At the big-box home-improvement store where I worked in Pulaski County, Missouri, the corporate office gave store managers across the nation the opportunity to select a music channel for overhead system that would play American music on Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day and, as I recall, Veterans Day.
Fort Leonard Wood is in Pulaski County, so the store managers who were there at the time I worked in that store always wisely selected to use that channel.
To the consternation of young people, it played Sousa marches, great old folk songs, patriotic country songs and the like.
I love that music, and I was glad the store managers chose that channel.
One year we had a new manager who was there on Memorial Day, if I remember correctly. He had not been there long, but long enough to know to select the American patriotic music channel for the overhead that holiday.
His name was Jared, and I had not introduced myself in the two weeks or so that he had been there, so I took that opportunity that day.
After introducing myself and welcoming him to the store, I said, “Jared, I think this holiday patriotic music is great, and I thank you for it. And I’d like for you to pass the word upstairs to the corporate leadership that I and a lot of other local people like it.”
He said he would do that.
Then, I could not help myself. I added, “The only thing I would change is that at noon, we ought to play the Chinese national anthem in honor of all the ‘Made in China’ products we sell here.”
He just looked at me, kind of quizzically.
I grinned and said, “See you later, sir,” and I went back to work.
A few days later my supervisor said at our morning team meeting, “Jared said to me the other day, ‘That Ozarks Boy is pretty opinionated, isn’t he?’ I told him you had been a newspaper writer for about 30 years, so opinions just come natural to you.” Then she laughed.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I avoided Jared after that, as often as I could.
I hope you had a Happy Memorial Day!
