In Blog# 117 I talked about why its better to be humble. In this blog I want to talk about how goodbyes are tough.

So I accepted the Palo Alto position. Now the hard part, saying good bye to the team. People always say “I’m not saying good-bye, but see you around”. That may be true, but the day to day interaction, the personal moments are not as frequent.

Mike

Mike was an up and coming asst. He started out as a great salesperson and was learning the ropes to management. Plus he was a pretty bright young man with a lot of ambition. In some ways he reminded me of myself. Eventually Mike became an Asst. this year too. 

Aaron

Man this was a tough one…He was like a son, a brother whatever you want to use. It was tough. I remember after he had been in management a little while he came to me and said “I think I’m going to go back to Wisconsin and go back into roofing with my brother.

“No you’e not”, I said He was dumbfounded. No ? Then he said, “I’m telling you that’s what I want to do?”.  “No” I repeated, your future is too bright to do that. Aaron ended up staying. 

We still talk about that even today. Funny our future together would cross paths again later down the road at Zappos.com. That decision would have a profound effect on both of our futures.

Candice

She was good, I mean really good. I got along with her hubby too, he was a character. Always made me laugh. Candice just had it all. Very thoughtful and measured in her approach. Great communicator and calm. The term “Manager” really didn’t apply, she was a coach, and a darn good one. I was really going to miss her.

Both Candice and Aaron were a big reason we enjoyed the success we did. We made a great team.

Alberto

Being a Pacesetter he was always too busy to just chat but when we did they were always great conversations with depth behind them. Alberto  said something to me that has stuck with me even today. He Said “Thank you, you made a difference in my life”. Wow…that went deep. That meant so much to me. It was my mantra going forward, make a difference in peoples lives.

Jamie

Jamie was my right arm. She was silly, and she was fun and I loved being around her. When it was stressful she could calm me down. Her husband was cool too, we would go to a few basketball games together and have get togethers with our families from time to time. Jamie was like the younger sister I never had. I really was going to miss her.

People make the difference. The whole team was great, it was the most amazing experience I had as a buyer. We took it to the top and enjoyed every minute of it , together… I was going to miss Arden Fair, so many great memories….Next, I have to say good-bye to Jean Claude, my store manager.