Facilities Service Technician Terry Nagy
Miami Facility Services
My training started very early in life, I learned my mechanical skills in high school. I continued my training in the US Navy, serving four years as an aviation electrician. Upon completion of my military service, I joined Eastern Air Lines, and spent thirty two years of my life there, only to find them going out of business. I was not old enough to retire. We lost everything — all the stock we had purchased was now worthless and my retirement went out the window. I found myself without a job, no retirement for our golden years, very little savings, a family to support and a mortgage. Depressed is putting it mildly, and I am not a young man anymore, which adds to the degree of difficulty I faced. Then, boom! We found Publix in 1999, thank you, Lord. I joined the 401(k) plan and invested 100 percent in Publix stock. In 2005, we cashed in a ten thousand dollar investment and purchased Publix stock. Today, that is valued well more than $47,000. Our wonderful profit sharing program grew to the point that we were able to pay off our mortgage. Our dividends provide vacation money twice a year, and our nest egg continues grow. My workplace is fantastic, as well as the people I work with. I enjoy coming to work each and every day, and continue to work full time, even though I am past the age of retirement. My advice to any young person just starting out with Publix, try as hard as you can to be all you can be and the doors will open, and Publix will reward all the hard work you do. Purchase all the Publix stock you can afford and some day in the future you will be so glad you did. Publix has been our shining star, and it can be yours as well.
Cashier Lynn Huyck
Store 0420, Trinity, Florida
Life.
Life in all its beautiful, messy, glorious and mundane moments passes through my line every day. Everyone I meet has a story to tell, a life lived, a laugh to share, a time of sadness or sickness, a party to plan for, company coming or someone leaving, another day of work done.
I’ve had the privilege of embracing people whose spouse just died, looking at pictures of a child’s birthday party, holding a hand that is afraid to go in for surgery, encouraging young moms that they’re doing a good job when their child is having a moment of crisis, laughing with someone over a family happening, sharing recipes and receiving homemade bread as a reward.
Every day, every person who goes through my line adds to the richness of life in small and large ways.
As an employee of Publix, I’ve been given the opportunity to make a difference in many peoples’ lives. To bring a smile, a laugh, a word of encouragement — a suggestion to add to a meal, a tip to help save money with our store coupons, assist in planning an event and share in life’s every day moments.
Our customers make working for Publix a pleasure.
Pharmacy Technician Kiz Anderson
Store 1235, Antioch, Tennessee
I am a unique employee for this store, as the only transgender associate currently on staff. Being transgender presents daily challenges on a variety of subjects, but my fellow associates have not only been welcoming, accepting, and kind — they’ve also been willing to adapt and learn. From the first interviews I had with our customer service manager at the time, to disclosure with the store manager who approved my hiring, to conversations with my co-workers — every person I have worked with has been openly welcoming and truly great.
The idea of being accepted when you are a person whose entire identity has been turned on its head, whose outward appearance is in a state of literal and figurative transition, and whose personal situations can very much affect so many aspects of public and professional life is more of a blessing than I can truly express. The genuine care that my co-workers have put into treating me like I’m a normal human being — and in some cases, treating me like “one of the guys,” speaks to me that this company truly keeps a high caliber of individuals around.
Being awesome to one another is a constant at my store, and that’s why I love working for Publix!
Industrial Safety Specialist Cherryl Mendonca
Boynton Distribution Center
When I moved here in the US and was looking for work, I saw Publix as one of the prestigious companies I admired and I wanted to be part of. Publix took a chance on me by hiring me as a cashier at store #743, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After less than a year, I found a job opening on the Publix website for a facility safety officer for the distribution center. I immediately applied for it as it aligns with my education and previous experience in my home country. After successfully passing the examinations and interviews, I landed the job I always wanted!
Publix promoted me from within and the opportunities are endless! You can really shine in a career you’re really passionate about. You will surely feel at home. And can forget all the benefits we are getting as associates?
