Last night I found out that one of my favorite people in the world passed away on my birthday earlier this year. This is one of those people that made a difference in my life. A store manager I worked for at Eckerd. It is funny how I worked at one store for a long time had 4 different managers. But once I became a Service Assistant which was a key carrying cashier that could open and close the store. I moved around to many different stores in the area and learned to work with all kinds of different people. As a rule it always seemed like I was in a particular store between 8 months and a couple years and by then usually ready to move on. I can name the stores I worked by location by store numbers by store managers. I can tell stories about customers and employees at each one. I can tell you lessons I learned at each place.
Store #7 on Missouri and Rosery. I already knew when I got there that a store is a family. One more dysfunctional than the next. At this store I was about 25 years old. The man that was the manager there a silver haired soft spoken man named Andy. He was one of those people that you rarely saw get mad and things seemed to roll off of him. He ran a neat and organized store. I think he had been in the Navy when he was younger. His wife Comfy always stopping by dropping off lunch for someone. I can remember Andy calling me one late afternoon. "Jeanne, I left my sandwich in the refrigerator. Please eat it." These were little things. Who knows I might not have had any money and he intentionally left it or it could have just been an accident but he really never made the people that worked for him feel poorly about themselves and he certainly wouldn't have let one of them go without anything they needed.
I learned working with him that sometimes there are people in the world you have to help them improve themselves without making them feel like there was anything wrong with them. We had quite a few young people that worked in the afternoon and weekends. They were all like his children. There was one that would call out because he didn't have a ride to work. So, instead of leaving him to sit home. Andy or Comfy would go pick him up and bring him to work. Not having a ride wasn't going to get you out of work. It also saved me from being short handed. I would take that same kid home at night after work. I got to where if Andy wasn't there I to would go pick him up. We had a young girl that worked there. She was in her late teens. I remember when she came in and told me she was pregnant. Again, just like my own child I would feed her and make sure she had whatever she needed. There was a young man that worked in the pharmacy and he had long hair and at that time Eckerd was a fairly conservative company to work for. Guys with long hair weren't easily accepted by upper management. But instead of telling the kid to cut his hair, when we had store visits. Andy would send him on lunch or send him to Publix. I can remember going outside and finding him sitting on the bench in the shopping plaza and letting him know all clear. He could come back to work. An earring or long hair didn't make you a bad person or a bad employee. Just made you different.
Andy and Comfy welcomed their dysfunctional family into their own. I took their daughter and son's wedding pictures. I know some of the young people that worked at the store lived in their upstairs apartment. This was a family I wanted to be a part of. When I was at this store was the time when I had first started seeing Brian and five years later, Andy and Comfy were at our wedding.
I was thinking today that it was about 27 years ago when I worked for him. I realized that he was probably about my age when now when I worked for him. His silver hair made him seem older but I would guess in his 50s at that time. Amazing how time changes my perspective. Back then I was the young Assistant trying to learn my way and he seemed to be the Jedi Master with all the answers. He always made me feel like whatever was wrong could be fixed. Maybe it was a jack of all trades kind of thing. Whatever you needed he seemed to have the answer or a solution and if he didn't well his sure footed wife Comfy certainly did.
Now all these years later still a part of my Eckerd Family but a regular part of my life. A sure thing that the first Christmas card received each and every year is going to be from Andy and Comfy including family pictures. We had a Eckerd get together at my house maybe five or so years ago. I remember it being so important to me that Andy and Comfy were able to come. I always felt like if I needed something really if I needed anything and I called this wonderful couple they would be able to help me. I don't know that I learned to be selfless from them but I most definitely honed my skills of selflessness and giving while working for him.
I knew he had cancer. Like I said, these are people I think of all the time. The kind you know are always there. I am so sorry for Comfy and her children's loss. Really the whole world lost a really great guy on my birthday this year. But God now has a really great angel. Andy you will be missed.
