As we rolled into the Summer of 2000, I bid farewell to the Xenia Kroger store. I had begun a series of interviews and tests to be promoted into the Kroger Management Training program. Xenia’ store manager Gary Dapice helped me to get my first interview and advised me to talk to our Zone Manager Rick Madlinger. It didn’t take too long after I submitted a resume before I was called in for an interview and eventually got the job.
Although I had only been at Xenia for about six months, I made some pretty good friends - the best one being Myla Chambliss. One interesting thing that happened about two or three weeks before I left Xenia was that I was asked to return to the Dorothy Lane Kroger and fill in for one of the vacationing backups for a week. This was a homecoming of sorts, making one last visit as an office worker to the store where I had worked for a couple of years. It was especially fun to work with Sarah again and see and hang out with Amy the gorgeous pharmacist. After a week, I returned to Xenia to count down my final days as an Assistant Front End Manager.
Right around this time, Lisa and I also celebrated our one-year anniversary on June 12. Lisa cooked me a fancy dinner at home and we ate the slices of wedding cake that we had frozen and saved. We also spent the night at the Holiday Inn in Fairborn, where we had spent our wedding night.
When it came time to leave to Xenia, Gary called me back to the manager’s office, where predictably there was a farewell cake, some gifts, and the two cards below. The top one of the two was a laminated sign posting my farewell, which was signed by the office workers only. Reading the bottom card now, which was signed by many employees of the store, there are many names that I have already forgotten - as well as many who I can remember very well. As often happens, the store got my obsession with Laurel and Hardy confused with the Three Stooges - and gave me the well-meaning gift of a Stooges plaque. They were all nice to forgive me for winning the store lottery (based on the real lottery numbers) for two weeks in a roll. In addition to the gifts, I also ended up escaping with about 75 dollars from that.
Next up: Management training…
Leave a Reply