Administrative Assistant Megan Blanton
Information Systems
I have been told my entire life that I should work for Publix. I’ve hear so many stories of the old days at Publix — about my great-grandfather, Lamar Blanton, and his brother, Joe Blanton — not just from family, but former and current Publix associates who knew them well. It wasn’t until I started working for Publix as a front service clerk in 2011 that I really came to appreciate the gesture. I would have customers come in and tell me how honored they were to work side by side with Mr. George and Joe Blanton, and it really made me realize what kind of company I actually worked for and it motivated me to showcase the Publix culture that made this company so great to work for! Now, I love hearing stories about the old days at Publix from my grandfather, James Blanton (retired district manager) and my mother, Lori Boyer (senior analyst in the business accounting and reporting department). I’m currently in my 4th year with this company. I worked my way up to customer service staff, and in November 2015, was promoted to administrative assistant to one of the vice presidents in the information systems department. Coming from a big Publix family, I grew up with the values that this company exercises every day. I’m so grateful to work for a company that strives for excellence in customer service and associate integrity. As I’m learning more and more about my new department, I’m really seeing the connection between corporate and retail and how we are all really one big team. I’ve already learned so much in just a short time here in information systems, and I can’t wait to see what else Publix has in store for me!
Central Fill Specialist Shadwell Smith
Central Pharmacy
I always loved Publix — long before I became an associate. What George Jenkins started is phenomenal, a company that gives its employees an opportunity to become owners. I take so much pride and pleasure in being a part of the Publix family. I started out selecting in produce and I selected for an entire year. It was the hardest job I have ever done! However a few of my co-workers made it easy, they encouraged me when I felt like giving up and they pushed me to improve my performance. Thanks to my fellow associates I didn’t give up, and work became easier as I understood the process. I eventually became a warehouse person which allowed me the opportunity to do several different jobs in the warehouse, from sanitation to order checking. I began to learn new jobs and this excited me because I work for a company that encourages growth.
This past December I started a new position at our new central fill pharmacy in Orlando. I am in awe at the facility and what we are able to do in this facility. I believe in my company. We are only 85 years young. I expect us to accomplish our goal of being the number one food retailer in the world. And to do that, I am excited to do my part and to encourage my fellow associates to do their part because it’s our company.
I hope I will see Publix in my lifetime become a $100 billion dollar company. Can you imagine how exciting those times will be!
Meals Specialist Kris Griffin
Store 593, Acworth, Georgia
Only at Publix am I given not only the opportunity, but encouraged to get to know my customers. I have many stories from Publix of helping customers with recipes or teaching them to cook, but Joe’s story is my favorite of all.
I went to Joe’s funeral today. I’m sad; it was sad. But I can’t help smiling remembering how his blue eyes sparkled and how no matter what, he was always smiling. You see, Joe was my Publix friend.
I met Joe and his mother Anna while I was cashiering at my Publix. Anna hated potatoes because she had been a child in Germany during WWII where people were starving and had nothing to eat but potatoes. Plus, Joe had a disability. With those two hardships in her life, I decided that I would go out of my way to be extra nice to her and perhaps I could make her smile also.
Anna and Joe were soon coming through my line whenever they shopped at the store (which was several times a week if not on a daily basis). Anna shared that Joe had been born with mild cerebral palsy. She had taken care of him for his whole entire fifty some years. I continued to just try to be friendly and kind.
Then Anna told me that Joe had terminal brain cancer. It was not the kind that chemo would help, but he received radiation to shrink the cancer. When I looked at Joe and told him I would pray for him, he walked around the register and gave me the biggest hug, thanking me and assuring me not to worry about him. He said he knew where he was going when he did die.
And so it went with Anna and Joe. It always seemed to be one step forward, two steps back with his cancer, as it continued to shrink and grow, shrink and grow. Anna would give me doctor reports, and Joe would give me fishing reports or just smile and laugh and talk about everyday things. By that time I was working full time in Aprons, so instead of going through my line, Joe would just come over to the kiosk to taste a sample, but mostly just to talk. He spoke more often about dying, and then began to express his desires to go off of his radiation treatments. But he was worried about his mom. I just tried to listen and reassure him that he had to do what was right for him. I told him that his mom would be terribly sad to lose him, but that she would be OK. It would take time, but she would be OK.
Eventually Joe came in, marched right up to Aprons and told me he wanted to say goodbye. He was going off his treatment, just as we had spoken of so often. I held it together for a few minutes, gave him his usual hug, then ran off to my store manager’s office to have a good cry.
