Don’t Step Over a Dollar to Pick Up a Dime!!

Written by Jason Haines

“Don’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime,” - quoted by my late grandfather, Richard Marvin Haines, to my brother and I during childhood

When I was a kid, I never really understood what my grandfather meant by this statement, but I think I am starting to understand it more as an adult. As I think about the advice my grandpa Haines always gave this quote was one that always stuck out to me; I have seen it happen so much throughout my life. And no, it doesn’t mean to go spend money and not care about how you spend it. Over the years I have gotten the time to think and review the quote, and there is a much deeper meaning that we all need to learn from.

Grandpa taught my brother and I many things. He was the man who took me on my first hunt for squirrels, and my brother and I on our first fishing experience. He was there for our first deer hunt, sitting outside with no gloves on while we were freezing. He taught us the reward of working hard and providing for your family. And there is nothing better than having a family to raise and provide for. I’ll never forget the things he has taught me and the pride he instilled having and providing for a family. Bring your family together and making sure they help and protect each other throughout your life. This is one thing that I will never forget that family comes first, and you need to protect them at all cost. You cannot choose your family, but you can help them if and when they need it. I want to thank my grandpa for all of this.

Other things that Grandpa Haines exposed us to was what people call networking today, how to build relationships in order to make friends and build a business. He taught us how to work hard and that money wasn’t the only thing in life. I will always remember my trips to the Friday sale and meeting guys like Beechy, Rife, and many others, men who worked hard to provide for their families just like my grandpa. And the memories of the Mount Hope sale and the farmers market to buy fresh grown fruits and veggies. There are so many memories that I will never forget; I wish he was here today because of the man that he was. He helped us understand customer service and what it meant to help others during the Christmas season of selling trees. Those long days spent in the cold waiting on people to stop and buy a Christmas tree. He would never raise his prices because it was more about the people and comradery than the money. I want to thank my grandpa for teaching me and my brother all of this.

Grandpa Haines taught us to always treat our wives and girlfriends like a queen and provide for them in any way that we can. Work hard and make sure that they are provided with all they need in life. To listen and help her with things she needs help with. Be kind and gentle to your kids but know when to discipline them. Grandpa did this by learning all that he could when working at Owens Corning Fiberglass so he could advance and be paid more within the company to provide more for his family. The experience I gained from watching him and seeing the things and people he knew was some of the best days I ever had. I want to thank my grandpa for this.

We can only hope that we can be the same man he was and aspire to attain his greatness even if the world didn’t consider him to be great.  

Another thing that my Grandpa taught was to respect authority and to dress properly. I have always had a respect for authority, there have been times when I have questioned it, but I still have the respect for the person in charge and the choices they make. This does not mean I have to like what they choose but I still must have a respect for it. That is something that I want to teach my children, to respect authority but to have an open mind because we aren’t always right in what we think. We must be open to other people’s opinions, thoughts, and ideas.

Now to the dressing properly for the situation. People will judge you by what they first see, so dress to make a good impression. This is something that I have learned to live by. Now, in my later years, I have also added educating myself and becoming a stronger communicator. But my grandfather is right, people will judge a book by its cover every time. So please, be respectful of where you are going and dress properly for the place you are in and people you are around. People will appreciate and at the end of the day you will also feel great about yourself.

But, let’s get to the most important thing Grandpa Haines ever told us. “Don’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime.” Now I am sure he heard this from someone through his travels when he was working at Owens Corning Fiberglas, but as many times as he repeated it to all of us I think it changed his life as much as it changed ours. And I think, especially as well as I knew the man, he had figured out a few of the things I have, and they helped him grow just like myself. There have been so many things that I have thought about when my grandfather passed away, but this was one of those things that I will never forget him teaching us.

When we were younger, I always thought that when my grandpa said this quote it went along with another thing that he told us, “you have to spend money to make money.” Which in and of itself has a much deeper view as well. But after I have thought about this more the two sayings, though they can go together, don’t have to be used together. Yes, if you want to make money you have to spend money up front in order to do so. As I have done with my business, I spent the proper money to fund it, advertise and market it to the world. But I also didn’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime by spending that money on the opportunity that I was afforded by Industrial Solutions. So far, the opportunity has been fun and adventurous, due to this Covid-19 break, but nonetheless a learning experience.

See, really the, “don’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime,” has a deeper meaning than that of money. The deeper meaning is twofold and both of those when I was younger, I never understood. The first is do not let opportunity pass you by. In the past I never thought about this and trust me there are many times that I haven’t taken the best of my opportunities, but there are other times I have. One of those such opportunities that I passed by was in my younger days playing baseball; long story short sometimes things aren’t as important as others. But the many times I have taken advantage of the things that have been provided I have made the most of it, such as: working at Amsted Rail while they paid for my college, being the production manager at an essential oils plant, and working as an operations coordinator at Hadrian while they paid for my Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. All these opportunities helped me along the way and with each opportunity. My grandpa Haines would always tell me to “hang in there and be patient, it will come.”  I miss talking to him, but I know he is watching over me and my family every step of the way and he is proud of the things that I am doing.

And the second meaning that I learned from this message that my grandpa said was to have patience. Because not only are you going to have opportunities that you pass by, but there are also going to be opportunities that pass you by. So, you need to have patience and keep building on what you currently have. Yes, when we are younger, we think the opportunities will never come to us and that the world is passing us by. It is not trust me; I thought the same thing and I am still here trying. One of my biggest opportunities, or what I thought was, that passed me by was when I was passed over for the developmental supervisor at Amsted Rail. I was upset, but after everything that I have experienced since then I know it was not part of God’s plan for me to be there and his plan is for me to be elsewhere. And I wouldn’t change this in any other way at any point and time in my life.

This experience has taught me many things out here in the world. I have gained knowledge in Lean and how to apply it to all processes in order to help other companies out. It has helped me to gain more experience in manufacturing by seeing how different products are made. All while gaining me experience on how to lead, trust my team, and bringing and putting the correct people around me in both my life and my work. This means a lot to your success.

I miss my talks with my grandpa about how things are going, politics, what the weather is like, and baseball. But I will always remember the things he taught me and will teach them to my children as well. Over the years I always wanted to thank my grandpa Haines, and I know it is never to late, but thank you Grandpa, you taught me so much over the years. I am happy to have known you and wish I could tell you about the things I am learning and achieving today, but I know you are watching us all.

Always remember, “don’t step over a dollar to pick up a dime.” Opportunities will come and go and the right one will come to you. Just be patient and don’t let the right opportunities pass you by as they are building blocks for your future. I will teach my children what you taught us.

I love you Grandpa Haines and miss you so much!!

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