In his book, First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty, author Bill Minutaglio tells a story of current Presidential contender George W. Bush's encounter with his father, George Bush. The elder Bush wanted his college-aged son to get a taste for the same type of ground-level work in the oil kingdom that he had been exposed to in the 40s. Every summer, Circle Drilling would hire a crew of college boys, and George W. was committed to work from June through August.

With aspirations of being a stockbroker or a Wall Street mogul like other prosperous family members, George W. walked off the barge seven days before his commitment was scheduled to end and never returned. Word was relayed to his father, and when the younger Bush returned to Houston, he was summoned to his father's office in the Houston Club building downtown.

Minutaglio relates:

The successful oilman stared at his son, the prodigal roustabout.... He showed his disappointment; he made George W. feel guilty. "You agreed to work a certain amount of time, and you didn't." George W. heard his father intone, "I just want you to know that you have disappointed me."

The first son fled the office. He had failed his father in some way. His mother was always more precise, more operatic: "I would scream and carry on. The way George scolded was by silence or by saying, 'I'm disappointed in you.' And they would almost faint."

Two hours later George W.'s phone rang. It was his father. Enough time had passed. He wanted to know if George W. wanted to catch a Houston Astros game. But George W.'s father's disappointment that day in the Houston Club was something he remembered for years. "Those were the sternest words to me, even though he said them in a very calm way."

George W. later told a close friend. "He wasn't screaming and he wasn't angry, but he was disappointed. When you love a person and he loves you, those are the harshest words someone can utter."