As I came into the office I passed an attractive older woman in the parking lot who stopped and asked my name.  Recognizing her, I replied " I'm Flick, and are you Mrs. Jenkins ?"  and she was.   I asked how the Reverend Jenkins was and she informed me that he had passed three weeks ago.

Reverend Jenkins, who was indeed a man of God, but never let that get in the way of a good hustle, was one of the first people I met when I took this job.  He showed up in my office congratulating me on the hire then informed me that he " was here for his no-show job, to be compensated for being my liaison to the black folk".  Then he added, " ....kidding...but maybe not, if you know what I mean."

He'd visit me a couple times a year over the last dozen years, usually to bust my chops our lack of diversity as a pretext to telling me about his life, moving here from South Carolina, about being the first black salesman for GM, about friends, about family, about being an entrepreneur and a gentleman.  He was truly one of the better parts of this job.

In his honor I happily share this story.    

Rev. Jenkins came in one day after being gone for a while and I said " I"m glad you're here, you're always saying that we never hire minority candidates and so I'd like to introduce you to our newest employee ".

I said "Reverend Jenkins, I'd like to introduce you to our newest hire Patrick Murphy."

Rev. Jenkins looked Murphy up and down and turned to me " Why in God's name are you showing me this white boy ?!"

To which Murphy responded, " WHITE BOY ?!?!   I'm IRISH !!!"

RIP