posted 12/25/2010
Merry Christmas you miserable fat bastard, hope you choke on your plumb pudding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- former HGC stooge
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posted 9/1/2010
I try to avoid driving past, but I can't help but notice Schafer's parking lot is pretty barren in the early afternoon. Can't wait to see those ignorant inbreeds bite the dust.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- former STI dog
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posted 2/21/2010
There is another honest business owner giving his employees his company, only this guy is for real. Bob Moore, owner of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods, is giving his 200 employees the company through an ESOP. Moore is not including any of his family members in the ESOP, it is going to his employees 100%. Bob Moore is Honest, the Anti-Tom Hamblen and Moore's company does up to $50 million in sales each year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another HGC ESOP Victim
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posted 12/25/2009
Have a holly jolly Christmas, Fatman! Hope you choke on your eggnog and see visions of all the Bob Cratchits you screwed over when you die sucking for a gulp of air.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ghost of Christmas Present
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posted 12/4/2009
Speaking of Schaffer, when do you think the auction will be? That zoo can't last much longer. Ought to be able to buy cheap in this market.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- scrapman
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posted 10/8/2009
No, if you read what happened to us you will see that the only people in this whole matter that Tommy thought were buffoons were the employees to whom he gave the shaft. And of course Baby Huey Schaefer and his trained monkey who stated on more than one occasion that the entire Hamblen operation was run by buffoons. Not giving credit to the Schaefers, they seem to be running something akin to an animal house themselves.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glad to be out of the whole mess
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posted 7/1/2009
CEO Michael Evans turned over control AIT Labs to his employees yesterday through the company ESOP. I wonder what Tommy Hamblen thinks about when he reads stories like AIT Labs and WoodMizer (Laskowski Industries) who actually fulfilled their ESOP promises to their employees. My guess is Tommy thinks "What a couple of buffoons, they could have kept all that money for themselves with only a little treachery and betrayal."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victim of Tommy
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posted 5/10/2009
I celebrate the fact that I have never worked there. Doesn't sound like a holly jolly workplace to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burl Ives
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posted 4/7/2009
I celebrate being gone from that hell hole everyday. As the wise Who said so profoundly: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- fat man's misery
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posted 3/16/2009
As the three of us sit here celebrating the anniversary of our being let go by Baby Huey and his trained monkey we can't help wonder how the kiss-asses still held hostage by that talent-less management pool Tommy sold us out to are doing? We toast you with this round. Cheers! And to you Baby Huey, we say thanks, you couldn't have done us a bigger favor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- stabbed in the back by the fat man
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posted 12/2/2008
It is nice not to have to see the liar anymore. I wasn't there when it happened, but I heard through the grapevine that when Tom Hamblen was given the final payment for the property, Schaefer told him he was not welcome and to never set foot on the property again. I guess others have figured out what kind of scoundrel he is. I wonder where he is dumping his trash now?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stiman II
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posted 11/27/2008
Reflecting on this Thanksgiving Day just what a blessing it is that we don't have to see Tom Hamblen's lying face around here anymore.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stiman
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posted 8/9/2008
I think back at how elated we were at the ESOP party after the nice dinner and the big announcement that we were now "owners of the company." We walked out of the Adam's Mark that night proud and believing Tom Hamblen was a different kind of owner and a pretty wonderful guy. Now nearly ten years later, after being duped and victimized by the same Tom Hamblen, I find myself cynical of everything and everyone. Though I try to avoid it, every time I have to travel west on I70 I still get a knot in the pit of my stomach when I pass the building we once "owned" seeing that repulsive Schaffer Technologies name on it. Then I dream of the day I hear about that greedy lying Tom Hamblen getting his just comeuppance. As that delightful dream makes the knot in my stomach retreat, I imagine I will again feel elated when that good news really comes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Daydream Believer)
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posted 7/3/2008
Great comments from Short-timer J. He shows compassion for the folks that were ruined by Tom's actions, something Tom Hamblen has never done. The vast majority of people that worked for Tom know what kind of person he is and I think this website speaks the truth about him in volumes. I too know there were a lot of people that worked there that were good people, who worked hard for Hamblen Gage, and I too really feel for them. How a person entrusted with someone's hopes and dreams of a secure future and retirement nest egg could turn around and trash them is beyond me. The role of trustee was not put upon Tom Hamblen, Tom Hamblen sought and rewarded himself the role of trustee when he began his ESOP and made his glowing promises to his employees. To renege on those promises at the detriment of the people who were compelled to put their faith in him speaks volumes about the man's character, or lack of character to be more accurate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Keep Spreading The Truth)
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posted 7/3/2008
I worked for Hamblen Gage for a short time. I met so many really great people there. I am sincerely sorry for all the hardships that employees have had to deal with since being sold down the river. As I said before, there were a lot of great people that worked for Hamblen Gage. Very sad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Glad to be a Short-timer, J)
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posted 6/20/2008
