Mobile Retail Units... Remembering Larry Marschel

Larry came to our store after our two previous store managers were replaced. He came to our little corner of Wallyworld during a time of low morale and some pretty nasty scandal.  The "cat" incident as it came to be referred brought our store unwanted notoriety. I remember feeling disgusted with the people involved in the incident, and I wondered if we as a store would overcome the stigma. We needn't have worried. After all of the hoopla, we got exactly what, or rather, who we needed to get us back to the business of being The Beast.

Larry Marschel died yesterday. I get a little glitch in my gears typing that last sentence; mainly because he seemed invincible. He was athletic, a dynamo that worked so hard at the business of running one of the busiest Walmart stores in the entire country that I used to think he was crazy.

I had NEVER seen a store manager work the way he did. He rarely was in his office; in fact, other managers and the district manager spent more time there. Larry was everywhere - one minute he would be on a fork lift bringing in skids to unload that night's truck, the next giving the best cashiers in the district a run for their money with his Items Per Hour percentage at the register. He would work sometimes morning, noon, go home for a bit, then work late during third shift, all to make our store the best it could be. To say he was dedicated to his job would be the grossest of understatements. He was exemplary, and everybody knew it.

But Larry wasn't just exemplary at his job, he was also kind, even when he didn't have to be. He could be firm, but never cruel. He was fair, and made you want to be as fair as he was. In short, he wanted you to be better than you were the day before, and he did that by striving for that same excellence in his professional and personal life. He was the exception that proved the rule, that life is a marathon, not a sprint.

When I heard that Larry was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, I was sure that if anyone could beat the aggressive form that he had, it would be Larry. He did not quit. It was not in his vocabulary.
He fought. He struggled. Even with chemotherapy and surgery that would drag most people down, he was working.

I remember the last time I saw Larry, at the Newburgh Walmart. He was stocking in infants, his walkie earpiece in place, box knife in his right hand, flying through boxes of formula and diapers like a machine. He told me that he was going to go for some experimental treatments soon, and would be off for a little while, but he felt good at the moment. And he did look good. I had hope.

Hope. We all live and breathe for that four letter word. Larry did more than just hope for a better outcome, or for a better life. He worked for it. Hope was the engine that fired that talented, kind, hard working guy. He knew that hope was essential to succeed, but that hope was just  pie-eyed pipe dreams without action. Larry was a man of hope and action.

Larry always used to say, "proper planning prevents poor performance". He was more than a businessman, however- he was a competitor and he was a winner. He won the hearts and minds of a group of people who were upset and disillusioned about the previous management debacle, brought us together, and made us winners again, too.

Larry was a winner to the very end. The world never forgets winners, and I will never forget his smile, his competitive nature, or the time I came in to thirty or so carts, full of stuff from my stationery department that he had drastically marked down for me; items that, before he came to our store had never seen the light of day, much less the bottom of a cart.

I had an ally in Larry. He knew that if I was to be a success, I had to be proactive and not reactive, make things happen, and work harder than the next guy. Break a few rules sometimes (his Mobile Retail Units, aka shopping carts full of markdown crap from two or three years ago were forbidden per policy) to get rid of the things holding you back.

 But his biggest impact on me was when he promoted me to Zone Merchandise Supervisor. Little did he know that that little promotion would set wheels in motion in my life that are still turning, long after I have retired from Walmart. My new job was not popular in my old relationship. So much so that I think that was the final straw that sent that particular house of cards tumbling down.

I was changing, and my ex didn't appreciate or expect that within a month of being promoted to ZMS, I would not only be single, but on my own for the first time since, well... ever.  I would have never had the confidence and will to leave him if certain things hadn't happened; and one of them was Larry's belief that I was the right man for the job.

So, in a very real way, I have Larry to thank for helping me to realize my full potential, even when I had no idea what that would look like. Sometimes things have to change, and sometimes that means *you* have to change. He was the change for me, and I will never forget it, or him.

Larry, wherever you are right now, know that you were a force for change in my life. You were an ally, a good example, a great boss, a good father and husband, a good friend...but above all,  you were a good man. For all of those good and fine things, I thank you.

Noah