The Value of Teamwork
4/13/2018 by Julie Roman
I always hold my breath on December 1st and then exhale on the first day of April. As a seasonal business when we start to approach our busy season, we are excited and nervous about what lies ahead. I always look forward to the first cold mornings at Roman Oil when we have a full staff. We all gather in the morning, Chris Lawler makes us laugh and others chime in. There is a lot of sports talk, sharing of funny stories and it is always lighthearted and fun. Outside, the trucks are warming up and I often wonder if my grandfather had the same sense of pride and gratitude.
This winter presented quite a challenge with that record cold spell. I wish I could go back and warn myself in December but maybe I was better off not knowing. We typically run ahead of schedule on our deliveries which put us in a good position to handle that cold spell. However, when it did not let up, we worked around the clock to get through it. I can not express my gratitude enough to everyone at Roman Oil for their hard work. Kevin and I always say we have the very best people at Roman Oil and they proved it once again by standing by us though it all. For example, Kevin and I were out delivering oil very late the night before the big storm in January and the drivers stayed out with us until our route was done. Driving in the dark listening to the drivers help one another on the radio and hearing them requesting more deliveries because they wanted to stay out with us will be a memory that I will cherish for years to come. The service technicians went above and beyond night after night responding to calls. We even pulled my Uncle Dan out of retirement to deliver and if you are wondering if he still has it….he does. My Dad, Ed, was running around with his favorite new tool unfreezing pipes. The office staff all came in during the storm to help. The day that the snow storm hit, I was working the computer in the truck for my Uncle when Kevin called and said, “Everyone is here” I asked, “Who is everyone?” He replied, “The office.” I assumed they would stay home in the storm but they came in to help. It was all hands on deck. Yes it was hard but it truly showed the character of everyone at Roman Oil and how blessed Kevin and I are having them all by our side.
I want to thank you, our customers, for your patience and understanding during that time. Your tanks ran a little lower than both you and I were accustomed to and it made both of us a little more nervous this past winter. So many of you shoveled paths and took the time to thank the oil drivers and technicians. Your kindness is appreciated and makes all the tough work during the winter worth it.
As the weather gets warmer, I have time to reflect on the winter and evaluate what went well and what I need to do to improve next year. They say you should not have regrets but I do. I regret that I was not able to help many people in the community who needed oil when their usual company could not bring it to them. We pride ourselves on always helping people and it was hard to say no. Kevin and I with the support of our fathers made the decision to only focus on OUR customers. We needed to use all of our resources to ensure we kept your families warm and safe. It was so difficult telling people no, that we only had resources to help our current customers, but we have the most loyal customers and we needed to remain steadfast in our loyalty to them. It is sometimes hard to put into words the importance of working with a full service company that will be there for you as opposed to a discount company that does not offer service, but a very cold winter will show the strength of their team and our commitment to you.
Thank you again to everyone at Roman Oil, the customer, the staff and our Dads for helping Kevin and me get through another winter.
