Palkos Make Friends the World Over –Cagle

A journey to Graph Expo in Chicago wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Technifold USA booth.

No, I’m not partial to binding equipment, nor do I get any particular jollies out of seeing creasing and perforating gear. But, you have to love people like Gina and Andre Palko. I’d be hard-pressed to name two friendlier, easy-going and likable folks. They make visitors to their world feel immediately at ease and welcome.

Perhaps that’s how the Palkos came to be involved with Rodrigo Castellanos. A friendly fellow with a constant smile, Castellanos is part of a family-owned binding house located in Mexico City called Offset Universal. Four years ago, Castellanos met the Palkos and purchased a Tri-Creaser for his folder...then his perfect binder...not to mention stitcher.

Castellanos kept snapping up Technifold gear and found himself being a cheerleader for the Palkos back in Mexico. So, it seemed fitting for Castellanos to become a distributor in his home country.

“I just wanted to share my happiness with their equipment,” gushed Castellanos. “I’ve been a distributor there for four months. I wanted to share their technology with Mexicans.”

Perhaps the Palkos missed their calling as restaurant or bed-and-breakfast owners, but it’s refreshing to see that hospitality applied to a distributor of machine components. Rodrigo Castellanos was certainly impressed with the people and products.

NO, THANK YOU: It’s the morning of the first full day for Graph Expo, and the cool Chicago morning is obliterated by the sickening thud of kitchen utensils striking pots and pans. Only it isn’t a Western omelet being whipped up at a local greasy spoon, but the chords of discontent being chimed by the striking housekeeping employees at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The action, echoed at Hyatts in four other cities as well, was taken in protest of the company’s alleged abuse of housekeepers and inability to outsource jobs. That point was being driven home in the most annoying fashion. Nothing like obnoxious clanging at 8:30 in the morning.

Just prior to boarding the shuttle for McCormick Place, a strike sympathizer approached me with a flyer, which I refused without comment. She seemed mildly perturbed by the refusal.

“Don’t you care?” she asked, impassively.

“No, I don’t,” I replied. “Why should I?”

The woman never broke her stony facade as she considered my question.

“I don’t know,” she finally remarked.

No, I shouldn’t care, nor should you. Relations between Hyatt and its employees were none of my business before and after the strike, and are certainly not my concern during the stoppage. So why try to drag me into it?

I’ve said this before: Labor strife is like a marital spat. It needs to be worked out between the parties involved without dragging poor, innocent bystanders into the fray. Cold as it may sound, I couldn’t care less about anyone’s labor dispute.

NO PRETTY PICTURE: Beware of coworkers bearing flash drives, and baring more than their souls.

Gordon Timmons, 45, was arrested on suspicion of third-degree felony lewdness last month for allegedly bringing nude photos of himself to work at a Layton, UT-based printing business and showing them to female employees, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. He brought in the images on a flash drive three times during a six-month period, according to the paper.

Timmons pleaded guilty to attempted forcible sex abuse back in 2000, the Tribune said. The name of the printing company was withheld to protect victims from possible retaliation. Yikes.

MA’AM SPEEDY?: OK, we won’t end on such a down note. Quickie printing specialist Sir Speedy has announced it will sponsor Leslie Porterfield, “the fastest woman in the world on a motorcycle,” for a second year. Gah...how about the “queen of speed” or something else? That tag line leaves a lot to be desired, though it may be attributed to the fact that she holds a Guinness record as the fastest woman in the world on two wheels for her 232.5 mph effort in 2008.

Even so, Porterfield recently set two records: At the mid-
August Speedweek event, she rode a Honda CBR1000 an impressive 197 mph. Later in the month, at the BUB Speed Trials, she broke the production 1000cc class FIM/AMA world record, blazing the same Honda to 200.137 mph. It was reportedly the first time a bike of this kind has achieved a record of over 200 mph.

Anyway, we’ve included an image of Porterfield, which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is preferable to Gordon Timmons’ pictures. PI

—Erik Cagle