Barb

And then there was the day that Barbara gave me the finger. I forget what prompted it. I must have said something smart-assed. But I always say smart-ass stuff, it had to have been special smart-ass to warrant the finger. Giving the finger is not something we expect from our Barbara.

I just laughed, made a remark about the impropriety of the gesture, how it violated the decorum of the Bullpen… and then I concluded, “I love when a woman talks dirty to me.”

Then Barbara gave me her Grade “A” smile… a smile which I rank in the Top Ten of smiles.

There is good and bad about working in a small place. There is an intensity that is shared when there are fewer in number traveling the same road… experiencing the same peaks and valleys of the business day.

Grapes is a small business. On the good days the richness of the laughs and re-couping the day’s selling successes is unmatched. On the bad days the failures cut deeper, the sting of not hitting our objectives is acutely felt.

Each day we face a challenge… either real or contrived. This brings to mind a quote from Theodore Roosevelt. He referred to,

“the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Good quote, no? Perhaps a bit “over the top” considering what we do at Grapes… sell wine by the case over the phone.

Somehow, though, I have always seen our selling area (a collection of desks, PCs and phones), what I have called our “Bullpen”, as an arena of sorts… And I can’t tell you the number of nights I felt covered in dust, sweat & blood at the close of our business day at 9:00PM.

At our “closing bell” I would look over to Barb’s desk… her smile would restore me. And a pat on the back felt good, too.

Barb’s work day with us would begin with our evening “sell session” at 6:00PM. Her activity at Grapes was her second job (she works in the Insurance industry by day)… she held a variety of positions in her years at Grapes. Her most recent responsibility was doing our order entry, invoicing, running the credit card transactions, handling customer issues on the phone. Detail stuff. Taken for granted; but oh, so important.

But as important as that function was, it barely describes her importance to our business, and why she will be sorely missed now that she has put a close to her chapter at Grapes and has moved to softer pastures (and closer to her daughter!).

Barb gave us a soul… she provided a steady hand, she was a calming presence. And if we became slack in a sales call, or in our paper work, she would snap a whip (but in a way that still left us whole). She never lost her sense of dignity… of doing the right thing, of trying to help us along… trying to make our enterprise better, regardless of the challenges.

In an industry that has a “smarmy” side, Barb was a lighthouse of civility.

Even when she gave me the finger.