I'll miss them both, they were great guys. I didn't see them listed in the paper, but I only look at the 'H' listings in the obituaries.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Another Long-timer)
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posted 6/19/2008
I was saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Levi and also of Frank Wallace who worked at Hamblen in the good old Ray Hamblen run White River Parkway days. Frank was smart and went to ATD before Tom took over, but poor Bill got screwed by both WABCO and HGC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Long-timer)
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posted 5/18/2008
So Tommy (Tom Hamblen) has to fork out a little more money to us from the crooks at MFS. It is too bad it didn't come out of his pocket and wasn't a lot more. It makes sense he would have "less than above board" people like MFS handle our 401(k) monies, only they got caught and Tommy pulled off his scam scott-free. Maybe MFS should hire Tommy the next time they want to pull-off something on the shady side? I seem to recall Tommy making excuses at one of his little meetings for MFS when it became public MFS got caught trading funds after hours. Tommy said something like "All of the mutual fund groups got caught doing this, it's no big deal." So "no big deal" turns into a little money for all of us and all of MFS's other clients, sounds like a big deal to me. It must be costing them millions, but that's "no big deal" to Tommy. Anyone else notice Tommy was too cheap to put a stamp on the return envelopes for our forms? I'll bet that saved him at least $25, now that's a big deal to Tommy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (G. ~ Will it ever end?)
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posted 4/30/2008
I didn't work at Hamblen Gage that long. I guess I was lucky to have moved on to a better job before I was eligible for the ESOP. I knew many of you who had twenty and more years with the company. It came as no surprise to me the way (Tom) Hamblen did you guys, in my few dealings with him he always came off as cheap and condescending.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (glad I got out early)
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posted 3/22/2008
Yeah, I remember the fake Elvis, what a joke. (expletive deleted) Tom should have had him sing Elvis' "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie." Now that would have been prophetic!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (wasted nineteen years and wished I never worked there)
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posted 3/21/2008
Speaking of wasting money, do you guys remember the time Tommy hired the Elvis impersonator to entertain us at the 50th anniversary party at the Speedway Motel? I would have rather been told the ESOP was a fake, just like his bad Elvis, and that he was trying to sell the place, both facts he failed to mention in his little anniversary speech.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (wasted thirty-two years)
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posted 3/16/2008
I sure wish Hamblen had spent the money for parties, golf outings, and the like on better equipment and tooling so we could have been more than a living museum. I guess it was more important for Tom Hamblen to get to act like a big shot than for us to be able to machine efficiently.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (I wish I never worked there)
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posted 2/22/2008
How prophetic it now seems; The Hamblen ESOP Kick-Off Party at the Adam's Mark. After we ate and Tom Hamblen finished his speech of half-truths and lies the Ball Room was transformed into a Monte Carlo style casino. After we gambled away our allotment of poker chips prizes were awarded to the big winners. If (expletive deleted) Tom Hamblen had been truthful with us, he would have told us how we would have been better off gambling with our futures rather than believing him and the "sure thing" we had coming by trusting him, namely, getting screwed out of everything he promised. Of course, (expletive deleted) Tom had the most chips at the end of the ESOP and got the only big prize awarded in his game of deception. The HGC ESOP was just like a gambling boat, the odds were stacked against us from the start.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (HGC Esoper & long-timer)
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posted 2/10/2008
I went to work for Hamblen Gage in 1981. One thing I remember being told by the old-timers when I hired in: "Watch out for Tom (Hamblen), he will trip over a dollar to pick up a penny." I always thought it sounded funny and really never gave much thought to it's meaning until I read how he did you guys. I'm glad I got out before the ESOP thing started or I might have been tempted to stay only to get burned along with the rest of you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (short-timer, 1981-89)
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posted 12/24/2007
Hey Tommy, when the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future visit you tonight why don't you tell them the same lame "...I had no other choice..." lie you told us. I'm sure they'll just go away realizing there is no redeeming a pathetic miserly charlatan like you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (another long time listener, first time caller)
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posted 12/21/2007
Second time caller uses the term "bunch" loosely. As I recall there couldn't have been eight people in the room, counting the liar himself. Eight people are hardly a "bunch." However, the small number is certainly a testament to the fate of us believers who were wronged, so rightly named the Victims Of Greed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (also a long time listener)
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posted 12/20/2007
He (Tom Hamblen) is a liar. He lies to himself. Do you really think, in his mind, he saw anything in that room other than a bunch of gullible people?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (long time listener, second time caller)
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posted 12/9/2007
One would have thought when Tom (Hamblen) saw how few ex-Hamblen people are still working at Schaefer, by the small number of people attending his little "I didn't do anything wrong" meeting, that he would have gotten a clue as to why people would be upset. He can try to justify his actions all he wants, but the bottom line is he lied to us all, he used us all, and his after-the-fact justification for his actions was just more of his lies. I was there, I have my copy of the HGC ESOP book full of Tom's promises, I was lied to, and what happened to us is just as this website portrays it to be. Thanks Tom, but we were not fooled again, not that it matters now. It's just too bad we didn't find out what you were before it was too late.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (S.)
