance of Dave Britt, the current sales manager. I told him I would talk to Barbara and let him know in a few days. At that time he said that actually moving was optional since I would be responsible for sales in Virginia as well as North Carolina.

After talking to Barbara, we decided to give it a shot and decide later whether or not to move or stay. After advising Bob of this, he asked that I set up a meeting at the Holiday Inn and invite all management from Danville and Greensboro for the announcement. I did this and we had about 25 people in attendance. I introduced Bob to everyone since he had not had the opportunity of meeting them all and he then made the announcement. It was different from what we had discussed since He started off by saying I would be the Regional Sales Manager and then that I would be moving to Greensboro within the month and topped it off by announcing that John Czerwinski would be named Vice President, Operations. This had not been mentioned to me before and I was naturally upset. I went along with the announcement after voicing my concerns to Bob who really had no answer as to why I was not told the entire story beforehand. When departing the meeting, my service manager, Charles England, commented that I had “just been screwed.” Although I agreed with him, I smoothed it over and pretended that all was okay. I went along with the program and decided to look for other options at a later date.

During this period of time, Barbara and I were fortunate to receive a free trip to Venezuela and Curacao, compliments of the Vendo Company. It was awarded based on the value of Vendo vending machines purchased the previous year. I was the only operator on the trip that did not purchase any machines from Vendo that year. Instead, I contacted all the area branch operations and asked if I could have the points from their purchases since they would probably not buy enough for a trip anyway. They all agreed and just prior to departure, I found I had enough points for the trip but not enough for the flight to New York, the departure point. I visited my good friend, Roger Wilkes of Fieldcrest Mills and told him my problem. He immediately called Bob McClure, the area manager for Vendo and told him to send him enough machines to earn the points for Barbara’s and my flight to New York. I will never forget Roger’s generosity not only in that case, but also over many previous years on Barbara’s behalf and mine.
We left New York in a snowstorm and four hours later observed tourists sun bathing on the beaches in Venezuela. What a beautiful place to visit. The food was great in the many five star restaurants we ate in. Entertainment was out of this world and the Vendo Company truly showed all participants the art of entertaining customers. The trip lasted nine days and concluded with a trip to Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles.