A Chat with John Economaki, Founder and President, Bridge City Tool Works

I was on a bicycle trip at the time, and I said to my buddy, "This is going to kill my company. It's an absolute death sentence." I got back from the bike trip on Sept. 14, and the girls in the call center said they hadn't gotten a call for two days. I said, "Nothing?" We had never had a zero-sales day in the history of the business. I mean, we had had low days, don't get me wrong, but never a zero day. And we had six in a row. I actually called the phone company and had them check my 800 lines to make sure they were working. It was just bizarre. I knew it was going to be a problem.