Avenue Road Roofing

Description

I wasn't the one being hailed. It was Mike. Mad Mike we called him. Fred had given him that nickname. Mike could walk on roof slopes that I'd just slip off of. He was our labourer. Our very own "Spiderman". He'd go anywhere on a roof with no fear of slipping, let alone falling. Mike walked the slopes as if he had glue on his sneakers. He wasn't crazy or mad, of course. He was simply good. Very good. He simply liked to show his professional skills. As did Fred. Fred was the fastest of the four of us. And the most technically proficient. Paul was the workhorse. He rarely stopped. A fourteen hour day was nothing to Paul. Fred set a fast pace. Paul kept us going. Mike kept us supplied. We were a four man company. The four of us were Avenue Road Roofing in 1975. I, too, was a roofer. Specifically, a shingler. But in this group I was only the third best shingler. I knew that. So did the guys. I was good. Fred and Paul were better. Daily, I was being challenged to become a better, faster roofer. That was cool! Hi. My name is David Stokes. I was the organizer. The planner. The record keeper. The administrator. I was also a roofer. But the "third" roofer. So when something had to be done other than actual roofing (like talking to a possible customer, for example), that was part of my duties. In this way, I backed into the job of "salesman". By September of 1975, you see, the four of us had just begun to contract our services directly to property owners...

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