Anna continued to bring Joe in shopping with her for a number of weeks. They would always stop to say hello. I always made Joe smile, and certainly tried to give Anna something to smile about.
Soon Joe was in a wheelchair unable to walk on his own. One day Anna wheeled him over to Aprons and asked if she could leave Joe there with me because she had left her purse in her car. Of course I said yes, quietly thanking Publix that I could spend this time with Joe. We were talking as usual when he asked me to wheel him over to the Grab and Go deli case where he could get his daily Cuban sandwich. I took him there and we stayed in front of the case talking while Anna took her time and shopped the bakery (being in no hurry as it was probably the only break she had from caregiving in weeks). When she arrived by us, Anna whispered to me that she had forgotten to fasten Joe’s seatbelt on his wheelchair. So she calmly asked Joe to show me how he could still stand on his own in order to find the belt without embarrassing him. Joe stood. As I was right in front of him ready to help if needed, in our own joking way I said, “We might as well dance.” Without hesitation, Joe asked if he could have this dance. He sang to me and we danced, barely swaying, right in the middle of the Publix aisle. There was no holding back the tears this time.
Joe and Anna gave me a thank you card before leaving that day. He came into the store just a few more times before he was unable to get out. Anna continued to give me the medical reports each time she came shopping, and soon it was the final report that Joe had passed. I went to his funeral. Anna grabbed onto me and escorted me to the second row informing me that I was to sit behind her.
Anna still stops to see me every time she shops. She is coping — a little at a time — perhaps two steps forward and one step back. She often buys me flowers while she is shopping. Sometimes she even tastes my food.
When I told my district manager Joe’s story, he said it was really me and not Publix. I disagree. Only at Publix would I be encouraged to show kindness to a customer that perhaps is not related directly to selling them a product. Only at Publix could I dance in the aisle with a customer and not have a manager scold me for wasting time. Only at Publix . . . I am so grateful.
Purchasing Procurement Coordinator Richard Quilici
Miami Industrial Maintenance
I started working for Publix Super Markets back in 1988; I was 33 years old and was new here in Florida. I was born in Chicago in 1955, so by the time I graduated from high school in 1973, I found myself in basically an industrial area. My first job and many jobs after were based on electrical and mechanical assembly. It wasn’t long before I found myself working as a machinist as the parts I assembled seemed more interesting to me than the completed products.
I spent a little time in sheet metal work before I met my wife Leah. I met Leah at the library while going to collage part time. See, long ago we didn’t have computers, we had libraries. After I met Leah, my life changed quite a bit. The short time I had been trying to go to college part time fell apart and my interests were turned toward her. She was finishing up chiropractic college and would soon be moving back to South Florida to be with her mother. I had to make a choice between living in Chicago and moving with her to South Florida. Being young and needing all the things a young man needs, I took a keen interest in Leah. Needless to say I moved to South Florida going quite against all the advice of my Family. We have been married 30 years this year.
Back to Publix. As I said earlier I started at Publix at 33 years of age in 1988. I had been working at Wollard Aircraft Equipment in Medley, Florida. It was all I could find when I first hit Florida. I was making good money at the time so I had to take a cut in pay to work for Publix. Leah had heard from someone working with her at the office that Publix was hiring because they were going to open a new warehouse in Deerfield. She had heard it from her friend’s husband who was a Publix driver here in Miami.
I fought working for Publix because I was doing what I knew and making good money doing it. Lots of other people around me were telling me to take the job at Publix because Publix was a good career move. Publix was presented to me as a new career that would last. I was talked into it, going against my own feelings and my family’s feelings. (By now my family was not happy with my choices anyway.)
I drove to the Publix warehouse that morning, armed with my resume, three letters of recommendation and the name of what I was told was a name in good standing at Publix. All seemed to me to be good solid stuff to get myself what I had been told would be a good solid job with a future. Turned out it was the best move of my life.
The lie detector test came as a complete surprise to me. They had me confessing to things I had only told to my priest years before. Yet despite me telling on myself for what seemed like an hour; and after I handed the people in charge of the interviews all my stuff, including the golden name, I was hired. I gave Wollard Aircraft Equipment my two week notice.
