Mattress Answer Man Speaks |

Today was not my best day. Unfortunately I had to spend it at the services and burial of a great man that few knew. In reality I know his wife better than I knew him. I was once a salesman then a manager at Sleepys.  For those of you not in a state north of Virginia on the east coast (and only on the eastern side of some of these states)  Sleepys is the largest singly owned mattress chain. When I started at Sleepys Harold Lorber and his wife Willie were already there. After a short while I was asked to take Willie’s store as the manager, these were at the time generally one person stores, displacing her  and she was asked to float between stores. Harold showed one of his best traits and immediately  went into attack mode to help get Willie her store back. In those days the computer and Willie did see eye to eye. The paper work was confused and although the were many deposits the delivery ratio didn’t add up. Harold was trying to make me look bad so his wife would look good. He would have succeeded if I wasn’t already an experienced bedding salesperson with a track record. Sleepys was in the middle of one of its many changes Harold and Willie had been in the Picture Frame business prior to Sleepys and were not part of the overall grape vine, just the one in the company they worked for.

As you can see Harold and I didn’t get started off on the best of terms. He did however protect his wife. You may think this was to show his masculinity, and to some extent it may have been. If you knew Harold you would know it was really for loyalty and love. These were the first things  I saw that made Harold great. These two of course would not be enough to call him a great man. Have you ever been to a casino and sat at the poker table? If you have then you know the dealer shuffles the cards and puts them in a machine to be shuffled some more and then it pass out the hands to be given to the players. Harold a graduate from Pennsylvania University was an engineer and developed that machine. Here we have the third thing to add in the building of a great man, intelligence.

Harold was a good enough salesperson to be given one of the better stores. This adds our next attribute versatility. He had been an engineer , an entrepreneur, a manager and finally a salesperson. All these and a devoted husband and father add up to number four, Versatility.

Not the last of his attributes but the fifth, enough for greatness, Dedication. The day before he passed and he was in his mid seventies long past the time most of us have given into relaxation and a while since he felt well Harold was at work. At Sleepys that ment an eleven hour day. He was dedicated to his job and profession.

So the you have it Harold Lorber he possessed love,loyalty,intelligence,versatility and dedication he was genuinely a great man.

That is Harold’s story but a company showed it too could be great.  I have my issues with Sleepys one of which is their lack of loyalty to their workers. Today however they showed all was not lost. Harold was not an owner or a manager. He wasn’t their top salesperson nor their best earner. He was a hard worker but not always easy to manage. Harold and Willie did have eleven years seniority. Sleepys honored this Great Man by allowing stores to close so those that wanted to could attend the services. While the owner and President were in New York and Florida they sent a gift basket and three vice presidents, as many or more reginal managers, a group of district managers attended not only the service but many stayed to sit Shiva. This company gained a heart today something it needed to be called great.