See you in the morning boss...

The night before we were set to open our newest Jiffy Lube MultiCare store in Santa Barbara, CA, our team was met with tragedy. I have been personally struggling to process the passing of one of our own and I know several members of my team are struggling just the same. The numbness and overall shock that we all felt when informed of the news hasn’t quite worn off in the three weeks following. The passing of our team member was sudden, tragic and heart breaking for all of us.

Troy Jordan had worked for us for under a year. When he came to us, he was homeless and living out of his blue Ford Focus. As a bystander, you never would have known Troy’s plight. I will never forget the first time I met Troy at our Santa Barbara location. He was out washing windows on the back lot and it was a bit warm out. I walked up and introduced myself and he immediately lit up. I commented on how warm it was and Troy just beamed proudly and said: “I love it sir, it’s a great day to be washing windows.”

His positive energy and larger than life personality was infectious. At that time, I didn’t know the things Troy was struggling with. I was unaware he was homeless. I was unaware he was struggling, like many of us, with mental health. I was unaware of all the things going on in his life outside of Jiffy Lube that made his job as a window washer something that he held near and dear to him. Troy found a family in which he belonged. I was also very unaware of the impact that the young man would have on not only my team, but myself, in the short time we were given with him.

After a few weeks of working with us, I found out that Troy had purchased a laptop computer with his first paycheck. He wanted to learn anything and everything he could about Jiffy Lube. He was a bit embarrassed to share with me that he suffered from a learning disorder, and it took him several times of listening to and reading things to comprehend. He purchased the laptop so he could sit at Starbucks and take his time to go through his computer-based training. I remember how proud he was of his laptop! I told him that I had a laptop he could use for as long as he wanted, his reply was “Thank you boss, but this is MY laptop!”

One day when I stopped by the store to visit, I could see that Troy was down. I walked over and asked him if he was ok. He said he wasn’t, that he was feeling down, angry and upset. I asked if I could get him anything, lunch, a Starbucks or a big hug. He said: “Boss, I could really use a hug.” That vulnerability and innocence is what still makes me tear up today. I gave Troy a big hug and he gave me a little smile. He shared a little about what was going on with him and I asked him to come sit with me for a few minutes. I shared with him some of the things I have struggled with in life: Depression, anxiety and finding the right balance of medication, therapy and support that helps me get through each day. I was hoping that by me sharing my struggles with him that he would see that he was no different than any of us and had so much to offer this world.

When it came time to begin remodeling a location we signed a lease on, there were some tasks we needed some help on. Troy volunteered to come and help us with a few things. Troy quickly became a fixture of the new location and took so much pride in any task we gave him from assembling benches to painting the fence. What Troy didn’t know was that myself, our contractors, our management team, all looked forward to coming to work when we knew Troy would be there. I started referring to the store as Troy’s store. All he ever said in response was, “That’s right boss!”

Troy took great pride in everything he did getting the store ready to open. One day, I got to the store early because I had a conference call with a new vendor. The call went on for a few hours and while I was sitting in my car, Troy pulled up and parked. He got out of his car and walked up to my window but saw I was on a Zoom call so he wouldn’t make eye contact and walked away. He patiently paced back and forth, brushing his hair, for what probably seemed like an eternity to him. I kind of laughed and told everyone on the Zoom call that I needed to take a few moments an give Troy something to do. Deep down, I knew exactly what Troy was feeling in that moment. He was so anxious and full of anxiety not knowing what to do and not wanting to interrupt. I got out of the car and gave him my favorite, “TROOOYYYYYY” and he smiled and perked up.

The day before we opened the new location, and subsequently the day of Troy’s passing, he truly was having one of the best days of his life (as he told me just that). He was so excited for the opening of the store the next day. He took just as much pride as I did in going around and making sure all the little final touches were getting done. Three things from that day will stay in my memory forever. The first was Troy’s excitement when my brother Cody got our tire machine hooked up. He told Cody that he couldn’t wait to learn how to do tires. Cody let him give the machine its first action and troy let out a “Let’s gooooo” when he hit the foot pedal and the turntable spun!

The second – and most touching to me – was Troy coming up to me around lunch time with his huge smile an newfound confidence and pride. He told me: “Boss, I love my job! Thank you so much for having me here.” I have employed many people over the last thirty years. This was the first time that someone had expressed so much gratitude and joy towards their job, but I knew it was much more than a job to Troy. Troy belonged! I just looked at him and said, “Troy, we are the lucky ones to have you here" and I gave him a big hug!

Finally, as Troy was leaving that night, he told me how excited he was for the opening tomorrow. He couldn’t wait to see the customers lining up and to share all the hard work we had all put into making the store look great. He told me he wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night because of how excited he was. I related with that and told him I couldn’t wait to open his store in the morning. He walked away saying, “See you in the morning boss.”

How many times in life do we take that for granted? “See you in the morning.” It seems like an expectation, a given. Well, I didn’t get to see Troy that next morning. On what should have been such a magical day for Troy, Troy was no longer with us. My friend and team member John Shutt informed us that Troy had been at a BBQ with some of our other employees and passed peacefully on the couch. While many of us will never know Troy’s true plight, I do know, in my heart, that the last six months Troy was on this Earth he had found a home with us here at Jiffy Lube. I will miss than young man and his larger-than-life personality more than anyone I have ever missed.

While there is no way we can show Troy how much he meant to us (although I truly believe he knew), we can and will preserve the memory of Troy and how he impacted all of us. After his memorial, we will permanently memorialize Troy at “His store.” We will also ensure his legacy is kept alive as we raise money and awareness for those living in homelessness and with mental illness. We can all work to make this world a little better place, just as Troy did every day. If you want to contribute to our efforts on behalf of troy: Click Here.