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posted 11/30/2007
Tom (Hamblen) is either so callous, or believes us to be stupid enough to still believe his lies, that he claims to have no clue what he could have done to make people want to host a website telling the world what a liar and con artist he is. Fool me once..., fool me twice, my fault, ...not going to happen. Only Tom Hamblen would interpret our cordial reception as us believing what he had to say. The only reason we even went to listen to the liar was to get out of work for a few minutes. Keep it up!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (S.)
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posted 10/8/2007
Just thought you would like to know; We are currently in contract negotiations with Navistar and the catch-phrase around the bargaining table when the company tries to propose something to screw us is, "They're trying to hamblen us again."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (A.)
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posted 10/2/2007
Not nearly as sad as the people who trusted Tom Hamblen and had faith in his lies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (K.)
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posted 9/14/2007
I am sad to hear the Fate of Hamblen Gage. I had many great dealings with the company and always thought very highly of the employees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Berry, Engineering Manager - Southern Imperial, formerly with Rolls-Royce and CHI
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posted 9/7/2007
I don't know, it seems like some snakes like Tom Hamblen slither through life unscathed by the reality of what they did or how they affected other people's lives. They seem to exist in a vacuum and are able to justify their actions in their own minds. And why not, they end up with plenty of money to comfort them and they have no conscience to trouble them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (G.)
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posted 9/2/2007
Everyone gets their comeuppance as reward for their actions, and Tom Hamblen is no exception. Tom Hamblen will get what's coming to him some day. Not only for what he did to the many employees he scammed with his lies and phony ESOP promises, but for what he did to good people like Sam Hayes and Chet Parsons. I just hope the rest of us are around to see it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (J.)
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posted 9/1/2007
What Tom Hamblen did to Sam Hayes was inexcusable, what Tom Hamblen did to Chet Parsons was sub-human. Tom Hamblen fired Chet while he was on his deathbed. Ray Hamblen must really be proud of the way Tom Hamblen cast aside the men who toiled at Ray's side in the beginning, building the business to the formidable company it became before being ruined by Tom (Hamblen), the very people, whom along with his father, made Tom Hamblen a wealthy man.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (D.)
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posted 8/31/2007
PJ says Sam Hayes was mistreated by Tom Hamblen. What an understatement, Ray Hamblen thought so highly of Sam Hayes that he gave him part of the company. Tom Hamblen, after taking control of the company, with Ray out of the picture, fired Sam. Sam Hayes gave the company well over thirty of the best years of his life. Sam Hayes had more business sense and talent for the trade in his little finger than Tom Hamblen could ever muster on his best day. Sam Hayes was one of the most loyal people ever to be associated with Hamblen Gage. Firing Sam, the loyal part owner, gave Tom Hamblen a taste of authority. Lying to and selling out 50 employee-owners a few years later was Tom Hamblen's grand finale in his quest to feel significant.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (J.)
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posted 8/26/2007
Sam Hayes passed away last week. Like Chet, Sam worked at Hamblen from the mid 1950's. It is a sad that after spending over thirty years at Hamblen Gage and being one of the outstanding talents who helped build Hamblen into the great company it was before Tom Hamblen got his hands on it, that the Hayes family would rather not mention Sam's association with Hamblen Gage in his obituary because of the way he was treated by Tom Hamblen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (PJ)
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posted 8/2/2007
My uncle, Chester F. Parsons was a long time employee of Hamblen Gage. I can remember my dad (Chet’s brother) taking me by the shop several times, probably around 1958-1960, when it was on the corner of Washington Street and White River Parkway near the Chevrolet plant. I think those visits led me to take machine shop all four years at Washington High School. I can also remember meeting Ray Hamblen on one of those visits to Hamblen Gage and Chet spoke of him often. I could tell Chet thought highly of Ray and how he treated his employees. I can’t remember the exact circumstances of Chet leaving Hamblen Gage but I do remember him saying things weren’t the same toward the end. Chet has been gone now for quite some time. I’m just glad he wasn’t around to see what happened to the company.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Dick Parsons, USAF)
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posted 7/10/2007
There are many former and retired employees who feel the downfall of Hamblen Gage began when Ray (E. Ray Hamblen) passed away and Tom Hamblen was in charge with no one to oversee him. The exploitation of the employees began when Rick (Rick Hamblen, Tom Hamblen's brother who worked at Hamblen Gage) was forced to leave the business for health reasons. This subject seems to always come up when any of us get together. The consensus is that Rick was like his father in the sense that he cared about the employees and Tom would do anything for a dollar. We also talk about this website. If money is ever an issue there are quite a few of us who would gladly chip in a few bucks to see it continue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (D.)
