Georg Salbaum, at Memmert since 1964 and most recently in the dispatch department, began his retirement after 46 years at work. If you wanted to have a chat with Georg Salbaum on July 29th, 2010, you almost had to queue up.
The long-serving employee is so popular at Memmert that many of the guests who had come to Büchenbach at the occasion of the opening of the Memmert football ground and the putting into operation of the new punching and bending line wanted to once again wish him all the best for his retirement.
In her words of thanks, managing director Christiane Riefler-Karpa mentioned the childhood memories she has of Georg Salbaum, as he had been in the company before she was born. He had always been of assistance to her and her sister during their holiday jobs. It would always be a mystery to her how he could exactly predict, without a pocket calculator or computer programme, how many CO2 incubators INCO, constant climate chambers HPP or incubators would fit into a 20-foot container, especially as these shipments always consisted of different types of ovens.
Werner Gerhard, factory manager in Büchenbach, also mentioned an amusing anecdote that probably reveals the character of the new retiree like no other. Just two weeks before he was leaving, Georg Salbaum said to him: “What’s the matter, Mr Gerhard, presto, presto! Where are the ovens? We’ve got to generate sales!” And since Georg Salbaum wants to keep his hands busy in future, the qualified carpenter asked for a scroll saw as a leaving present, which he can use to make even finer woodwork for his four children and five grandchildren. Angels, squirrels, other animals and all types of wooden figures are in demand from his family at Christmas time.
And so that Georg Salbaum can at last sometimes have a little rest, he was presented with a large red metal cube, with the inscription “Energy results from calmness” and the signatures of his colleagues. In his speech, Werner Gerhard explained the story behind this. He held up a small, worn out wooden cube and said, smiling: “You can probably find 80,000 fingerprints of Mr Salbaum on this red cube. In our department, it is placed on an appliance, and that is the signal for that appliance to be expedited.”
With all the best wishes for his future, whether this be played out presto, or more calmly and relaxed, and the hope that he will still be seen at Memmert often, Georg Salbaum received his well-deserved send-off into retirement, to the applause of everyone present.
