Gary's Gone

We gave him a good send off with a "party" of brought in treats, a card, some cash, and a picture of us all  (that were available). 

Notice the glass is reflecting me taking the picture and the breakroom in the background.

He is a very appreciative guy.   And I will have to add, as tough as he was when he felt toughness was needed, he was also the most compassionate, caring manager we've ever had.    He was determined to keep an upbeat, positive attitude through all the demands that were made on us.   


When he came, he had never been a store manager and the store he came from was such a high volume store (which did probably twice -- or more-- of the business we do) that he was kept busy just keeping things on the shelves in the seasonal department.  When he came to Alabama, he had a lot of adjustments to make.   His former District Manager had been very supportive and helpful.  He had not been introduced (no doubt because there just wasn't time and opportunity) to the various functions that are added to the job when being promoted from co-manager to manager.   


Here he was put under very good tutelage.   The co-manager we had was very efficient and had worked under the constraints we had for a long period of time.   She knew what was expected and how to implement the demands.   He was very co-operative to just do things the way she suggested and helped get them done.   And, as I've said before, when people needed to go or someone needed to be reprimanded (as an ex-Marine sargeant), he didn't mind doing that either.    


In the past few months, the pressure has been lessened on us and we were able to experience the (much) nicer side of him.   We found out what he was like when he wasn't continually under pressure to make improvements in every direction.   He's a really nice person and we are going to miss him.   


Our hopes were that the co-manager would get his position, but that didn't happen.   The manager of the store she came from will be our new manager.   She is used to working under that person, so it will not be an adjustment for her.   The rest of us will just have to learn whatever we need to learn and do whatever we need to do.  We really don't have any idea yet what is in store for us.