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Saturday
July 5, 2008 Finally, an end to the infamous industry name Neil “Spiitz”Filed under: News from Canada This past Thursday I had the pleasure of attending a Retirement party for Neil Piitz – the reference to Spiitz above is really an inside joke, sorry but I just had to do it! Like many people that attended I’ve known Neil back to the days when he started in the industry with Ken Cattermole and have had the joy of watching as he grew into one of this industry’s greatest success stories. I fondly remember when he first started Reaction and called to join Team Task Force, back in those days the membership fee was based on sales with our suppliers. After our discussion Neil said fine I’ll wait and join when our sales hit the target in 6 months. Less than 3 months later I’m in the office working on a Saturday and the fax machine went off and it kept going and going, I got up to see what was taking up so much of my paper. It was Neil’s application and supporting invoices, I turned off the machine as enough was enough. Then my phone rang, it was Neil who insisted that I turn it back on and look at everyone one of those invoices – he was quite proud of the fact that what he told me would take 6 months he’d done in less than 3! Reaction then ARPG continued to lead the industry as the number one distributor company in the industry and not just on sales volume by TTF Supplies but voted year after year as Distributor of the Year by the Suppliers in PPPC! It was not just their sales volume that was impressive – it was the way Neil did business. I’ve got to tell you honestly that even when things went wrong, as they do from time to time in this industry Neil was a complete gentleman about the problems – he was a pleasure to deal with in the good times and the bad! During the evening a number of Neil’s friends participated in a “Roast” and there were many great stories of their times with him – “Red Wine”, landing the “Big One” and then there was the “foot thing”, way to many stories to write about here. But, it was Mark I think who also pointed out there wasn’t one of us there that night that wasn’t just a little jealous of his success – not even 50 and he’s retired! And, I’ll admit I’m included in that jealous group – I’m still buying lottery tickets as my retirement plan. The one thing nobody brought up that night was Neil’s generosity, not only was he one of the nicest guys in the industry to do business with – he was one of the most generous. Generous with his time – not only helping out new suppliers to the industry but even his competitors and very generous with his money! For many years Fred and I hosted a Golf Tournament in support of Camp Oochigeas, a summer camp for children undergoing Cancer treatments. Every year he bought tickets for the draws lots of them (it helped getting the twins to sell them as we know he loves children), OVER bid on the items up for auction and after the dinner stood with many of his peers in the industry to pledge additional dollars for the charity. I won’t embarrass him with the total amount but thru the years it was thousands! So, while we all say farewell to Neil “Spiitz” we will never say farewell to Neil Piitz, he’ll always be around for his friends – primarily for golf dates now! Thank-you for being a friend Neil and congratulations on your well deserved success in this industry, enjoy your retirement– it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy! Love Always, 0 CommentsLeave a Comment |
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