By Suzanne Wilson
Daily
Hampshire Gazette June '97Daily
Hampshire Gazette June '97| (6/6/97) --"I felt that I could offer more," says Michael Cote, recalling the nearly 10 years he spent at Riverside Industries as a production worker. He did various tasks, most of them involving hand assembly work. "They would kind of move me around," he says, depending on what needed to be done. |
| About four years ago, Cote, 35, and the staff people at the Supported Employment Training program began the process of finding a job outside of Riverside for him. When an opening came up washing dishes at Sylvester's restaurant in Northampton, Cote was willing to give it a try. The pace was too hectic and confusing, however, and the position didn't work out. Cote's next try was at The Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, where he did kitchen work and mopped floors. But that job was also too fast-paced and demanding and Cote decided he wanted something different. |
| Then a staff person at Riverside came across a notice for an opening at the Ames department store in Southampton, where they were looking for someone to help out with a variety of chores. It was an entry-level position that paid minimum wage. That was in June 1993 and Cote has been there three days a week ever since. "I punch in at 9," he says, "and I leave at 4." On days off, "I try to do something around the house," says Cote, who lives with his parents in Westhampton. |
| First thing after getting to work in the morning, he usually tidies up the parking lot and the store's entryway. He sweeps the sidewalk. During the day he helps set up displays, dusts the racks, stocks shelves, unlocks the fitting rooms for customers. |
| "The hardest thing to learn was to memorize where all the things went," he says as he sits down for an interview in the employees' break room. Like all his fellow employees, he is wearing a green Ames vest and a name tag. When he first started work, he sometimes came in an hour early to study the aisles, so he'd remember where to put everything from Barbie dolls to hardware. "I had to get more and more familiar with the store. There's always a lot of things to do." |
| Starting at Ames |
| When Cote started at Ames, a staff person from Riverside came with him daily for about the first two months to assist in the training and the transition. |
| Gene Traver, Cote's current job coach, now stops in to see him only about once a month. Traver checks to see how things are going and, if necessary, works with Cote on anything he's having trouble with. One current project the two have been working on is trying to master using the pricing gun that spits out the price labels. Cote says it hasn't been easy figuring out how to get the numbers and codes lined up correctly. Another item on their joint agenda, says Traver, is encouraging Cote to keep a running list of chores that need to be done so that his supervisors don't need to remind him. Traver says he's seen Cote gain considerable self-esteem and confidence at work. "He's shy at first with people," he says, "but I think he sees himself as a peer among the staff." |
| "Mike's very good, very reliable," says James Shea, the store's assistant manager. Shea says he can't remember a day that Cote ever called in sick; the few times he's ever missed a shift have been due to weather-related transportation problems. |
| Cote says he likes his co-workers and the customers who frequent the store. "There's always nice people around," he says. He offers a visitor a copy of the latest Ames company newsletter, saying that it's full of information about his store. |
| Suddenly the voice over the loudspeaker says that Mike Cote is needed back in the store to help a customer who wants to use the fitting room. He gets up to head back to work. |
| "I like it because I can try to solve people's problems in finding a certain item," he says. "If they're not sure, I try to help them find it. It kind of makes me feel a little bit happy." |
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