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CNN Live Sunday

Owner Surprise Employees with Huge Bonus

Aired December 21, 2003 - 10:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SEAN CALLEBS, ANCHOR: A Scrooge he is not. The owner of an Iowa seed corn company is giving his workers the biggest Christmas bonuses ever. They each get $1,000 for every year they've worked at the company.
Reporter Cynthia Fodor with Des Moines affiliate KCCI has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Employees just were flabbergasted.

KELLY MUIR, SEVEN-YEAR EMPLOYEE: Disbelief.

FIDEL GARCIA, EIGHT-YEAR EMPLOYEE: Happiness. It's been exciting.

CYNTHIA FODOR, KCCI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Stine Seed Company, workers are still making copies, sorting seeds and shelling corn by hand, but there's a special Christmas season in the air since a holiday dinner when owner Harry Stine surprised them.

HARRY STINE, STINE SEED CO. OWNER: I told them we were giving them a special one-time bonus.

FODOR: Not just any bonus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, well, for every year, full year, you worked here, we're giving $1,000.

FODOR: Fred Ebe (ph) figures he started in 1973.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can just see the math going on the minute it was announced.

FODOR: Yes, for him that's a $30,000 bonus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just thought it would be nice since the company had a good year, to spread it around.

STINE: Our people work harder than typical employees and they have a better attitude, a can-do attitude, and I appreciate that. So -- we like to share with them when thing goes well.

GARCIA: We work hard and we try to do the best we can, and when this happens, you try to get better.

MUIR: A few people really needed it. It may be a tough time. Christmas is going to be a little better.

JIM WALSTROM, 19-YEAR EMPLOYEE: It is a gift of uncommon kindness in a tough old world.

FODOR: So, 200 employees who have shown dedication to their jobs for years, some decades, have learned hard work does pay off, with the reward of a once in a lifetime Christmas present they will never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Wow! That was from our affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, and I hope our supervisors, bosses, here at CNN are watching that story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 21, 2003 - 10:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, ANCHOR: A Scrooge he is not. The owner of an Iowa seed corn company is giving his workers the biggest Christmas bonuses ever. They each get $1,000 for every year they've worked at the company.
Reporter Cynthia Fodor with Des Moines affiliate KCCI has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Employees just were flabbergasted.

KELLY MUIR, SEVEN-YEAR EMPLOYEE: Disbelief.

FIDEL GARCIA, EIGHT-YEAR EMPLOYEE: Happiness. It's been exciting.

CYNTHIA FODOR, KCCI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Stine Seed Company, workers are still making copies, sorting seeds and shelling corn by hand, but there's a special Christmas season in the air since a holiday dinner when owner Harry Stine surprised them.

HARRY STINE, STINE SEED CO. OWNER: I told them we were giving them a special one-time bonus.

FODOR: Not just any bonus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, well, for every year, full year, you worked here, we're giving $1,000.

FODOR: Fred Ebe (ph) figures he started in 1973.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can just see the math going on the minute it was announced.

FODOR: Yes, for him that's a $30,000 bonus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just thought it would be nice since the company had a good year, to spread it around.

STINE: Our people work harder than typical employees and they have a better attitude, a can-do attitude, and I appreciate that. So -- we like to share with them when thing goes well.

GARCIA: We work hard and we try to do the best we can, and when this happens, you try to get better.

MUIR: A few people really needed it. It may be a tough time. Christmas is going to be a little better.

JIM WALSTROM, 19-YEAR EMPLOYEE: It is a gift of uncommon kindness in a tough old world.

FODOR: So, 200 employees who have shown dedication to their jobs for years, some decades, have learned hard work does pay off, with the reward of a once in a lifetime Christmas present they will never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Wow! That was from our affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, and I hope our supervisors, bosses, here at CNN are watching that story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com