My First Job: Hal Ferris, partner, Lorig Associates

December 24, 2006

My First Job: Hal Ferris, partner, Lorig Associates

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Hal Ferris

Current position: Partner, Lorig Associates, a Seattle-based real-estate development company.

First job: A paperboy in Spokane. In the spring, summer and fall, I would fold the newspapers and load them into the extra-large baskets I had purchased for my bicycle and ride around the neighborhood throwing the folded papers onto customers' front porches. In the winter, I couldn't use my bicycle to deliver the papers because of snow and ice. For those three or four months, I would load the papers into the canvas paper bags I carried over my shoulders and deliver the papers by foot, often hiking through the snow and slush. A German shepherd bit me once, and other than confirming the dog had its rabies shot, the owner did not even apologize.

Pay: It depended on how many customers actually paid me. Once a month, I would go around with my receipt book and collect payment. Some of my customers were on tight budgets, and I learned that I needed to collect at the beginning of the month because they couldn't pay at the end of the month.

How I got the job: Growing up in a family with a long history of engineers including a great-great-uncle who invented the Ferris wheel, I was encouraged to work from an early age.

What I learned: The importance of treating people with respect. The most appreciative people were often my customers with the most modest homes on my route, and the customers that were the least appreciative demanded the greatest amount of service with very little gratitude. This was a very important life lesson to me, which influences my interactions with people every day.

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