When you think of going to the Ashland Bi-Mart you almost certainly will think of Irene McBride. She has been working there as a cashier for the past 14 years and has developed a reputation which far exceeds herself.
When we were doing our interview adoring customer fans kept jumping in to share their own remarks of praise and admiration. One of Irene’s customers even sings her a song every time he leaves “Good Night Irene”.
My own curley haired son tries to duck and run by as Irene reaches out to say hi. Irene reaches out all 200 – 250 customers who pass thru her line daily. Checking into to say hi and making sure they found what they needed.
Stories and lives are woven together piece by piece, each concluding or continuing from where the left off from before. Irene has watched children become parents who’s own children now come thru her register line.
Irene is not short for celebrity attention, she was joking that she might need dark sunglasses to go out now,and after our interview started I was actually thinking that I could have just interviewed the customers as they passed thru the line.
All 250 of them probably would have probably had something to say.
She has won multiple awards of recognition for here hard work. In 14 years she has never been late or missed a day of work.
So what’s the trick you might be wondering? Irene told it to me this way and it just seems to make sense, “I meet somebody like I’ve known them all my life”.
It works and the customers respond.
Irene even has her own daily special. “Irene’s Deal of the Day” even when she is out buying goceries people ask her what the special is.
One Ashland Restaurant owner has a special Drinking Cup which she purchased from Irene. Supposedly it’s not a favored item until it is disclosed that the cup had it’s origins from Irene’s Special.
It makes all the difference!
This year Irene will turn 62 on Sept 11th. She will be in Reno with her husband so make sure to drop in early with your birthday wishes!
For those of you who haven’t met Irene it’s worth the trip. Ask her what she has been reading recently or any trips she she has gone on this year.
