rickvs

Friday was the 90-day anniversary at our store for both New Owner and his partner. I was unaware of it, but my immediate supervisor, J__, bought him a card and a few other cute toys, and we had a pleasant ceremony of sorts as part of our morning meeting. (On the card I wrote, "You unfortunate saps; it's too late to go back now! -- Rick").

So we gave him a Batman flashlight, a compass, a framed Three Stooges picture, a small wallet/manpurse to carry his very own squeegee, vinyl chiseling device, and razor blade ... and a new badge to pin on his shirt, dubbing him "Big Daddy". New Owner was quite amused; I think he'll be wearing the nametag on a regular basis.

Best I can tell, J__ whomped up all of this on his own, although we all got some credit by riding on his coattails. J__ has been in a much better mood since New Owner came into power. New Owner thanked us for making his job a place he looked forward to going in the morning, and I think the rest of us are starting to feel the same way ...even though I didn't get anyone to join the chant I tried to start: "Ninety more days! Ninety more days!"

New Owner's partner, C____, had baked ginger snaps that were quite tasty, but apparently they hadn't had time to arrange the surprise for us that they'd wanted to. And because they weren't expecting the anniversary festivities to run uphill from the employees, they decided to order in lunch for everybody from Black-Eyed Pea.

It was, all-in-all, quite a pleasant day. As a group, we've started joking more with one another, and New Owner's changes in store philosophy have been dispensed firmly but with a minimum of accusation or blame.

Thanks for lunch, Big Daddy.