Role Models: Dave

Working in retail has led me to quite the resume of jobs. Because of that, I have accumulated quite the experiences with various co-workers. A lot of them have sucked quite frankly, but I’m not here to tell you all about the bad ones, although that would be entertaining. Maybe another post. Anyways, when we lived in Minnesota, I left retail and worked at a restaurant for the first time ever. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was a full time manager and had a general manager that oversaw me. It was not an easy gig by any means. It was extremely fast pace and very strict with the way things needed to be done. This didn’t scare me, in fact it fueled me. I had a fire burning inside me to prove myself. This tough atmosphere stemmed from the owners. They were pretty hands on and were in the restaurant almost daily. There was a lot of stress from them to not only do it right but to be perfect. The general manager Dave took me under his wing. He knew I didn’t have any experience in what lay ahead for me, yet he believed I could do it. He saw my willingness to learn. He also had one key piece of experience that I needed to learn which was how to deal with the owners. The owners were difficult at times but they really weren’t my main problem. My problem was all the employees that had been there longer than I had been alive. How to manage someone who didn’t need managing. Or maybe who did need managing. He continued to give me advice along the way. I am a very honest person so I knew right away that honesty was the best policy. Dave and I became close through these difficult times of learning and finding my place. So for training, they basically stuck me with him for like 3 months straight and we worked the same shifts. So yeah, I’d say we had some time to get to know each other. I would work one week straight with him and then the next week I would work a week straight with the owner’s son. I joked that they were my divorced parents and I was switching off time with them. After my week was up with the owner’s son, I really just wanted to go back to Dave. I think that’s when we had discovered that we were similar in our problem solving and I think that’s why we got along so well. Well, we were similar but he always took it a step further with his thinking and would help me get to the solution I needed. And that’s why I admired him. I was inspired by his problem solving and knew that someday I could be like that too. Because we worked together so much, we had gotten to know each other on a personal level. He would weigh in on my life decisions like how he told me not to get a crazy dog but I did it anyway. There were so many things like that that he was just always there. He always said the right thing in those times. How does someone always know what to say? I don’t think he did, I think he is just that wise. I worked there while I was pregnant but my time cut short due to pregnancy and I was devastated. After I had Mason, I would go in to visit every few months. I stay in touch with Dave, mostly just to harass him or get the latest gossip on the restaurant. But recently, I had texted him about something difficult in my life I was going through. He called me right away and we talked for an hour and a half. I wasn’t even sure what I was asking of him but he managed to say the right thing in a devastating time where there was nothing to say. Even though I haven't worked with him for awhile, there are still times where I hear his voice in my head and try to think about what Dave would say. Dave, if you are reading this. Thank you. Thank you for believing in me when others didn’t. Thank you for not only sharing your wisdom with me but teaching me that I can be wise as well. And most of all, thank you for always helping me in difficult times when I don’t even know how to help myself.

And for now,

Xoxo