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posted 7/1/2007
I am glad you finally included an explanation of the change in the ESOP regulations that plugged the loophole that had been exploited by a lot of cunning business owners. It is pretty obvious the change in the Internal Revenue code forced the sale of the company. It is also pretty obvious that Schaefer had Tommy over a barrel when the AIM deal went south. I will never understand why he didn't give you guys a chance to own the company, especially when he sold it for such a bargain price.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (E.)
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posted 6/5/2007
I love the new section on lying. Who is Jonathan Wallace? Obviously, an elegant writer who knows Tom Hamblen, or someone akin to him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (K.)
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posted 6/3/2007
I really believe the Hamblen Gage Benefits Committee thought they were doing the right thing. They had faith in Tom Hamblen like the rest of us. When he needed them to vote or take action in a manner favorable to him on a particular matter I am sure Tom Hamblen persuaded them that their vote with him was in the best interest of everyone. Tom Hamblen has demonstrated himself to be a clever and discreet manipulator of the benefits committee and I am sure he was able to dictate their actions in such a way that they thought they were functioning autonomously. We cannot hold the benefits committee guilty for their capitulation to Tom Hamblen's desires or for their lack of independent thinking. The benefits committee members were merely pawns in Tom Hamblen's strategy, who themselves were also victimized like the rest of us.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (S.)
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posted 5/28/2007
After reading the story of our screwing by Tom Hamblen I have a question about the Hamblen Gage Benefits Committee. If Tom Hamblen really wanted to "Give long term employees a real stake in the business through company sponsored savings programs" like he promised in the ESOP book and at the ESOP kick-off party, why didn't the so-called Benefits Committee hold him to that promise by not changing their vote per his insistence and force him to distribute company shares based on years of service? Long term employees received no more "stake in the business" than short time employees, and no one but Tom Hamblen ever had a "real stake in the business." It would seem the Benefits Committee would be able to see through Tom Hamblen's plot when he insisted on initiating the ESOP with a broken promise. I hold the Hamblen Gage Benefits Committee guilty of not doing their job when they had the chance to make the ESOP something other than a tax break for Tom Hamblen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (J.)
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posted 5/23/2007
I am glad someone remembered the garbage van lunch trip. I had the pleasure of going with the customers that day at the insistence of the vice-president. You are certainly right when you say that lunch made an impression, I know I'll never forget it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (B.)
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posted 5/16/2007
Q.E.D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum." The use of this Latin phrase, or more commonly the abbreviation for the phrase, is to indicate that something has been definitively proven. Thanks for the question.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (webmaster)
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posted 5/16/2007
"Just what does the "Q.E.D." mean at the end of the Story section?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 4/30/2007
"Bravo! I say again, Bravo! Anyone who would sell you out after the promises this guy made should be in prison. I believe Ken Lay's is available."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 4/18/2007
"Just prior to the purchase of Hamblen Gage by Schaeffer Technologies, I had some control box stands manufactured. They were very simple floor mounted stands made from 1-1/2” square steel tubing, probably 20’ of material in all. The Hamblen price was $400 per unit. Once the company had changed ownership, I contacted Schaeffer and told them I needed two more of the same stands and that I still had the original prints. The NEW Schaeffer price was $800 per unit. When I inquired about the increase, I was informed that it was because of the cost of having them painted. (The units made by Hamblen were also painted.) Don’t take anything for granted with these guys. They should all be wearing masks!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 4/15/2007
"I wouldn't be too lenient and forgiving of Tom Hamblen's "yes-man" or "second-in-command" as you call him. Remember, in addition to his hurt feelings, he walked away with a lot more ESOP money than anyone else, except Tom Hamblen, a new Chevy Avalanche truck, and who knows what else. I have always wondered how a guy with as little time with the company and lacking in managerial skills as he did could bamboozle his way into the vice-president position. I just figured he had something on Butterball. Maybe he knew all along of Tom Hamblen's real ESOP plan to screw us over like he did and the big money job and new truck were just an incentive to keep Butterball's secret."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (J.)
