That was a question from a personal experience etched in my memory from way back when, during my career at the "corporatory". I made up that term and Google can redline it all day long but I will not let it auto-correct that word. The question in the title, though asked in jest, has a special place in my memory and I recall the anecdote related to it with fondness and reflection.
It was in the late eighties, I can't recall exactly when but it was in that decade. My boss and I traveled to New York to discuss details on leasing a large fuel oil storage tank in the Caribbean at a terminal owned and operated by Amerada Hess. Our appointment was with one of the VPs and his staff of three high level managers. Visitors were directed to the middle floor where a male receptionist in a blue blazer checked us in. He asked us to wait in the seating area in the hallway.
A couple of minutes later, the main door opened. Expecting a secretary to come out, we were shockingly surprised to see an elderly gentleman who called out and addressed us in our first names, while waving us in. It was no other than Leon Hess himself, CEO of Amerada Hess. We did not expect, first of all, that Leon Hess would be in the meeting, and least of all for him to come out and greet us himself.
After the pleasantries he led us to a room next to his office through a huge padded door, likely soundproof from the outer office area. It was his private dining room. Again, although we did expect to have lunch with them, we didn't realize we were dining in. The table was already set. As if by choreography, as Leon Hess was directing us to our seats, the VP and three managers came in to join us. There were more choreographic instances later.
Two tuxedoed waiters came in. One to take our drink orders while the other filled tall glasses with iced water. The menu was set, which started with soup. Then, as if by choreography again, the waiter came in to collect the bowls, followed by salad in small platters and warm bread strategically placed within easy reach of each diner. Each time, after each chore the waiters disappeared, shutting the door behind them. I was curious how the waiters knew when to come in. Then I found out by observing Mr. Hess.
Before the waiters came in to collect the salad plates, I noticed Mr. Hess pressing a button just below at the table's edge on his right. He observed when everybody was done with each dish and pressed the button to summon the waiters outside. But that was not all.
After dessert and as we were having coffee, Mr. Hess excused himself. As he stood up, the door opened and his son, John Hess, came in and sat at the chair just vacated by Mr. Hess. Conversation went on but as soon as Mr. Hess came back in, after a few minutes, John Hess stood up, literally in mid sentence to make his exit. Mr. Leon Hess reclaimed his seat. I realized then that, apparently, there should always be a Hess present in conversations like the one we were having.
After lunch we exited the dining area and we proceeded via another door to a conference room. There the managers did a "show and tell" on their Caribbean storage facilities with slides and other "fun facts".
At the conclusion of our meeting, my boss said that although in principle we agreed to take the lease, the agreement will be signed by our superior in Houston because leases longer than three months were above my boss's "paygrade".
Mr. Leon Hess then asked, smiling, "Are you two that low on the totem pole?" He said it was fine - he was just teasing us. Was he?
Well, my boss and I represented a major oil company but our small group was just a part of the entire supply and distribution department. In fact, fuel oil and asphalt which we handled was, aside from being the bottom of the barrel in the oil refining business, it had less importance and popularity when compared to gasoline, diesel, aviation and other "cleaner and lighter" products in the overall scheme of what oil companies were noted for.
Mr. Hess started his business in the heating oil business and turned it into what became a Leading Independent Energy Company by acquiring Amerada Petroleum, involved in refining and exploration. He was succeeded by his son, John.
Apparently, Mr. Hess had a special affinity with our company because in the sixties when he started, he distributed heating oil products that were produced by our company that had its headquarters based in New York before moving "lock stock and barrel" to Houston, Texas in 1971. Today, Amerada Hess too has a huge storage facility in Houston.
Yes, indeed, as big corporatories go (that word again), my boss and I, particularly me at that time then, were way low on the totem pole.
But then, as totem poles go, those at the top depend on those from below. The bottom and the middle are what support those at the top. We notice the top of the pyramid, the pinnacle of that massive structure, but we must realize that if not for its base and middle structure, there will be no top.
Empires have come and gone throughout history. Each one that crumbled almost always began from when society disintegrated first at near the bottom, for myriad reasons, but once the very foundation is weakened, the top is easily toppled over.
Totem poles can only stand erect but only for so long and for as long as there is the structure beneath it to support it.
Yes, my boss and I were indeed low on the totem pole and the product line we managed was hardly what people associated with big oil, known for gasoline and lighter products like propane and butane and all the chemicals that a host of other products depend on.
Later in my corporatory life I was involved in trading the very same bottom of the barrel. It was still hardly paid attention to by those who traded in the lighter and cleaner products and neither did it have the glamor that made others dream or aspire for such a job. But, little is known that if I failed to move the bottom of the barrel - black oil and asphalt - the whole refining process could very well get "constipated" (pardon the word), once storage is clogged with unmoved inventory. The refining process is constantly a stream in motion. If there is no place for black oil to go to, the whole process would stop. What's lowest at the totem pole of refining - the bottom of the barrel, so to speak - must keep moving for the process to keep flowing.
Now, I hope the reader has a different perspective on what keeps totem poles to remain upright and tall.
Note: I made up the word, "corporatory", as a portmanteau of, you guessed it, corporation and purgatory. That is the place where everyone who toils in it will spend his or her time until one is directed to go one way or the other.
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