It's a Friday afternoon at 1:30 pm. Paychecks are to be written.

Almost everyone will show up around 5:00 pm, even the drivers who are not working that day.

Roberta Smith (a.k.a. Bobbie), the mother, mother-in-law, wife, stockholder, and bookkeeper, of Smith Brothers Electronics, couldn't believe it.

Had she forgotten to order the envelopes? Did they get misplaced? Neither seemed likely. But she didn't know what happened to them.

"Oh well," she thought. "I'll just get Dorothy to come in and help me. We can use some regular envelopes and address them by hand."

It would take all afternoon with the long list of names, but she had no other choice.

Dot is always willing to pitch in. Plus it's Friday, and Dot doesn't have children to worry about at home, so she won't mind helping out.

Bobbie thought Dot could address the pay envelopes for the drivers, the people in the warehouse and the vendors, while Bobbie handled the office staff plus her husband, Joe, herself, and her sons Ken, Billy, Ron and Tom.

How could something as simple as this cause an explosion that almost leveled the company?

It's as if there was an invisible cloud of gas that had been covering the place. What happened that afternoon finally caused a blow-up.

Let's rewind for some history on the company and family.

As is typical of many entrepreneurs starting out by leaving or losing a job in their chosen industry, Joe started Smith Brothers Electronics 35 years ago when he was let go from a Fortune 500 electronics company.

Tom is their oldest son. He took metal shop in high school and didn't attend college. His title is Dispatcher - and he's a buddy of all the drivers. He looks and acts a lot like his dad, and he's a nice guy. His wife Peggy is a nurse, and they have two elementary-aged daughters.

Billy is next in line according to age. He attended the local community college. He is exceptionally smart, but was needed in the family business since it was growing, so it was "all hands on deck." He never really was able to realize his potential educationally, though he still takes classes when he can. He received his degree along with important required industry certifications for the company to do business. Billy is well respected among his professional peers.

Bill is the proverbial "inside guy" and "detail person." He manages all processes in the warehouses, which is a very complex task. His wife, Eunice (who is also Dot's cousin), teaches kindergarten, and they have two pre-teens.

Ron is the middle child. We'll come back to him later in the story.

Kenny is Dot's husband. He is a hard-charging guy. He graduated from the state university where he played big-time football. He always has a joke for you and a smile on his face. His title is VP of Sales and Marketing and he is a salesperson through and through. He and Dot have only been working there 18 months. They have no children and are making a great living from the business because it is doing well.

Kenny, unlike the others, has no stock in the company. Who knows how it's going to work out? He and everyone else expected him to be in the NFL by now, and that just didn't work out. When he came back to the company in this Sales and Marketing position, it was on a "let's see how it goes basis." If it doesn't work out, he'll simply move on.

Tom and Bill are dedicated for the long-haul. The business has grown to be 10 times larger than when they started. However, neither of them feels they could run the place if their dad wasn't around.

Boiling Point Continued