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posted 3/28/2007
"Your definition of Tom Hamblen should have said "Proven liar in a poor fitting food stained two-piece high water suit." I would hate to see you miss that important aspect of Tom's dress. His stained clothing always reminded me of Wimpy on the Popeye cartoons."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 3/20/2007
"Just curious if your group has considered a lawsuit? Broken promises to employees is a serious matter. There are strong case histories of circumstances very similar to yours having favorable outcomes for the victims. Just thought it is something you should think about if you have not already."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 3/18/2007
"I approve of your improved website format. Keep up the good work, stories like this need to be told. Too many small business owners abuse their employees, though your case is one of the most flagrant cases of broken promises and deception I have encountered in all my years of practice. If I can be of any assistance to your cause just let me know."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 3/6/2007
"Wow.......Hey Tom (Hamblen)! United Airlines might have a position for you. You remember.......The employee owned company that filed bankruptcy and left their employees with pennies on the dollar and a large part of them laid-off. United told us in 1994 "The sky is falling" and we must approve this ESOP or be sold off. "You will be owners....in control of your destiny!" We, the mechanics, gave up 15% of our pay for 6 years totaling around $40,000 per mechanic. I must say, it was nice for a few years, everybody got along, profits were soaring and the Fat Cats at the top got their huge bonuses! But then, July 2000, I remember it to the day. "Today marks the end of the employee contribution period and also you are losing one of your break times you had previously been getting and we need only your output and not your input". The company continued to take away one thing after another. But wait a minute! We are still owners aren't we? We were to get an "Industry Leading Contract" they promised us. That didn't happen until 2 years later when the Government stepped in to resolve the dispute. So, the company played their trump card and filed bankruptcy and got what they wanted through the courts. I had $40,000 in lost wages invested into the "EFLOP" and got $1,200 back, then I was laid-off as they closed the Indianapolis Maintenance Base. The day Bush Jr. invaded Iraq, UAL announced the "Temporary Shut Down" of the base using the "Act of War" clause in our contract that allowed the company to change or close whatever they wanted in the event of a war or natural disaster. UAL walked away from the property and laid-off most of the employees a few weeks later. Now the base has reopened under new ownership and all those United airplanes are back in for maintenance this time by mechanics making half the money they were making at UAL and far worse benefits. It seems a shame for the government to spend billions on a war that UAL used as an excuse to drive in the last nail on the company when years ago the government bailed out Chrysler just to be bought out by a German company. UAL is a liar just like you Tom, you would fit perfectly in their management."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (former ESOPER)
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posted 3/3/2007
Thank you for the suggestion. You are right, there are plenty of Tom Hamblen's promises published in the manual he distributed and read from at the ESOP kick-off party. I would not want anyone to believe that this website is based on just the lies he told to myself and a few others or give him the opportunity to claim it is just our word against his. We have revised the website with excerpts of Tom Hamblen's own published words with more to follow. It is hard for a liar to refute his own written word, especially when he handed out 100 copies of it. If anyone would like a copy of the HGC ESOP manual or the 2/6/00 Indianapolis Star just e-mail your postal address and we will be happy to send you copies of both at no charge.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (webmaster)
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posted 3/1/2007
"You hit the nail on the head! Tom Hamblen thinks we are all just a bunch of oafs. He always acted like we were idiots, and nothing has changed. It's too bad we were talented enough and smart enough to make him a wealthy man, while we, like your website documents, are just victims.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 2/22/2007
"I think you are totally missing the point. I believe Tom (Hamblen) really thinks he is clever enough to have pulled off this deal and still have everyone think he is a straight shooter. From my nearly two decades spent working at Hamblen I always had the impression that Tom thought he was dealing with idiots who would follow him like a heard of lemmings. His quoted comments about why he didn't offer to sell the company to the employees verifies this. I am convinced he really believed we were all just too stupid to figure out what he was doing. In a sense he is right, by the time I figured him out it was too late. I find it interesting that members of the so-called "benefits committee" were actually calculating their share of "our 25%" of the company he led us to believe we owned after the first sale announcement. Maybe we are idiots if even our benefits committee didn't know the truth when it was right in front of their noses. Shame on me for allowing myself to be manipulated by something that sounded too good to be true. I've been warned all my life to walk away from a scam like this. Tom used my willingness to believe his ESOP promise against me just like a good con man would. Shame on me for not walking away."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (long time listener, first time caller)
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posted 2/21/2007
"I've known Tom (Hamblen) for the better part of forty years also. I can say with all sincerity for the majority of that time I too had respect for him. Unfortunately money, or the lust of money, does strange things to people. I saw first hand what that lust did to Tom. I can't say that it changed him, because I believe people are what they are and only when their characters are tested do their true selves surface. Selling us out after the promises he made to us revealed what Tom truely is; a greedy self-serving liar who will do and say anything, regardless of how many people he hurts, to put more money in his pocket."
