Many years ago there was a comic strip in the newspapers called Hairbreadth Harry. The hero always had hairbreadth escapes. Being a small and perpetually economically challenged company, Hein Restaurant Furniture Co. had more than its share of narrow escapes.

There was the night the storm drain in the alley behind our shop plugged up and sent at least a half inch of water through the shop. My foreman, Elden, who lived in Portland, had a room at the shop where he stayed through the week. He came out to my home for dinner and then would return to the shop to sleep.

Usually, he would stay for a while to watch TV. This night he returned right after dinner to find the shop flooded. He opened the big roller door and found the storm drain plugged. He tore off the heavy cast iron drain lid and by hand tore out enough sand that the water started to go down. He then called us and my wife and I went down and swept water until we were sure the furniture was safe.

It was two nights before we were to ship the furniture to the Kahala Hilton in Honolulu. We had all the major pieces for the dining room and cocktail lounge ready to ship and they were on scraps of 15/16" alder which were meant merely to keep pieces from damage from contact with the concrete floor.

We didn't lose one piece of the furniture that was going to the hotel that for many years was rated as the fanciest hotel in the world. If Elden hadn't returned early, we would undoubtedly have lost most of the furniture and been down the drain along with the water that didn't go down the drain. Thank you Elden.

Another time we had built all the furniture for the Ocean Shore Inn. The owners were a high powered real estate firm in Seattle. The deal was to be financed by a lease agreement. We were to be paid on completion by a leasing company. This was right at the time of a big Boeing depression. It was the time that there were billboards in Seattle saying, "Will the last person leaving town please turn off the lights".

Right after installation of all the furniture we learned that the leasing company had backed out. Enter my marvelous banker, Hank Runkle, at Seattle First National's Queen Anne branch. He told me to get a lawyer and get a contract signed quickly by the principles. After Wendell West went bankrupt, we, the creditors, were called down to Ocean Shores to discuss the situation. The meeting was taken over by the man from Avco Finance Co., a giant in the money lending business. When he asked me what I would take for my contract I said I'd take the principal and I'd forget the interest. He said, "No, what we had in mind was 50 cents on the dollar." I asked, "On what day would you like me to come down and pick up all this furniture?" He then said, "Oh, no you can't do that, we'll continue the contract and pay you monthly". Every month I had to call the finance company to tell them their payment was late.

Finally, the head of Avco's real estate division from California came in to see me at my office. Again he asked what I would take for my contract. I said I'd take the principal and skip the interest. In a week or so I had the total principal. There were many of the suppliers on that job who were bankrupted. Thank you Hank Runkle.

Another time Gus Johnson, who owned a bar in Fairbanks, Alaska came into the shop and asked me to fly to Fairbanks and make a layout for his bar. He paid my airfare and hotel while I was there. It was the 21st of June, the longest day of the year, and it was strange seeing kids out riding their bikes at 3 o'clock in the morning. We agreed on a layout and colors for the furniture and the price.

The deal was based on my foreman going to Fairbanks and Gus' furnishing the labor to install. We built the furniture and shipped it and Elden to Fairbanks. The agreement was that Elden would bring a check for the balance of the job when he returned. Sure enough, the check came home with Elden. We put it in the bank. My wife and I took off for a long Labor Day weekend and went for a great trip to Glacier National Park. When we returned Tuesday morning all hell had broken loose. We had checks bouncing all over the place.

I called Gus in Fairbanks. The minute he answered he knew why I was calling. He said, "Herb, I gave money to my banker with instructions that it was to cover your check and he used it to pay other checks". I called his banker and he said that there wasn't anything he could do until the first of the week. I then called Hank Runkle explaining my situation. Hank then called the banker in Fairbanks. He asked if he was going to pay the check. When Fairbanks said yes, Hank said, "Good, I just took it out of your account and put it in Hein's account". We didn't have to pay for any of those checks.

That was another of our Hairbreadth Harry escapes. Thank you again Hank Runkle.