My first day at Publix Super Markets started with me parking my car in back of the warehouse by the rail dock. In my head I was not happy with my new salary at all. What came next had me certain I had made the wrong choice! I walked up the stairs of the rail dock and reported to the name of the person I was given. Lined up on the rail dock were five or six rail cars full of product that had to be unloaded onto pallets. For the next four or five hours I found myself working physically harder than I had ever worked before. I had crossed over into my thirties, so physical work did not come as easy as in my twenties. That night I slept as I had not slept since I was a kid. In the morning I was so sore I could hardly stand on my own two feet. Surely this was not going to work out for me. I went to my wife Leah for emotional support and wrap around bandages to put on my calves and thighs. She told me that with the money she was making it would get us through the pay drop I had taken, and assured me that somewhere along the way I would find something else to do at Publix. It was not much, but it was enough to get me to try another day on the rail dock. I took a few Ibuprofens and went back to work after a good breakfast and another shower.
Days turned to months and the day came when I approached my warehouse manager and asked if he might have something else that took on a little more responsibility. By that time I had moved up to loading trailers, the rail dock was at least in my past. He said that he needed someone to put cigarettes and S&H green stamps onto all the loads going to stores that morning. I was to wait until the store load was finished, put the items in the tail end, and seal the truck with a green seal. I took the job on the spot and listened to the particulars of my new responsibilities. I did it every day and more until I saw someone working in back in the Forklift shop. Now that was more in line with what I was interested in.
Rumors were going around that made it look like soon I would be selecting. I had heard about selecting and did not relish the idea of having to pull groceries for stores. It was said that selectors worked harder than rail dock workers. I wasn’t getting any younger so I approached my grocery manager with my resume and letters of recommendation. He told me that he rather I stay on where I was but reluctantly called the forklift shop to see what he could do for me. I was granted an interview with the manager of the forklift shop.
I really need to interject here that this all happened a long time ago when moving from job to job in the warehouse was not at all like it is today. Publix has many more hurdles one must jump through before one moves around in the warehouse. It’s not so much harder as it is one must prepare oneself before trying to make moves like this.
I was to work in the parts room the next day. My pay did not go up right away but after a series of months I was given a good pay hike, so I was happy. I still was not making what I was making at the other job, but was getting closer.
I found parts work much more interesting than the warehouse. I had to work from books sometimes when the part the technician wanted was not one of the ones on the shelf in back. The fact that I was working nights did not really bother me as the shift ran from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. I no longer had to use an alarm clock, so it suited me just fine. I did however have to spend a period of time working days to train before I went to nights. Once again days turned to months, and months to years very quickly. My pay rose until it passed what I was making at the other job and I became comfortable in my job.
The day came when the Deerfield warehouse opened and I was in for a change that I really did not like. The manager of the forklift shop informed me that I would need to transfer to the Deerfield warehouse. This change came to me as an unhappy surprise. I was given a choice of moving into selecting in Deerfield or going into the Deerfield fleet parts room. Now, fleet meant tractors and trailers instead of forklifts, and the two are completely different. Regardless of the change I chose to go to the parts room job as Deerfield was refrigerated, and that not only meant selecting. It meant selecting in the cold. The commute was only one of the differences in my new job. The other was familiarizing myself with all new books and all new parts. It took a few months before I felt even a little comfortable doing my new job. It wasn’t easy but I did it. This along with a whole new computer system always kept me challenged. Something kept me working to understand and accept all the changes. It wasn’t until later that I understood what that was. It was the fact that the IRA I started was growing, and so was my stock ownership account. Between the two, things were starting to look good!
I worked at Deerfield for a few years until the day came that my old boss in Miami called me and told me he had another opening in parts that needed to be filled. I jumped at the chance because I knew those parts and the parts room much better. My boss at Deerfield told me it was OK with him if I transferred back to Miami, and within a few weeks I was back home. I liked the people and the job at Miami better so it all worked out.
My wife Leah had discovered that running a chiropractic practice took more than just being a good doctor. One needed to know how to run a business as well. She did fairly well until the health care system here in America went into some very hard changes. She decided to retire. She had turned 65 and after all, I was doing quite well at that point with Publix.
