Posted by: Gayle Weitzman
Anyone who knows me also knows that I am just not one for the limelight, no big splashy good-byes for me, no interesting interviews, not a picture, not even a little peep out of me. Give me the back row seat any day and I’m one happy camper!
And yet, here it is, here I am, writing a little piece, with even a little picture too. Woo Hoo! But the truth is, I feel that I just have to make an exception here with my usual way of being. I am leaving my work post as the Ad Manager with the OSCAR with both mixed feelings and big gratitude. A thank you is in order here, to OOS residents and businesses alike.
I’ve been at it a long time (let’s just say many, many moons now) and it’s given me the opportunity to know so many people in a special way. I have had the honour of getting to know the OOS and Glebe business people, and what an amazing bunch of strongly determined, interesting and eclectic people they are. Their hard work is impossible to overestimate. This job has also allowed me the pleasure of meeting such a multitude of OOS residents. The ones with the missing cats, the found bikes, the houses to rent, not to mention the local tutors, pet-sitters, plumbers and painters, and so many more, making up what is our little gem of a neighbourhood.
Until recent years I’d been working in various schools in both the public and private systems, mostly in their offices and sometimes in their libraries. When it was time to move on and leave it behind, I knew I still couldn’t leave my best job ever with the OSCAR. But now the time has come for me to forge ahead, and for someone else to discover what a great little job this truly is, the best on the planet, and best-kept secret … (well, ahem, till now!)
Where else could I work my very own schedule, be somewhat of my own boss and at the same time work with an impossibly great group of dedicated and talented people at the paper, not to mention kind-hearted and team players, and also be an integral part of the community in more ways than I ever could/would have otherwise been? This job is one that doesn’t sit separately from one’s own life ….. sell an ad while out enjoying espresso? … answer e-mails while supper’s stewing? … pick up cheques (yes, we’re still using those at OSCAR!) while out on a lovely bike ride? No, this wasn’t a job as much as a lifestyle.
And so with this I sign off, passing on a very fun position to one very lucky guy who will soon learn exactly how lucky he is. I know you’ll be as wonderful and welcoming to him as you always were to me. I’ve had my go (and what a long go it was) and it’s now someone else’s turn to move in, to bring new blood, to enjoy.
And so for once I just had to step right into the limelight to give thanks where thanks is due, to the very special and friendliest neighbourhood in the country, OOS!
Au revoir, See you in the ‘hood,
Gayle Weitzman
This article originally appeared in the October 2020 edition of the OSCAR