----------------------------------------------------------------------- (with HGC almost 40 years)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted 2/9/2007
"It would seem the worst "crippling disorder" Rick and Jerry had to live with is brother Tom."
----------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
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posted 2/4/2007
"The person that says he has known Tom Hamblen for forty-five years and respects and admires him
along with hundreds of other people must be Tom's lawyers. People like Tom would need that many."
----------------------------------------------------------------------- (internet comment)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted 1/28/2007
"I received a call from one of my customers, Eli Lilly. We had quoted some test fixturing to them. They were in the process of deciding which vendor to award the test fixture contract to. I was told that during their meeting one of their group's business managers mentioned he had heard a rumor that Hamblen Gage was being sold and asked the engineer to contact me and find out if it was true because he had been burned before by a similar situation. He was most concerned because it would be the first project Hamblen would be building for this particular Lilly group. I told him I was not aware of any sale, and frankly thought it to be quite funny. After hanging up the phone I went right in to see Tom (Hamblen) to let him know what Lilly had heard. Tom joked about it and with a straight stone face told me "There is no truth to that rumor, you should ask him if Lilly is being sold, that's the rumor I hear all the time." I left Tom's office laughing and immediately called my contact at Lilly to let him know we were not for sale. This all happened a few months before Tom announced the first sale which he told us he had been negotiating for the better part of a year. Tom Hamblen not only lied to me, he turned me into a liar, as far as my customer was concerned, when I reported back to Lilly that we were not being sold. When I think back about how cold stone calm Tom was, looking me directly in the eyes, when he lied to me face-to-face I realize Tom Hamblen's best attribute may just be his ability to lie. How Tom Hamblen's friend of forty-five years can know him to be an honest person is well beyond my understanding of what honesty is. I've always been taught that honesty meant one stood for and practiced truth and honor in their lives. I learned this from my parents. I know Tom Hamblen had the opportunity to learn to this life lesson from his parents, because I knew his father, E. Ray Hamblen, and he was an honorable and truthful man. Ray must be mortified by his reprehensible descendant, Tom."
------------------------------------------- (Mark Bernhardt, 29 years)
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posted 1/26/2007 (reply to previous comment)
I agree about the family, Ray Hamblen was, and still remains, one of my personal heroes. I think Rick and Jerry are great people and I really feel sorry for the crippling disorder they have to live with. Wilma is a fine and caring person. I have known them along with Tom for over 30 years. I still hold Rick, Jerry and Wilma in the highest respect. I respected, believed, and admired Tom Hamblen for most of that time too. However, honest people don't lie and honest people don't cheat and Tom did both directly to me, not to mention the rest of the Hamblen Gage "family." When Ray was alive and running things I, and the other employees, felt like we were in a family. Ray even referred to us as his family. Ray knew every one of our names, our family members names, and had regular conversations with each and every one of us about our families. Ray cared. Rick cared. Wilma cared. Jerry even cared and he didn't even work at Hamblen the last 35 years, but he still knew us "long-timers." Tom would walk through the shop and not even acknowledge people who said "Good morning" to him. Tom didn't know half of the people who worked for him. Tom never cared, and I, and others, used to make excuses for him for this and his other shortcomings to newer employees. He made fools out of his employees who cared for him. Tom Hamblen has a sickness when it comes to money. You, and the "hundreds" of admirers were apparently not obstacles along his greedy path.

If you know and care for Tom as well as you say, you should direct him toward psychiatric help.

And, there is no denying what Tom Hamblen promised us, a lot of it was publicly quoted in the Indianapolis Star, and what he did to us, it happened just as the web site records it. Broken promises are lies, and he lied to my face about selling out among other things. Tom Hamblen is nothing short of a liar and a cunning exploiter of hard working people. Sadly, most of his victims were, as you proclaim to be, admirers of him. But as you can see from just the posted comments, not to mention personal conversations I have had with more than thirty former Hamblen employees, that admiration has turned to revulsion, if not outright hatred, toward him. This is not a hate the boss just because he is the boss thing. To the contrary, none of us wanted to believe what he did to us, but when you wakeup one morning with your whole world upside-down with the proverbial knife in your back you will know what it feels like to be a victim. Tom is no Ray Hamblen, Ray was honest.

If lying to and exploiting the people who are loyal to and admire you is your idea of an honest person worthy of admiration then I don't know whether to pity you or just be glad I'm not in your circle of hundreds of friends. In closing, all I can say is: Around Tom Hamblen, watch your back.
