Wendy's
A big smile was flashed by Lyn as she waited to leave for work.
She loved working for Wendy's and for a long time, she was good at it. She stocked the cups and lids. She cleaned the bathrooms and bussed the tables. She kept the dining room clean and maintained relationships with the regular customers.
The district manager knew Lyn by name. The store manager took good care of her and helped make her work environment as positive as possible. She wasn't always the easiest employee and towards the end, she was more difficult than not. However, the years spent at Wendy's were extremely important to Lyn.
She took pride in her work, her interactions with her customers and her length of service. Even now, her collection of pins is on display. The collection is mostly pins she received from Wendy's, including one for each year she worked there. There are a couple of Balloon Fiesta pins in there as well.
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| Lyn's collection of Wendy's pins |
She no longer speaks about working, finding another job or missing her friends from Wendy's. I don't know how much she remembers of her time there. However, we remember. We remember that she was given a chance, encouraged and supported to be a productive employee. We remember she felt she had a place and a purpose in her work. This is just as important for the intellectually disabled as it is for the rest of us.
Thank you Wendy's for the opportunity you gave Lyn.
Having met Dave Thomas back in the 1990s, I think he would be very happy to hear this. He was a genuinely kind man, and I believe a story like Lyn's would have meant a lot to him.
ReplyDeleteThank you, AZThespos. Dave Thomas, because of his dedication to foster children, always struck me as a person who would have really cared. I know that the manager and the district manager both valued Lyn as an employee and a person.
ReplyDeleteI worked with Lyn most of the 19 years of her employment at Wendys. I was her General Manager and friend.
ReplyDeleteNot a day goes by when I walk through the dining room checking the tables, and a smile crosses my face as I am thinking about how many trays that I would find in a box, somewhere in the backroom, that Lyn would hide. You see, if Lyn didn't want to clean them, she would hide them in a box on one of the shelves. I love hide and seek! I smile because not only did she learn to do the right thing by getting them out of the box and cleaning them, she taught me to stay on my toes and be aware.
She loved to mingle and go overboard in taking care of all of our guests. Lyn always took excellent care of them and would get anything they would want. Our guests would ask me "where is Lyn ?"when she was on vacation or absent. To this day I am asked and I reply that she has retired.
Every picture that she would draw for me I proudly hung on my office door. She loved to color rainbows, butterflies, and abstract that I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Art is art and it didn't matter to me for her to hang it by the schedule. I loved the drawings.
There were many challenges in my working relationship with Lyn and I reported any boo boos or concerns I had to her mother over the years. We had our mis-understandings at times; everything still worked out for the good.
I truly miss the wonderful peanut butter cookies that Lyn would help her mother make and give to me. I was spoiled. I also received those little "frisbies" when Lyn was doing the bead work thing. I checked it out and flew one down the hallway the other day. It flew like crazy and the best thing was I didn't break anything.
It was a great pleasure to work with Lyn all of those years. I smile when I see the pics of her in her uniform ready for work. I was truly blessed to have Lyn come into my life for a long period of time. She taught me to be more caring as a manager. She taught me how to work with all types of personalities. I truly commend her. The Wendys gang loves and misses her.
M
Dear M, thank you so very much for your kind and thoughtful comment. I am thrilled at your response and greatly appreciate the story you have chosen to share with us. I never knew about the hidden trays and got a good laugh over it.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Thanks, M. I appreciated how you treated Lyn. Hmmm, PB cookies are still a possibility, mom
ReplyDelete