Pat Hoeksema Retires - 49 Years at Baker Book House!

We're having a bitter-sweet celebation at the store today.  Our co-worker, Pat Hoeksema, is retiring after 49 years of service (that means I was only three when she starting working here!).  Pat's family has a long history with Baker.  She told me that no less than ten of her family have been on the payroll at one time or another.  "There has been a Hoeksema on the payroll for almost 60 years," she says with pride.  I asked Pat to write a little something for today's post.  She was happy to do it.  Here's what she wrote: (I've provided a few editorial comments in brackets [ ]).

"The year was 1961 and the month was June.  I was a freshly minted graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High School and setting out to conquer the world when I came upon an opening for office help in the Used Book Department of Baker Book House--little knowing I would be part of this company for my entire adult life!  Now the year is 2010 and I am about to end my long and satisfying journey.  I've seen many changes over the years.  To name a few:

- Typewriters were manual.
- Long distance calls were unheard of.
- We had no time clock (hours were recorded on a yellow legal pad by the bookkeeper).
- Coffee breaks were taken at a small restaurant across the street.
- We were not open evenings.
- Orders were received via snail mail.
- Computers had not been invented.

When I first started working many of the company's original employess were still "on board" and the entire company was housed at 1019 Wealthy street. [There were about 20 people total working for the company at the time.]

Mr. Herman Baker (the company's founder) had the office in the front of the building facing Wealthy street.  But his first love was used books and that kept him in the Used Book Department for a good share of each day.  It was in the Used Book Department that I got to know Mr. Baker pretty well.  He was a great mentor and I learned to love used books because of him.  He was very kind and cared about each of his employees.

When I first started all of the used book paperwork (billing, purchase quotes, sales quotes and correspondence) was done on an old manual Royal typewriter.  The keys had to be hit so hard that you never had nice nails.  When we put together the used book catalogs I was allowed to use the one IBM electric typewriter in the building.  Putting together catalogs meant getting it together from start to finish.  I had a "rolling" table with the typewriter on it.  I would "park" the table in whatever section was being catalogued--sermons was endless; philosophy was in a little closet way in the front of the building.  We even had books out in a house beyond the parking lot.  When I had to catalogue out there, the day was long and lonely, as I rarely saw a soul.  To create a catalog, we started by typing a huge list: author, title, condition and price.  When we had a long enough list, Gary Popma [general manager at the time] and I would work on a lighted board to line everything up in neat columns.  (This gives a whole new meaning to "cut & paste.")  When we had our columns all lined up neatly we sent the pages on to Cusing-Malloy where they printed and stapled and then returned to us to be shipped out to those on our mailing list.  We would then wait patiently for the mailman to show up with our stacks of orders and checks.  Most customers sent in a check for the book they wanted to purchase; but, this meant returning a lot of the checks because that "one of a kind" book was already sold to the first customer ordering it! [I asked Pat how long this process took.  She said it took about a month from start to finish to do each catalog.] 

Both Rich and Pete [Rich and Pete Baker were sons of Herman.  Pete died in 1996 of Leukemia.] worked on Wealthy street at the time.  Rich had one of the offices and Pete worked in the retail store.  I knew Pete from High School as we were in the same class at Christian High.  Pete eventually took over the retail division and Rich headed up the publishing division.

I believe it was 1966 or early 1967 that the publishing division moved from Wealthy street to its present location in Ada, Michigan.  There were few of us left on Wealthy street, but the business grew tremendously.  It was in 1967 that I temporarily "retired" to become a full-time mom.  A couple of years later, I received a phone call asking if I'd be interested in billing at home--ideal for the stay-at-home mom.  I did this for several years and then returned to work after the retail division had moved to the East Paris location and I've been a "fixture" here ever since.

When Rich moved from Ada to the East Paris location I got to know him much better and appreciate him much more.  He is a real gentleman.

