When Delmar Stratagems relocated from Seattle to Detroit three months ago, 57 year old accountiing clerk Harold Walters was not invited to make the move. In fact, he was not even told the company was moving. Yet, amazingly, Walters showed up at the new Detroit office on June 15 – apparently having traveled the entire 2300 miles on foot, finding his way through sheer will and instinct. His journey took over five weeks
“It was a Friday morning and I got to the office at 7 AM as always,” says CEO Del Simmons. “And there to my great surprise was Harold, pacing back and forth at the front door.” When he saw his old boss, Walters broke into a big smile and started running around in circles and jumping up and down.
“He was dirty, exhausted, and he had lost a lot of weight,” says Simmons, “but I never saw a man so happy!” Brought inside, Walters quickly wolfed down six doughnuts and half a gallon of coffee.
“When your company moves across the country and doesn’t tell you where it’s going,” Simmons says, “most people would take the hint and move on.” He says he was so impressed by Walter’s perseverance that he decided to give him his old job back.
“He looked at me with those big pleading eyes!” says Simmons. “What else could I do?”
Simmons says the episode has caused the company to re-think its termination procedures. “Even if we didn’t want to tell him where we were going,” he says, “we could have at least said good-bye.”
But it’s all in the past now, says Simmons, as Harold Walters is now back on the team – adjusting to a new life in Detroit, and enjoying a daily walk around the park with the boss.
