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Discount applies to first month only. Other terms apply. See Studio for details. And we continue with our American stories and with a story about a unique company culture. Tom Galisano is the founder of Paychecks, which helps 680,000 businesses manage their payroll, HR, and benefits.
And it's also a place that enjoys a good prank every now and then. By the way, we've done a bunch of stories on pranksters and epic pranks. Here's Tom on a few of their pranks, starting with one from his late best friend. Gene Policini. I got two little kids at home.
It's a Saturday morning, the phone rings. And it was just when people were starting to use tape recorders. I pick up the phone, there's this guy on the bottom of the end recording. This is the Monroe County Water Authority. We're shutting off your water for 48 hours.
So make other preparations. What? They can't do that. I call out the water authority. This is Saturday.
Nobody's working today. You know, I get a recording. What the hell do you do?
So Gloria, find every pan you can in the house and fill it with water. We did that. About two hours later, Gene comes over. He comes in the house and he looks around, he sees all these pans full of water and I can see his lip, you know how your lip curls and you're trying not to laugh. I said, you son of a.
It was him. He could disguise his voice. Mm.
So one day, Gene's working at Paychex. He was a senior VP, very important job. And uh We're building in addition to our building. And there's this huge crane. And the ground.
And I know the contractor, he's a good friend of mine.
So I said, Wayne, what's that all about? He says, Well, we're going to start moving steel in next week. And that's what we put the steel in place with that crane.
So can you build a little Platform for a car. He says, I got a friend, it's Gene. He drives a Mercedes Roadster in the wintertime.
Now, nobody drives a Roadster in the wintertime in Rochester, New York. You gotta be a little nuts. He says, Yeah, I could do it. He doesn't. I get a second set of keys from his wife.
We sent Gene out to lunch with some other guys. When he comes back, his car is hanging five stories up in the air, swinging in the wind. Hey. Jean, you're the employee of the month. Yeah.
To show you the attitude of this guy, though, he gets out of the car, he looks up, he sees his car up there. I'm thinking it could be a $75,000 joke if it falls off that platform. And he says, I wish I thought of that, because he would have done it to me. But that's what our life is like. I used to have this thing with the training department.
Yeah. We had quite a training program. We brought all new employees. That was you know, like three, four thousand a year to Rochester for one week to four weeks of training depending on the job. We believed it was very important because once, when you're a branch network like we are.
Yeah. People never get a feel for what the company's like. They only see their local branch.
So we like to have bringing people in so they... get to meet some of the officers and see the general atmosphere. It gives us a chance to brag a little bit about the company and so forth.
Okay.
Well, I used to have this thing with the training department. I used to like to play jokes on them, and they liked to play them on me.
So one day I was running for governor, and My secretary. was transferring to Arizona because of her husband's new job.
So I said, we've got to find a new secretary. I said, interview several people, get it down to two, and I'll interview them on Friday. when I come back to Rochester. Exactly. I come into Rochester on Friday.
They send this woman in for the interview.
Now she's got obviously bleached blonde hair. She's got her hand wrapped up in a little bit of a sling. short skirt, I mean really short skirt, tight open-up blouse.
So I started talking to her about her skill set. And she doesn't have any.
So so I you know, I'm saying to myself, What's happened to our standards here?
So I. Yeah. sitting there thinking and all of a sudden the coup d'etat, she lights up a cigarette. Yeah. Yeah, we're no smoking building.
Peace. She lights up a cigarette. I looked at it. I said, Ma'am, would you please put that out and leave?
So she gets up and she leaves, like very normally. I look out and there's half the training department standing outside my window. They're laughing. They're ass. And they recorded the thing.
They had a microphone in a plant next to my desk.
So Okay. And I walked by the training department and there is a classroom with middle managers. And they're there for a one-week management training course. And I'd look at them, they look bored as hell.
So I just happened to go out that night. I go to a bar in the local pub, and I ran into maybe 10 of them. And, you know, so I had a great conversation with him. We had a lot of fun. I didn't talk much about the class.
