company back on the East Coast. And I did. I was one of the leading salesmen in a national organization. No problems. Had a little trouble getting in my expense account. We’d like to have you come to work for our company in Southern California. A position, no supervision, no direct supervision. The largest salary I had ever earned, an almost unlimited expense account, a bonus at the end of the year, and a company car. And I was about to say no. I expect to take another position tomorrow. And the keen cunning mind of the alcoholic came to my rescue, and I thought, aha, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And so I accepted the position. The following day, the company of my first choice called, and the vice president from New York said, we would like to have you come. You had a wonderful record back in Virginia, Jack. We know that you will just do wonders in our Southern California territory. Largest salary I’d ever earned.

A bonus at the end of the year, an almost unlimited expense account, a company car. And I was about to say no. I’ve already accepted another position. But the keen cunning mind of the alcoholic came to my rescue. And I said, two birds in the bush is better than one bird in the bush. What if something goes wrong with one of them? No supervision. Overlapping territories. Two salaries. Two company cars. Two expense accounts. Golly, you talking about falling up? You think I didn’t fall up? You bet I did. Wonderful time in Southern California, right? Wrong. When you were drunk, you had trouble with one job, friend. Talk to me about having two at the same time. And you’re not functional in either of them. That was the beginning of hell because my life at that time had become a total insanity. Not too long ago, Karen and I were in San Francisco and having dinner at a hotel at which I had dinner one night at a sales conference.

And I later that evening made an asset of myself in front of some executives with the company of my first choice. On the way back from San Francisco the next day by plane to L.A., I can remember as well as if it was yesterday hoping the plane would crash, looking out the window and wanting with all my heart to have that plane crash. Was I thinking about the other passengers on that plane? Of course not. See, one of the symptoms of the alcoholic is we don’t think about anybody but ourselves. We think about a lot of people like Garnet, but not very lovingly. There’s not very much love in us. One night at a party, it was in an auditorium just like this, Tennessee Ernie Ford had been broadcasting from the stage. This was before taped television programs, and he was alive. We were almost next-door neighbors and were kind of friends, and I was there as his guest and friend. The show was over, and he was entertaining the crowd, and I was standing at about right here. The platform was there.