Company Blog

Don’t Forget Where You Came From

by Adam Zack — January 21, 2026

Jose came to the scene and promptly went to get a bucket and mop to scoop up the “accident.”

I was talking to one of my managers last week and we talked about how far he has come since I hired him as a janitor over 14 years ago. His name is Jose Avila and he is now the receiving manager and is trusted to check in all deliveries, open the store, close the store, handle money, and supervise some of the team. He pretty much does anything we may need him to do to make the store a lasting success. He’s a big advocate of constant communication and his go-to line is: We take care of business!

He told me the story of how recently an elderly customer had an “accident” in the bathroom, resulting in a gross mess that had to be cleaned up. Jose came to the scene and promptly went to get a bucket and mop and tools to scoop up the “accident.” As he began, a group of young employees questioned him on what he was doing and why he wasn’t calling someone in the janitorial department to clean up the mess. He looked up at them and said “I do this to remind myself where I came from.” From his early days when pretty much all he did was clean up messes to now when he oversees hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory, he reminded himself to be grateful and to set an example that many people talked about for days. It was a terrific reminder to me to take nothing for granted, to appreciate the opportunities given and to never be so distanced from the employees who actually do the work to make my store successful.