Yargus Mfg offered everything from sales to design, install, tech support, and service all under one roof. A person could easily wear a lot of hats there, and learn a lot about business. while he was on staff there, Larry Yargus was and still is a force to be noticed. He held his hand out to his employees and the community. He never let a person give up, and is one of the great mentors of my life. There will always be an arguement for comunity support vs better pay. None the less when I raised my kids supper made it to the table every day, and if it was questionable and you told him, he did something about it. Larry passed these ethics on to his daughters who are still at Yargus, and its probably all that is left that is good there. The transition from private company to corporate was rough, for those old timers still there (pre 2003), I salute you. For the younger people that are afraid to get caught making a mistake, that cover it up like a cat slinging cat litter. There time will come.

The biggest ethical mistake I made was having a false sense of job security. I thought several people were my friends and I didnt realize how cut throat the office there was. My mouth ran when it shouldnt have, no secret there to anyone that knew me. My biggest mechanical mistake was a design for a gate that was air operated, and was actuated through steel cables. The cable fasteners were not good enough, they slipped, causing a loss in tension and an increased travel of the air cylinder. They were replaced over time.

For a young person Yargus is full of opportunity. They will put you in a position to learn or fail in public. Be cautious, they dont provide regular reviews, or raises. Many departments are controlled by an over zellous desire to be the funniest loudest guy in the room. Work ethics give way to social activities, and its tough to keep track. A person learns on there own to be work conscience, or make excuses, typically easy to do because of lack of information.

At Yargus, a witch hunt was commonplace. Sad but true. There was never enough time to complete a project, customers are always disappointed and most new installs are still regular visits a year or two later. Finding out what happened was usually a salesperson passing blame, to a project manager who was typically passing the blame also, to an engineer that never had enough time, and had no voice to stand up for himself. My most stressful day was in south africa after a programing error shut a system down for several hours. the client screamed at me and cursed the company for hours. It was a tough job to finish, and a really long flight home. after leaving Yargus I didnt need blood pressure medicine anymore.

i felt appreciated at yargus mfg until 2004. after that a slow removal of benefits occured. first i lost the 250 dollar a week out of country bonus. Raises only happened every 3 or 4 years. then a few years later, we lost our christmas bonus. i really understood lack of appreciation when i was let go for lying on my time card, but i was salary and didnt fill one out. worse yet, i was stuck with a 2 year no compete clause, and no severance pay. They even tried to deny me unemployment. Fortunately the agent for the state saw through the story they told, and I received the benefits. I think the best story though was when i was told to lie on a customs form entering canada and was deported.