But I did grab one of them. I said, Do you want to have some fun tomorrow? He said, Sure. I said, Okay, you just follow my lead. I want you to ask me about local income taxes, and I want you to be not happy with my answers.
This is okay.
So Wait. We normally have a lunch and then we do Q ⁇ A.
So now we're doing the Q ⁇ A. And he asked the question: he says, Tom, we're not very happy in the state of Ohio with how we process local income taxes. What's being done about it?
So I gave sort of a pad answer: well, software is working on the development of it, it's going to be some time, gotta be by. He said, Oh. Uh Uh A couple of people ask questions. He comes back again and he asks the same question. He says, I wasn't happy with your answer.
Could you expound on it?
So the two managers of the manager training course, the teachers are. See, I was getting peeved.
So was he.
So I noticed he put his hand on one of his legs, settled down. And she gave one of the guys the take-it-easy look, the guy that was making this comments.
So anyway, I gave a safe answer, and he got even. you know, a little peeved himself. Sure enough, we waited a few more questions. He came back with the same question. I'm not happy with your answer, Mr.
Galasano. Mm-hmm.
So I look at him, I said, you know. If you're not happy with the answer, the door's right there. Why don't you use it?
Okay, picked up and he walked. The heads of the training department know, plus the rest of the trainees see this. They know the whole company's gonna know about it in 15 minutes. Yeah. So I left.
I didn't say a word, I just sat there. About 10 minutes went by. He comes back in the room and he's up. We're all laughing now, and they'll, oh, did we get him good? Marty Mussie Yeah, he wasn't CEO at the time, but he was head of all branch operations.
And we had a little thing on the fourth floor, the executive floor of our building. Where when it was somebody's birthday on their first birthday, we'd have cake and ice cream and Yeah, one of those somebody got one of these little Halloween hats with a you know the triangle and it looks with the little rubber dam underneath And you're supposed to wear it if it's your first birthday at the corporate office.
So we're all in the corporate office. Marty comes in, and I think it was Gene says, Marty, put on the hat. And Marty said, I'm not putting that hat on.
Somebody else chimed in, but you gotta put the hat on. I didn't say a word. He didn't put the head up. Finally. He says, oh, all right, he does this and he does that.
There, I took out I put on a hat, you know, and he's really irritated. He's a little irritated too. I didn't say a word. Well, within a couple of weeks we had a officers meeting, which was a monthly thing. And We had a rule.
One person talks at a time, all the time. That was the number one rule, one person at a time, so everybody gets heard.
So I made sure Marty was the last one to come in the room. I think I He had a secretary tell him something or something.
So he comes in the room. He sits down. And I bring up a topic. I said, I want to talk about a topic that's been bothering me. I want to talk about the color of our payroll checks.
Ah! Marty looks at me. What the hell are you talking about? You know, we're doing millions of checks. They've all been great, the same color.
Why is he even.
So I made a small presentation on it. And Marty says, Tom, he says, I don't see what he starts talking. And everybody starts talking to their neighbor and ignores them. Yeah. So he kind of looked around the room.
I went back to the conversation. He came in again. said something, nobody paid attention to. And I can tell he's getting a little unnerved. The third time was the coup d'état.
What the f ⁇ is going on in here? Hooray!
So we settled down, and I said, Marty.
Next time wear the goddamn hat. And then he knew. And you've been listening to Tom Galasano. And by the way, corporate cultures.
Well, they drive In the end, employee satisfaction and output. And if you're not having some fun at work, What are you doing? And this is a message to every boss in America. Have some fun. It's allowed, it's permitted.
And Tom Galasano is saying it's required! It's required. And by the way, you can learn so much more from this great American voice by picking up Tom's book, Built, Not Born, A Self-Made Billionaire's No Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs. And that includes a little nonsense. Pick it up at your local bookstore.
Tom Galasano's story here on Our American Story. This is Julie Nettleman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. Sunday mornings, I've got my game day ritual. Coffee. Lucky socks.
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