Davy
On February 9th of 2011 a great man passed away. I’ve worked with Davy since I started back in 2001. Everyone in the company let alone in our department was very sad to hear the news. It is very unusual to have an employee suddenly gone as the way they leave your everyday work life. Usually they got a new job, retired, or in more unfortunate circumstances…they were let go or they slowly pass on due to some illness.
Let me tell you a bit about Davy. He had worked for our company for well over 30 years. He was the type that would always be on time while he wouldn’t hesitate to pitch in and work extra until everything needed to get done. His role while I was there was basically running the true operations side of our IT business. Our company has applications and processes that have to be run nightly/monthly to officially close the books and prepare various functions for the next business day. He would come into work at 4 am and usually leave around 1 pm. I remember a particular winter where it had iced bad enough that all the businesses in our building chose to be closed for the day. Davy was there, on time, making sure every facet of the systems was ready to rock and roll. He seemed to embody what we think of chivalry as honor, respect, courteous, and other good attributes. He would try to stick up for what was right but also understood that not everything is right and sometimes we just work hard to make up for all the various business nuances.
Davy’s job was also very much a black box. As critical as it was, documentation was not pristine. When he went on vacation, which wasn’t often, someone else was able to run the processes. Several attempts had been made over the years to get good documentation in place, but it’s sometimes hard to document something that you just instinctually do. Eventually we got good documentation but it was after he left with plenty of trial and error.
On the morning of the 9th, I got into work just before 8:30. I was just getting my stuff situated when the manager of customer service mentioned that the checks weren’t available and the lights in the room where Davy works were still off. I went over to see if he had been there, thinking maybe he had come and gone even though I knew it seemed off. Nothing had been touched. I checked my work and personal voice mail. I checked my work and personal email. I checked my text messages. Nothing anywhere was found which is certainly unusual because any deviation from the norm was always communicated even at 2 or 4 am. I sent texts and called several times to him and also verbally asked one of the other guys in IT if Davy told them anything…nothing on either front. I went up to Susan in our HR department. As soon as I told her Davy hadn’t showed up, no communication was sent, and no response to texts she knew exactly why I was so concerned. We drove together over to his apartment which was only a few miles away. We knocked without answer and then went up to the main office so the maintenance person could go check. The maintenance guy found him on the couch covered like he was just sleeping on the couch, but unfortunately wasn’t.
From a business perspective, this was of course fairly complicated. Davy meant a lot to people, including myself, and without trying to take for granted the personal side of things, Davy’s business role was not only critical and business operational, but the task work from the night prior hadn’t been done. The business adjusted and just accepted that stuff wouldn’t be done that day. I only recall 2 times since 2001 that ever happened. First was a complete crash of the main production system and the second was Davy. Life and business move on, but that was a hard day. As you would assume, people politely stepped up to help out.
Around that time period management had to look at expense reductions even to the point of potential staff reductions. Sometimes the thought crosses my mind about his chivalry. To some extent like a movie where a hero jumps in front of another to sacrifice himself so that the other can live unharmed. There is no reality to that thought except due to his untimely passing we were left with one less employee and after that happened we re-organized our department such that we made it work. As I said, he passed due to natural causes and not in the form of that situation. Still, the chivalry of his character can be felt in all of it. In the end my mind just remembers him as a great guy, the kind that the world tends to commonly be lacking.
More than just a commentary about Davy, there are a few things to learn and remember from this. In business your employees, regardless how key or great, very well might not be there anymore. Hopefully it is due to something more positive like an awesome job opportunity. In those situations, with some stretch work you can still ask/inquire to them. In this case, nothing is available which is where DR/BC planning comes into play. It is also a good reflection for you. If you were to become permanently unavailable, what kind of state would you leave your fellow co-workers?
Text to my friend Sam (used to both work with and was his manager for a while):
Feb 9, 2011, 10:09 AM “FYI: Davy just passed away this morning. I thought you might like to know. When I have the arrangement info, I’ll send it along.”
Originally published: 7/14/2013
