An Impromptu "Exit Interview" 8 Months After Retirement

Every successful company has a “Mission Statement” to help remind them of why they exist and why they are important to society.  One of the objectives stated in U-Haul's most important Management Bulletin is “to improve human lives.”  That one statement was the reason I was able to stay focused on providing the best customer service I could for over 25 years, despite the many aggravations and obstacles that popped up in that time.  Every time I felt discouraged or tempted to quit, I would go back to the noble notion of improving human lives.  I truly believed that is what I was doing.  It’s probably why I rarely argued with a customer (or as we preferred to say—a friend or neighbor) over minor issues and strived to be an advocate for the customer when disputes arose.
  

A key phrase the CEO  made sure we heard at every manager’s meeting each month was “Our families are looking to us for help and certainty”. He was reminding us that we had to be confident in our ability to deliver on what we promised—clean, safe, well-maintained equipment and peripheral services at a cost our customer (families) could afford. And to convey that confidence to the families who were depending on us to help improve their lives.  For the most part, I believe we did. When we didn’t, we did our best to accommodate them in some other way.


Those two words; “help” and “certainty” have been rattling around in my brain all day as I contemplate next Sunday’s Feast of Pentecost. 


At His Ascension, Jesus told the Apostles He would send the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) to them (us) to teach and comfort them (us). “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” [John 14: 26, 27]


In other words, God the Father sent the Spirit in Jesus' name to “help” (teach) us deal with this world and give us “certainty” (comfort us) in our hope for everlasting life in the presence of Christ in the next world.


I admit that the CEO’s constant mantra of “help and certainty” started to bore me and seem insignificant after the 100th reminder. Who could have foreseen I would be using it after I retired to describe the Holy Spirit’s role in my life? Now I can’t stop repeating it! I can only say thank you, Joe, for being an instrument of the Holy Spirit that dwells in each of us who lets Him in.  And for allowing me to be a member of the U-Haul family and improve human lives for so long.