I have many wonderful memories and some strange ones as well.  At one point, I worked in the warehouse and many customers would come past my desk looking for the restrooms.  We had a yellow line painted on the floor that ended at the restroom so we always told them to "follow the yellow line."  I had one customer asking for directions to a restaurant and I misunderstood him and said "Just follow the yellow line."  He look at me incredulously and said "To the restaurant????" 

I've worked with some wonderful people over the years and I've forged some lasting friendships that I will always treasure.  It is with both excitement and a bit of sadness that I am leaving.  I look forward to seeing what God has in store for the future and I'm excited about spending more time with our children and grandchildren.  It has been a long, but satisfying stay." 

Pat at her desk.

The original Baker store on Wealthy street.

On behalf of everyone here and the many friends you have at the publishing division (many of whom started here at the store) we wish you God's richest blessings as you enter a very busy life of retirement.  The privilege has been all ours to both know you and work with you. 

Favorite Retail Stories - 2 "Amanda, Tornados and Gift Wrapping"

Here's three more retail stories I thought you might like. 

Amanda knows her stuff

Here’s a story from my co-worker Amanda. I didn’t ask her if I could print this but I don’t think she’ll mind. 

She was talking with a customer when she noticed a gentleman kept looking at her. After a bit she asked him if he needed any help. He said, “No, I’ve just never heard a girl talk about theology before.”

Battle of the Bands and the tornado

A couple of years ago we had a "Battle of the Bands". The bands were playing in the parking lot and it was loud and people were having a great time. Then the clouds started to form and it began to rain. Everyone came inside the store and we let the bands set up and we resumed the contest inside. It was loud but the festivities continued. Then we got word that we were under a tornado warning. We announced that for safety reasons we had to stop the show and have everyone move to the employee break room. Our break room will comfortably hold about 40 people standing room only. Now here’s the problem—there were about 200 people there. Well, we stuffed as many as we could in the break room and the others mingled in the warehouse. No tornado ever showed up for the show but after about 20 minutes we were able to let everyone back in the store and the show picked up where it left off.  No worse for the wear but there was some creative stacking of the used books in the warehouse. 

Why I don’t wrap

We used to do gift wrapping as an added service. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t do gift wrapping well. One day I had a customer ask if I would wrap something for her. I said I would be happy to find someone to help her. She insisted that I would do fine so I wrapped her stuff and sent her on her way. A couple of days later she was in the store and she recognized me. She said “You were the guy that wrapped my books weren’t you?” “Yes, I was.” Then reality hit me. “That’s not your gift is it?” I’ve never wrapped another package since.

Favorite Retail Stories - 1 "How Much Did You Say?"

Working in retail can be a lot of fun. That may sound odd to many of you but I really do love my job. I thought I would share some of my favorite experiences with you so you could see what I like about it. I’ll also be asking some of my co-workers for some of their highlights.

One of my favorite stories comes from a few years back. A couple of gentlemen came in and said they wanted to buy a substantial number of books and were interested in what kind of discount I could provide. I said let’s see what you get and we’ll work from there. They spent a few hours shopping and filled up a cart full of books. Since they had to leave they asked if I would tally the total and have it ready for them the next day.

When they arrived the next day I told them that with a generous discount their total came to just under $5,000.00. The gentlemen looked at his friend and said, “This isn’t good.” I said, “I assure you I’ve given you the best discount I can.” He responded, “No, you don’t understand. We have $20,000.00 to spend.” “Oh!” I declared, “I think we can fix that.” He asked for a Baker Academic catalog and after going through it a few minutes said “Just give me one of everything.” He then proceeded to fill up a couple of other carts. By the time we were done the total came to right around $18,000.00. What he didn’t tell me in the beginning was that he was buying for a seminary located in South America. As he wrote the check I thought this is where I find out this is all a scam and the check will bounce. But it didn’t. The check cleared and the books were sent to South America. This wasn’t the first time Baker has had overseas seminaries make purchases but it was my first experience with it. We’ve also had customers bring in a missionary and tell them “Get what you need. It’s on me.” This is such a delight to see. Most missionaries are operating on a shoe string budget and to witness this kind of generosity does the heart good.