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posted 1/26/2007
"I have known the Hamblen Family for forty-five years. Tom Hamblen is respected and admired by me and hundred's of other people who know him. I speak out not to defend him but to KNOW him as the honest person he has always been."
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posted 1/26/2007
"I can't see where the Schaefer organization is any better. They take all the areas of a project that an employee can learn and grow from and put that responsibility on the foreman. Schaefer wants handle crankers, parts changers, and button pushers. They have no interest in training an employee to the extent that they gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to go out and get another job and improve their lives. Tom Hamblen certainly sold you guys out to the right people. I am surprised you noticed any difference."
---------------------------------------------------------------------- (sign me "STI Handle Cranker")
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posted 1/23/2007
"I'll tell you the essence of Hamblen Gage Corp. during the Tom Hamblen era: There was an employee suggestion box on the wall next to the time clock. It had a lock that no one knew the combination to."
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posted 1/21/2007
"I know that scum-sucking Tom Hamblen enjoyed firing people... I was in desperate need of a new, or at least better, car. I told Williamson (Morris Williamson, former foreman at Hamblen) my situation and asked him if lay-offs were being discussed so I could decide whether to buy a new car, used car, or just keep fixing mine. He told me, "buy two new cars, you're fine, you have nothing to worry about," so my wife and I bought a new economy car a few days later. Tom Hamblen had him let me go the following Wednesday. I know he loved it."
----------------------------------------------------------------------- (just call me Fred)
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posted 1/19/2007
"Talk about fraud, I can see why Hamblen would be a leader of the INTMA, (Indianapolis Chapter of the National Tooling & Machining Association). It is nothing more than a shop owner's union. I was a foreman of an INTMA member shop. I couldn't hire anyone who came from another member shop until the boss made a call to the owner of the shop where the applicant came from. And when our owner found out that one of my guys was out looking for a job that was the beginning of end for him at our company. They use INTMA meetings to set the wage scale to help make sure employees stay put and I'm sure to guard their profits. INTMA Promote the trade? No, the only thing the INTMA promotes is the member shop owners attempt to control labor movement and wages."
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posted 1/16/2007
"Tom Hamblen is such a fraud. He loved the attention of being the 'savior of the trade' as in the newspaper article that featured him talking about the lack of skilled help and what he was doing to bring people into the trade. He was even a big-shot in the Indiana Chapter of the NTMA, the national association that promotes the trade. But as you would expect from the tightfisted reprobate, when the government wage subsidies ran out for the apprentices, he got rid of all of them. Contrary to his talk, he could care less about the status of the tool and die profession, he was only interested in using subsidized labor to line his pockets. As long as Uncle Sam was handing out money Tom Hamblen was eager to do what was required to get some of it. As soon as Uncle Sam tightened the purse strings Tom cut the apprentice program. But this is all endemic, just one more example of Tom Hamblen's cunning, self-enriching activities. I too believe he got an ego boost when he fired people."
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posted 1/15/2007
"I read this website with interest also. I really believe pompous and greedy shop owners like Tom Hamblen, his yes-man George Herrington, Steve Schaefer, and his trained monkey Mike Rizzi do get some kind of sick delight in firing employees. I really believe it gives them a false feeling of power to make up for them getting no respect from the Indianapolis business community. Because, after all, they are just glorified alley shop owners, who, more times than not, cannot run as efficiently or make a profit like an alley shop. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that these people are not capable of succeeding on their own. They adapt their self-important attitudes as a mechanism to let them believe, if only in their own minds, that they could make it on their own if they didn't inherit their father's businesses. We all know that just isn't the case, for all their "experienced" talk, conversations that most of the time revealed their ignorance of the general trade, they could not machine their way out of a paper bag. Now a feed bag, well that's another story altogether."
------------------------------------------------------------- (employee of both Hamblen & Schaefer)
editor's note: The "Schaefer" referred to in this comment is Schaefer Technologies, the buyer of Hamblen Gage.
