 We think of our office manager as the Real Boss. At least we all let
her think so or she might hurt us.Her name is Yelonda. She’s
petite, amiable in nature anbd no one wants to ever cross
her.
Yelonda can whack knuckles with the best of them. We think she
may have been a nun in a previous life.
Our Real Boss is often the "point man" at Hale's Marine (excuse
me, the "point ms." because she is usually the first person you'll
talk to on the phone..
Her tasks include creating the work orders for the lads to deal
with, handling the accounting here, creating the invoices, keeping
the payables and receivables in balance, and picking up the slack
when we need her to call our customers to arrange for a pick up or a
payment.
She also has to frequently put on her "service writer" hat when
everyone else is busy and will drop everything to go get a part for
a customer.
We try not to call her our Girl Friday because she's pretty much
the best of help every day of the week (and because we don't want
our knuckles whacked).
Even at her tender age, we call her "Mom" occasionally. She's
that kind of lady.
Yelonda will do her utmost to answer a question if she can but if
it’s outside her realm of expertise, she will collect as much
information as possible and pass it along to the proper person.
Other than Hale's Marine, Yelonda's "personal passion" is working
with dogs, especially terriers.
She raises and shows Grand Champion American Pit Bull Terriers,
and has the Number 6 ranked Russell Terrier for 2005. The ribbons
she and her dogs have won are exemplary, and we’re all proud of her.
She trains other dog-owners when they ask for her help and she
gets plenty of practice here at the yard working with all of us.
Yelonda is a sensitive lady and when she hurts, we hurt with her.
When she smiles, we smile then, too.
And if Yelonda was to jump off a bridge... well, I'll have to
tell you honestly.
We’d all sure miss her Post-It notes.
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