I really don’t like giving these columns up for personal issues but this little bit of navel gazing will have to be an exception. Ann Taylor has left the Pontiac Printshop, and it’s going to really complicate our lives.
For those that are unfamiliar with our business, Ann is the go-to person for, quite literally, everything. Shop manager doesn’t come close to describing what she means to myself and her other colleagues, she is the glue that has held the place together for years.
An extremely resourceful leader, she could diagnose and fix an issue in the time it took others to even realize that something was wrong. It didn’t matter if it was a toilet, a router or a reporter malfunctioning, Ann would be in there with her sleeves rolled up, fixing the issue herself.
She started working at the shop 42 years ago (which you can read more about on the opposite page), and experienced the changeover from analog to digital production. In the days before Google, if she didn’t know how something worked, she would take the manual home and read it cover to cover. Our gargantuan printer/copier is a labyrinth of motors and circuits which she can navigate with ease.
When she tried on several occasions to explain to me the intricacies of our shop’s email server, she might as well have been speaking Hebrew, I didn’t understand a word.
But more than her technical problem-solving skills, Ann is respected by everyone because of her work ethic. She led by example and put in more hours than anyone. When the shop was closed earlier in the pandemic, she made her home phone number available for people with pressing concerns.
She wasn’t appointed to be a leader, she earned it with hard work. If she asked you to do something, she had likely mastered it herself and knew precisely how long the task should take to complete.
She would humour me by listening to whatever I had to rant about on a given day, which is what I think I will miss the most. We discussed everything from politics to technology to management techniques and I tried to absorb as much of her knowledge as I could. She helped me immeasurably when I had just started out and was thrust into the editing role after only two months on the job. She cut us fellas in the newsroom more slack than we probably deserved and was always a calming influence when we were freaking out before a deadline.
As the shop’s unofficial HR rep, I had to admonish her on numerous occasions for risqué jokes and teasing, but she rarely respected my authority.
The tasks that she used to perform have been divided among several members of the team, but things will likely be hectic for the foreseeable future. We all know our jobs, but without a fearless captain at the helm, our ship will be adrift.
Ann, I hope you figure out what to do with all your newfound spare time. Don’t forget to visit.
Caleb Nickerson
