One by One, pieces of my parents hearts had to go bye bye.
I, Ollie, didn't understand any of this... Issue # 15
ifOnlyi… had not experienced both my parents go through severe hardship, I, Ollie, would not have been able to go through my life experiences with the drive and vigor I had for many years. It was a lesson I needed to “learn” while growing up to help keep me grounded. It really was!!!
It was 1975, and what was happening was the eeriest feeling, especially for a young teenage boy who had grown up privileged and, honestly, a bit spoiled.
It all started the day when Dad had someone come over to our house to buy his precious 1970 Triumph motorcycle. He loved that beast. He had never owned one before and bought it from a dealership in NY.
He flew from California and met with six strangers who had also bought Triumph bikes that summer. They started as strangers but became friends as they rode their bikes across the country, state to state. That was a great adventure.
Five years later, he was selling the bike he loved, polished every time he took it out on the road, and cared for so much. This didn’t make any sense to me at all. He seemed heartbroken, so I wondered why.
I didn’t know the answer and was too afraid to ask. He never said why at that time.
A few weeks later, a different buyer came to our home and bought his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, which I had helped keep polished and smelling fresh. Now, that was going bye-bye, too.
Next, I overheard my Mom and her best friend discussing that we no longer owned our Beechcraft twin-engine airplane. It had been sold to a touring company in Hawaii for Island hops. Yikes!
It was 1975, and I was only 15. I was scared but didn’t want to say anything to add heat to the situation.
What was happening?
Why were all of our precious possessions being sold?
Why was no one saying anything?
What would be next, I wondered?
Our home?
The valuable vehicles were gone, but the garage was not empty. Dad replaced his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with an Oldsmobile. A few years later, when the business was recovering, and I had my driver's license, I bought it from them. It was my pride and joy.
When I plucked up the courage to ask what had happened and why we were going through this string of events, Mom and Dad kindly sat me down as if it was a business meeting, and Dad said, "It’s like this, son!”
One of the industry giants in the U.S. did some accounting dancing. They were a public company and needed to show higher revenue than their books revealed, so they took all purchase orders and treated them as if they were income received, even though the products had not been shipped or billed.
“The financial misstatements were apparently motivated by a desire to maintain the appearance of corporate growth” at a time when the one‐time glamour stock of Wall Street had lost some of its luster, Seth M. Hufstedler, a Los Angeles lawyer who was appointed a special counsel to investigate the company, said.
The accounting scandal involving false financial reports led to the resignation of several executives at that Company, including the founders.
Now, here's where things got totally f*cked up for my folks. They were both in the same industry and Banked with the same Bank.
It was like comparing David and Goliath!
Bank of America.
So B.O.A came looking for companies in the same field as Mattel and called in their lines of credit. No reasons were given.
My parents repeatedly tried to explain that they were a family business and never operated like that, and they had the accounting books to prove it.
Bank executives didn't care. They were the Bankers, and they were ruthless!
Mom and Dad downsized the company offices, separated the warehouses, and slashed inventory as quickly as possible. They laid off staff and began a new chapter in their life.
Thankfully, they managed to keep our home and the business.
They didn't want us kids to have the stress of moving and losing our friends on top of everything else.
I don't know if they took all the pay cuts that generally happen, but I suspect they did, as we no longer had the staff we once had at home. They were all let go.
No Chef
No Housekeeper
No Butler
No Gardener
No Pilot
Mom became the Chef again. She loved to cook, so that didn't worry her.
We ate only rice once a week. I always thought it was because of money issues, but my parents made it clear that we ate rice to donate the money we saved on food each week to a unique Charity, which helped make it happen. It also taught us gratitude.
My little sisters and I had now become the staff indoors and out. That was okay with me as I had learned very young that work could also be fun.
I had no idea what amount of work my mother and father would demand to be done.
A list of daily chores was created and stuck on the refrigerator for each of us, and that's how we held things together. We worked as a team and never complained.
Mom and Dad had a way of making stuff happen, and from that, I learned a lot in life, as my stories from this point forward will attest.
Ultimately, they raised enough money to pay off the full line of credit and began building their business again.
Around the time this happened, Mom and Dad had committed to build a children’s hospital in Mexicali, Mexico, where we had a factory.
Mom was passionate about seeing that become a reality. Still, sadly, because of their financial downturn and the Mattel scandal, they had to stop building the hospital and close the factory. She was heartbroken.
In 1998, the newly built Children’s Hospital at UCLA was named Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA.
….ifOnlyi…. short stories are published chronologically and follow my life growing up in California from 4 years old. If you’ve just found me, the stories will come together when you start reading from….Issue #1