1974 to 1985
Burger King / Software Implementation Project
I started with Burger King at the very young age of 14, too young for most of the work there except for cooking and serving french fries. So, until I turned 16, it was nothing but french fries for me. I would go home smelling like french fries—my dogs really loved me. And I always felt like I was covered in an inch of oil.
After graduating from Grand Island Senior High School in 1980, I was awarded a Navy ROTC full-ride scholarship. I enjoyed the camaraderie and had a great first-year cruise over the summer. However, I moved straight back to school and found myself playing in the hallway in the first month. No shoes, just socks on the slippery floor. At one point, I saw my chance to catch the ball, so I was running backward and knew I was getting very close to the end of the hall. So, since I was going too fast to stop quickly, I reached for the wall. It was a corner. Around the corner? A chair. That chair hated me. It grabbed me as I sling-shot around the corner, tackling me. I heard it even before I knew what had happened. "POP."
Two days later, I woke up in a hospital bed. Surprise! Three knee surgeries. The final knock- a leg cast from my toes up as far as it could go.
This was the end of the summer, a sweltering summer with that plaster cast. I went through three of these casts- each one being my knee more than the last one. Torture. But to make things worse, the Navy required you to pass a physical test and sign a six-year commitment by that time in your education. I stood that morning near the start line on crutches and cast number two. I looked at the others about to embark on a three-mile run. There was no way I would make that for even 1/2 a mile in the time allowed. I was pretty slow on those crutches.
In its ultimate wisdom, the Navy placed me on medical leave, meaning I still had the scholarship and was expected to be healthy and ready to retake the test in six months. Six months later, I am now in cast number three. I've also been told that I might never be able to walk, much less run. It was the worst week of my life. I was medically discharged from the Navy. I could not pay for the next semester of college, so I was also discharged there and went back home.
I was immediately invited back to work at Burger King, and I also benefited greatly from scholarships and tuition reimbursement plans. I thought, wow, this could work. So, I became a store manager when I was called into the main office and told about an inspiring program. I had taken several computer programming classes in my short college years, and the bosses wanted to take advantage of that experience. NCR had won the contract to take all cash registers, replace them, upgrade them with state-of-the-art software, and train leads as they implemented the hardware/software solution. I was raised to be an Implementation Manager, managing my first project.
I had been bitten by the project management bug. I no longer wanted to be a Software Engineer, so I left Burger King and moved to Houston, TX. There, I met Sheila May, owner of Library Management Services.