Sandy Zubik…Greetings to all. John and I are both retired and living the dream in Leelanau County, Michigan, a goal I formed during my stint in “Happy Camp”, as we used to call the mandatory attendance at the Ed Foreman workshop. We are busy biking and hiking in the summer, and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. Leelanau County has terrific wineries, restaurants, and sunset views over Lake Michigan. As some of you know, we have always loved to travel and we can’t wait to get back to travel, visiting and revisiting our favorite places.
John was global engineering director when he retired, with engineers in many countries reporting to him, so we have lots of friends to visit when the pandemic is under control. Until then, I can reflect on my days with Osco, Sav-on and Jewel. There were certainly some great moments: --During my initial job interviews, I met Dave Maher, and I remember walking through 1818 with him. He knew everyone’s name, and greeted everyone as we went past. Amazing. --John and I were married in 1995, after I had been with the company for a few years. Just before my wedding, I attended an HR meeting and everyone went around the table to give me advice on a happy marriage. The advice made it into the minutes of the HR meeting, and I still have a copy. Among the gems was Larry Anderson’s advice, passed on from an undisclosed SLC couple, who said to “always fight naked” and Reg Bogusch, who advised me to “listen to the words you speak on that day, because there are lots of distractions but don’t forget the reason for the day”. It must have worked, since John and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in September. --I learned a great deal during my years with the company and I still go into a drug store or grocery store, looking for cleanliness, product facing, expiration dates and friendly clerks. I remember Dave Biderman telling me on my first store visit that we had to park far away because the close parking spots were for the customers. I remember Tom Walter telling me that there was no such thing as contract language that didn’t mean anything, whenever I thought it was okay to agree to a contract proposal because it “seemed harmless”. I remember Gerry Bay impressing upon me the incredible skill and knowledge a pharmacist had to have to graduate school and work in a community pharmacy. Looking back, I realize that the job was tough at times, and there were certainly some problems and bad situations. Of course, now I try to remember the fun we had, particularly the sales meetings and training sessions, since those were the times when I didn’t have to show up at a store because there was a sensitive investigation, union organizing campaign, or litigation. I will also confess that even though we were sometimes facing difficult situations, we had some good laughs as we contemplated things. I always told people that I had the best war stories, and that I had the best job in the company, but in reality, I was just working with the best people in the industry. All the best!