Associated Services is celebrating the retirement of our East Bay Account Manager, Cass Pierceall. Cass started with Associated in 1975! – A record that may never be broken. In those 43 years, Cass has seen it all and has done practically every single job. He began as a route driver, he’s worked in operations management and has done work in each one of our 5 offices.
Tom Steuber, Associated’s president, has a fond memory to share: Back in the 70’s, one Friday afternoon Hal Steuber (Associated’s founder) and Cass were talking about their weekend plans. Cass said that he had been saving up his money and was going to buy a car. Hal told Cass that he shouldn’t buy a new car because the next year it won’t be worth as much. Instead he said he should keep saving his money and buy a house. When Cass came back into the office after the weekend, Hal asks him “Hey, so did you get the car?” Cass says, “No, I bought a house.”
We asked Cass a couple of questions to get his perspective on things over the years. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: After all the years in the office coffee industry, what are a couple of things that have changed the most?
A: There is now an incredible variety of coffee choices. Back when Associated first began, all offerings including coffee all fit on a single page. That’s surely not how it is anymore!
Q: What is something that hasn’t changed?
A: Everyone always loves their coffee, and people love when you come to visit them. You get to talk to people from all walks of life.
Our Sales Manager, Geoffrey Saunders, says he’s learned a lot from Cass over the years. He’s always reminded of a great piece of advice which is to treat everyone well because you never know who is going to be your boss.
Cass’s wife, Katie Pierceall, showed her immense appreciation for Cass and Associated through a wonderful speech given at his farewell party. We would love to share with you some of those heart-felt words.
I am proud of Cass for all of his hard work and dedication over the years. I’m proud that he’s set such a wonderful example for our children, friends and family on what it is to be a good man. A man who is dedicated to his job, his career, his family. I’m very happy that now he can spend more time with his family, his children and grandchildren. Hal, Diane and Tom, I have tremendous gratitude for you. You’ve built an amazing business and a place where people like Cass are happy to work. And that’s really rare.
Thank you for all of the company parties. They have been fun and different every year. For helping our children’s schools with your annual scholarship. For helping connect our daughter to an association who gifted her with a very generous college scholarship. Best of all you created a wonderful place to work. Because of the culture at Associated, I had the pleasure of a happy husband for the past 24 years. He’s never complained about Associated, not in the 24 years. Maybe in the past couple years, there have been some complaints, but it wasn’t with Associated – it was with traffic – (I’m sure we can all relate).
We’re genuinely happy and proud to work with Associated and working in the coffee business – which is very cool industry where even I have seen it change. Cass loved making customers happy and always had the utmost respect for the Steuber family. Thank you, Hal, Tom, Diane and Virginia. We’re looking forward to the next chapter.
Thank you, Cass Pierceall, for being a part of Associated Services; you will always be a part of the Associated family. We wish you a happy retirement.
Finding good employees is a challenging task for any company, and retaining them can be just as hard. Companies that promote employee happiness and make sure that their employees feel valued are providing a superior workplace environment that minimizes turnover and encourages long-term employment. Check out our blog post and see why we find that long-term employees are so valuable.
Cass Pierecall was one of the two recipients for our Sales Person of the Year award in 2018. Check out the announcement here!