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posted 12/21/2006
"I read this website with interest. It brought a few things to mind from my working days at Hamblen Gage; 1.) I was on vacation the last three weeks of the year. When I picked up my last vacation check Tom Hamblen rewarded me by laying-off my wife, who also worked there. Then he told me I had to take my next year's vacation the first three weeks of January but he couldn't pay me until I got back. 2.) He made the comment to me that anyone who didn't have a college degree wasn't worth any more than minimum wage. 3.) And I remember what Tom Hamblen did to Chet Parsons, a toolmaker who had been with the company since the mid 1950's. Chet was a pioneer who helped build the company while Tom Hamblen was in diapers. Tom Hamblen fired Chet while Chet was sick in the hospital. Tom Hamblen then had the gall to say firing Chet was for his own good. Chet and his family didn't think it was so good. I believe Chet died within a month or so after being fired from his job of well over 30 years. I am so glad I got out of there when I did. I feel sorry for those who didn't leave and ended up getting shafted by Tom Hamblen."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Matt B., former employee)
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posted 12/09/2006
"I looked at the booklet too. What I thought to be interesting is that the Trustee and the ESOP Benefits Committee were fiduciaries of the plan meaning they had a legal responsibility to be loyal to and act in the best interest of all of the plan participants. Since they only did "what Tom wanted" they should be held accountable for their lack of fair dealing and their betrayal of the rest of the plan participants."
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posted 12/07/2006
"I re-read the booklet the company passed out at the ESOP kick-off party. One of the last pages states: "We will probably lose a few employees because they want their ESOP money for things other than retirement. They are more interested in immediate cash than long term growth. They are willing to leave the company to get it. Hamblen Gage must accept this reality and move on." How ironic that it seems to nail Tom Hamblen's retirement plan on the head. Too bad he hurt so many of us in the process. Too bad we all believed in him."
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posted 12/05/2006
"Check this out: Thomas R. Hamblen, Hamblen Gage Corp., 9801 Westfield Blvd., Indianapolis, IN on 4/26/2005, contributed $250.00 to "Friends Of Dick Lugar Inc." The interesting thing is the date. The first thing that stands out is it was almost five months after he sold the company. The red flag is that it was right in the middle of the I.R.S. investigation into the Hamblen Gage ESOP. Another peculiar thing is he listed the company as a "Horse Boarding Farm." That explains why he never had a clue as to what was going on at the company. He was looking for stalls to muck, we were building machinery and gages. Check it out for yourself. This is an excerpt from the actual list which was only posted on the internet as long as it had to be.
Click this link: Federal Election Commission, Sch. A - Friends Of Dick Lugar Inc. (partial list)"
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posted 12/04/2006
"My ESOP pay-off was deposited into my retirement account today. $11,164.23 for twenty-nine years of service. I stayed because I thought I was a part owner. I believed Tom Hamblen's lies. Now I'm out of work with no insurance and too old to get a similar job. I should have taken one of the jobs I turned down over the years. I stayed because I believed the promise. We all should have quit when he told us he was selling the company the first time. I blame myself for staying and putting any faith in a lying swindler like Tom Hamblen. Four weeks severance & $11 grand for 29 years of my life, and just think, I was one of the lucky ones."
---------------------------------------------- (Mark Bernhardt, 29 years)
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posted 11/23/2006
"Tom Hamblen wouldn't make a pimple on his dad's ass when it comes to running a business or dealing with people. I believe E. Ray Hamblen is turning in his grave over the way he did his employees and the way he ruined a once great name in the machine shop industry. Ray was a great and generous man. I am confident that will never be said about his son."
---------------------------------------------- ("retired" employee, 40+ years)
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posted 11/23/2006
"I worked at a lighting center on the north side. Tom Hamblen came in to buy a chandelier. After negotiating and haggling with me over the price he purchased it. It was a demo model which I had to get down. I was taking the light bulbs out of it to package it for him when he asked "what are you doing?" I said I was taking the bulbs out because it was a demo model. He told me to "leave them in," he had purchased it "just as it is, and that means with the bulbs." As cheap as this guy is I can't believe he is using electricity."
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posted 11/20/2006
"Just before the takeover, my customer had left a large quantity of aluminum test parts at Hamblen. After we had tested and shipped the machine I phoned the customer and asked him what he wanted me to do with the test parts. He said, "Scrap them and use the money to buy pizza and doughnuts for the guys in the shop, they deserve some reward for their terrific efforts on my machine." But Tom Hamblen is such a tightwad, he took the money, and would not let me buy pizza for the guys. I think Tom Hamblen must have some kind of money sickness. Come on, a couple hundred dollars of the customer's scrap money to buy pizza for the guys in the shop, I mean, just how selfish and greedy can a person get?"
------------------------------------------- (ex-project manager, 29 years)
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posted 11/19/2006
"Tom Hamblen drained everything he could from the company through the ESOP, just like his lawyers advertise. The only problem is he did it at the expense of good people, people who believed in him and trusted him. He lied to us about one day owning the company, he lied about the sale, and he stole every asset that was not nailed down before he completed his personal "exit strategy." Tommy's plan all along was to sell out his employees to the first bidder who would buy what was left of the company. Sadly, the only real value left of Hamblen Gage when it was sold were the buildings and land, because he just could not find a way to steal them too."
-------------------------------------- (ex-employee, 17 years)

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