A few more years passed and I was told by my doctor that I was very sick and would have to go on chemotherapy. This is the time in the story that really tells it all. See, if I had been working just about any other place I would have never have been taken care of as well. I went on FMLA and proceeded with the chemotherapy treatments. I became very sick from the treatments. Because I had been working for Publix, I had a huge backlog of sick time accumulated. I finally came to a day that I had run out of sick time. I tried to continue but was just too sick, too long. I retired from Publix in 2007. But the time between my treatment starting and the time I retired was like living through hell. A day didn’t pass that Publix didn’t do everything they could for me.
I presented my boss with my retirement letter and he accepted it even though he tried to get me to try to stay on. When I wrote the letter I tried to not burn any bridges. Even though my plan was to move back to Chicago so I could be with my family again. I really missed my family and Chicago very much and still do to this day.
After I left Publix, the price of houses fell drastically. All my plans to move back to Chicago fell with them. I was devastated, I was without a job and still very sick from the treatment I was undergoing. My future looked dismal. It took months before the treatment was finished and almost every day I had to either go to the emergency room or was waiting to see a doctor for one thing or another. Some mornings I woke up sick and my weight was dropping at an alarming rate. Eventually the treatments were over and I was lucky enough to have beat the reason why I had gone on the treatments to begin with. It took a while before I was able to work again and we were starting to run out of money.
Now here is where I need to take a break in the story to explain that I would never have had enough money to get through the treatments if it had not been for Publix. All through the 19 years I was working for Publix money in the form of Publix Stock, and money put into an IRA adding up. Publix had done for me something that I would never have been able to do for myself. They had set aside a good nest egg. Good enough to get my wife and myself through one of the hardest times of my life! Publix is a great place to work! This I can say without a shadow of a doubt. That is the reason why I did what I did next.
One morning I called my old boss at the forklift shop and told him I was looking for a job. He told me he would love to have me back but all the jobs in parts were taken and it might be a while before he could get me back on. I told him to keep me in mind. With that done I went on the Publix website and searched for anything I could find. I applied for several jobs on the site but nothing ever came of it. I looked everywhere; it seemed at this point in my life employers were looking for younger people than me. The job market was like a hostile world that wanted educated people just coming out of school. My money was running out.
One morning with hope in my heart I walked to the Publix store down the block to see what I might be able to get there. The manager at the store told me the only openings he had were for bag boys, and then only part time. So I was put in the position where it looked like I would have to take a part time job at minimum wage. I filled out an application on a computer setup to take applications and went home. Two days later I received a phone call from the manager at the store. He asked me to come in for an interview that morning. A day later I was a bag boy at a Publix store.
I was to find out the day I reported to work at Publix that a bag boy, (front service clerk) was not just bagging groceries for customers and bringing them out to their car. It entailed bringing in shopping carts, cleaning out bathrooms, and staying to close the store. Closing a Publix store meant mopping the whole store after the last customer left the premises, as well as vacuuming all the carpets laid out when the store opened. Publix ran a clean machine.
After a few months, maybe a year, I don’t really remember, I needed a hernia surgery. I was getting older and front service clerks did some heavy lifting through the course of a shift. I told the manager, but to my surprise he told me take the time I needed and report back to work when I was all healed up. I did what needed to be done and came back to work when the doctor told me it was OK to do so. I worked at that Publix for…..maybe three of four years before it started to become very plain that I was going to need another source of income. We had been living in the red for quite a while; front service clerks just did not get paid enough to support a household. Something was going to have to change.
About two months later after my new job search was going nowhere, I received a call from my old boss Dennis. A job had opened up in the parts room and he wanted to know if I was interested. He asked me if I was still working at the Publix store. It turned out that because I was already a Publix employee it was going to be easier for him to get me in. Dennis was a God send for Leah and I; if it wasn’t for him we probably would have lost our house. Good jobs were getting scarce, and I really needed one by that time. After a lot of online tests and sending in my updated resume I was working in parts again at the Miami Warehouse.
I’m starting all over again but at least I’ve started. To all the other people out there looking for jobs, if you can, get a job at Publix. It may seem hard at first but Publix is truly a great place to work! Or, “Publix, where working is a pleasure.”
