THE PUBLIC SHELF
For your last day at work
Thirty one years. I did the math in the break room and had to sit down.
You trained half this office, including me, and I want you to know that I still hear your voice every time I'm about to do something stupid. Read it twice before you hit send, kid. I've avoided at least four disasters because of you.
My first week here, I made a mistake on the Henderson account that cost the company about eleven thousand dollars. I was sure I'd be fired. I went into your office shaking, and you closed the door, and you told me about the time you lost a forty thousand dollar shipment in 1998. Then you showed me how to fix mine. Then you took me to lunch. You never told anyone. I never forgot.
That's who you were here. Not the person with the title. The person who made it safe to be new.
We're going to miss the Friday donuts. The way you fixed the printer by talking to it like a horse. Your laugh down the hall, which could be heard from the parking lot.
Go fishing. Sleep in on a Tuesday. Do not check your email. We'll be fine, mostly.
Thank you for everything.
From all of us on the third floor, Greg
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