Sleep was hard to come by in my young age. If I was having a particularly bad night, I would patter down the stairs in search of parental help, or at least sympathy. Inevitably, I would find my night-owl father watching reruns of Cheers or M*A*S*H. As I grew older, those same shows would be the background noise for my late-night study sessions. I grew up in the tents of the 4077th M*A*S*H unit in Korea.
One of my dad’s favorite characters on M*A*S*H, was Klinger. Klinger was from Toledo and was a big Toledo MudHens fan, so Dad has a fascination with the MudHens. Hmm, I still need to get him to a game one of these days, and maybe make a stop at Tony Packo’s.
My favorite was Corporal Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly. How could you not love the man-boy admin for the Colonel? He slept with a teddy bear, his voice barely out of puberty. Radar’s rank may have been low on the totem pole, but he had that camp running like a well-oiled machine. Radar’s quiet efficiency, attention to detail, fine-tuned observational powers, and his uncanny ability to anticipate the needs of his superiors are what every good administrative assistant strives for.
I certainly don’t have the comedic chops of Gary Burghoff (the actor who portrayed Radar) and my teddy bear was relegated to a shelf years ago. But, in my position at Christensen’s Plant and Hardscape Center, I try to emulate the administrative qualities of a Radar O’Reilly. Even though 2024 marks my fifth season, I’m not sure anyone knows my official title. Let’s go with Buyer Support. Christensen’s Buyers spend countless hours sourcing high-quality material for our customers. That work leaves little time for the more mundane tasks like creating purchase orders, verifying pricing and quantities, inputting shipping information into the freight system, filing, etc., etc., etc.
Enter me, the detail-oriented, part-timer whose goal is to take some of the load for the plant and hardscape experts. Unless you catch me on a morning walk around the blocks, you may never see me. But hopefully, you see my work at the periphery when you’re admiring the superior plants, hard goods, and hardscape materials that the Buyers have the time and energy to find. I will continue to channel Radar O’Reilly, fade into the background while supporting my coworkers and in turn, our customers.
