This is not a typical Finish It Friday post. It is not about quilts, although there just might be a glimpse of a quilt toward the end of the post. It's not about me, although I have been fortunate to witness the journey.
Rather, this is about my husband, Mark. Yesterday he retired from working in kitchen design and cabinet sales for the last thirty years, all for the same company.
First of all, in this day of fast food and short cuts and short attention spans in nearly every area of our lives, the thought that someone would be at the same company for
thirty years is mind boggling.
When he started back in June of 1986, our son was 8 years old. And now our son has his own 8-year-old (and nearly 10-year-old, 5-year-old and 3-year-old!). In those first days, it was just two of them, Herb doing the office work and Mark out in the wild, cold calling, drumming up as much business as he could.
Those were the early days of frameless modular kitchen cabinets, and they purchased their cabinets from a company in Canada, Kitchen Craft. People told Mark and Herb that no one would ever buy modular cabinetry here in the Central Valley. Mark felt differently. And, in my humble opinion, he became the face of modular cabinetry in the Fresno area. He developed dealer sales throughout California. He was out of the house and on the road most of every single week during those early days, from the Los Angeles area to the Bay Area around San Francisco.
As Lowes and Home Depot opened up, the dealer market kind of dried up, as people would buy directly from the big box stores and often eliminate the middle man--the kitchen design dealer.
He was on the road less, at least out of town, as he developed relationships with all the local contractors in town--the ones who build the big tracts. He has worked with most of them for about 25 years. During that time, he also did countless remodels and custom homes as well.
He has earned customer loyalty because he has remained "old school." What do I mean by that? In this day when most employees work their job from 8 to 5, Mark went the extra mile, often going many extra miles. He was at work early and stayed late. He worked nights. He worked weekends. When customers, who worked full time themselves, could only meet him after
they were off work, he didn't say, "I'm sorry. Our business closes at 5 p.m. And no, we are not open on the weekends."
He met them on their time schedule, no matter that it often meant putting in 50 to 60 hours of work per week. If you are in sales, that is what you do. You
sell. You don't lose a sale because you are off the time clock.
He still found the time for his family, because they mean more to him than anything.
Mark is old school in so many ways. To him, "customer service" means you are serving the customer, solving their problems, making sure they are happy, admitting when the mistake is yours and not passing the blame to someone else. It means that you actively
listen to what the customer is saying and then do your best to make them happy. It was never "That's not my problem. It's not my fault...." It means you meet them in person, deal with them face to face, do your best to solve the problem.
For 22 out of those 30 years, he was a part owner. But whether he was owner or employee, he gave it his all.
Last weekend, Mark and I cleaned out his office. Wow, so many memories. I always made sure he was supplied with pictures of family, especially grandchildren who are the lights in his life.
We cleaned out shelves, took pictures off the walls, including these two quilts made by me that have been on his wall since 2001. These are actually two quilt blocks that I made and framed after deciding that the gorgeous border print that inspired the quilt below was not actually going to be part of the quilt.
Wednesday night, his coworkers held a party for him. It was fun. Laurel made him a fabulous cake that looked like kitchen cabinets.
They all autographed a cabinet door.
And gave him a certificate of retirement.
Yesterday at 4:30 p.m., I drove to the office to pick him up. For the first time in 30 years he no longer had a company vehicle. Or keys to the office. Such a weird feeling.
I had to wait a few minutes because he was finishing up an order. He literally worked to the very.last.minute.
And last night was his retirement dinner. It was a lovely evening. Dinner was delicious, from the spinach salad with fresh fruit and candied walnuts, to the halibut and risotto (me) and filet mignon (Mark) to the super rich chocolate dessert.
We were in a small, quiet room that allowed us to visit with everyone there--the owners (his former partners) and key coworkers, as well as Aaron and Christa.
Herb, Eyon, Will, Chris, Ivette, Mark, Lisa, Miguel, Scott
This is the family Mark has worked with for the past 30 years--the father, Herb, and two sons, Chris and Will.
Chris, Katie, Herb, Joan, Mark, me, Chrissy, Will
The evening was filled with funny stories, from the first days of trying to get the business off the ground, to memorable clients and incidents that happened in the span of those 30 years.
I can't even begin to put into words how proud I am of this man I have been married to for the past 43 years. He is a man of high principles, integrity and a work ethic that now seems unusual instead of the norm. We have adventures planned...spending time drinking coffee in the morning, on a
weekday at the zoo just because it's such a cool place,
spending time with grandkids during the week,
going on a trip that has been on Mark's bucket list for ever--a cruise through the Panama Canal. He will keep busy with reffing and reviving his fused glass business. I will keep busy with quilting.
And we will enjoy spending extra time together. We have both been looking forward to this new phase in our lives with anticipation. I can't think of anyone I would rather share that time with.
