It may seem like a quaint notion today: An employer makes a hire; the worker is diligent, reliable, a quick learner and loyal. The employer recognizes the value of these traits and does everything possible to reward and challenge the worker in order to retain that employee. This relationship works, is highly beneficial mutually and lasts for going on over 30 years.
It almost seems the stuff of fiction as employers today are largely behind the eight-ball when it comes to workers who have the upper hand in the supply and demand equation, with unemployment running between two and three percent and labor demand far outstripping supply.
But such employer/employee relationships do exist as Janna Faber, operations officer, and Bill Dritshulas, owner of Havre's Duck Inn, have readily testified.
In fact they nominated 30-plus-year employee Trudy Meyer for the Gary Langley Memorial Worker of the Year Award which was presented to her at the 52nd Annual Montana Tavern Association Convention in Kalispell Sept. 12.
The award is sponsored by the Montana Tavern Times. She was presented with a unique plaque featuring a bartender's stir spoon and jigger as well as a $100 bill at the convention banquet. The nominating essay was published in full in the Sept. edition of the Tavern Times.
Meyer immediately puts people at ease with her genuine, look-you-in-the-eye, forthright manner, as this reporter found out recently when he sat down with Trudy for an hour at the Duck Inn in mid-October.
She's evidently a natural when it comes to the hospitality business which is the most people-oriented of them all.
In fact, her first job when she was 15 was waiting on customers at a little drive-in called Clyde's In And Out. Later she waited on customers at the Broaster, then at the Little Big Man restaurant.
She continued to work in various foodservice and adult beverage businesses while she drove school bus and started rearing her daughter and son, Stephanie and Corey Connor, both now well into adulthood. In fact Stephanie works up the street at Murphy's Pub, a business operated by Dritshulas' son, John Bania.
Trudy recalls she was about 27 when she and a friend decided almost on a whim to apply for jobs at the Duck Inn Tavern. She was hired and hasn't looked back for the last 30 years. In fact, she was recently named General Manager and serves as a vice-president of the parent corporation.
In the meantime, the Duck Inn operation grew exponentially and certainly is the anchor of Havre's hospitality and convention businesses. Situated at the east end of town, it once was simply the Duck Inn Tavern, but now features two restaurants including the upscale Mediterranean Room, a classy casino, and an upstairs convention center/ballroom that will accommodate 250.
Across the street the corporation operates the Great Northern Inn, The Emporium convenience store/fuel station/RV park and a new casino-lounge called, flatteringly, Miss Trudy's Casino!
Dritshulas is also building a mini-mall at the other end of the town which will incorporate a new hotel.
Trudy grew up in tiny Kremlin, a Great Northern Railroad "tank town" and whistle stop west of Havre.
"I'm a Kremlin Fox," says Trudy. "The fox is the school mascot," she quickly explains, adding that she and her four classmates graduated in 1968. Her folks raised five kids who all pitched in on the family farm as soon as they were old enough.
"We grew up working," Trudy states simply.
She was married at a young age, then divorced, and has now been married to Jake Meyer, a BNSF railroad conductor for 26 years.
Her dedication to family runs deep as she says her 14-year-old grandson, Logan, is "the light of my life." Outside of work, Trudy says she spends most of her time following the exploits of her eighth-grade grandson in his sports endeavors, who she characterizes as "a very good athlete" who plays basketball, football and the rest.
She started at the Duck Inn as a bartender and dealt poker games for many years, but says she has taken turns filling in at every job there is in the establishment at one time or another, from washing dishes to waiting tables.
Right after she landed that first bartender job, Havre and the Duck Inn were hosting a major Shriner convention and Trudy laughs today when she thinks back on that "trial by fire."
"I just like being around people," she says. "That's what keeps me going." Working at the Duck Inn "is part of my life," she adds, "so it' not really a job. You can trust people around here; people are honorable. I just live by the Golden Rule: I treat people the way I'd like to be treated. That makes for better relationships and a better business."
"I enjoy working for Bill," Trudy continues. "He knows he needs good people so he takes care of them. He's a good guy."
She certainly appreciates quality workers.
"They're hard to find," she concedes, "but we have our key people, thank God. They are loyal and have a good work ethic and are dependable. We have a lot of people who have been here a lot of years. One bartender, Donna, has worked here more than 40 years.
"I couldn't do my job without the good help that I have. You have to stay on top of it; you can't not be here. We have many deserving employees. I'm very thankful for them."
Trudy concludes, "If you love doing what you do, it's not a job."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, November, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.