I met Jon Petering shortly after first being hired at the Beavercreek Kroger on May 8, 1989. He had already been there for a couple of years at that point so he was comfortably seated near the top in seniority on the bagger schedule (second only to Ashok Sohal), working Monday thru Friday the 9am – 5pm shift. So during the school year, I usually only ran into him at the end of his shift. It wasn’t long before I took a liking to Jon. He loved to talk and pontificate on any number of subjects – often with brutal honesty and exuberant conviction. All of his revelations generally started with the phrase “Yeah, buddy…”
He loved his Cincinnati Bengals and he had all sorts of theories as to what was wrong with the team, as well as the company…and the world. He blamed long lines at Kroger on customers who paid by writing checks. In fact, he pretty much knew what was wrong with all things Kroger, including the unending and continuing foibles of management. He was always a treat to listen to, mostly because he only spouted off his beliefs with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, always looking for a reaction from the listener. In any case, Jon was one of the nicest guys I worked with in those days. He’d give you the shirt off of his back if you asked for it.
Although Jon was living at home, he would often invite our group of baggers and other store employees to his place for cookouts and drinking fiestas. These were great times that we all remember fondly. I recall many Summer nights in the early 1990’s at Jon’s place, stumbling through the evening. When it came time for the 1992 Sons of the Desert convention to be held in Las Vegas, Jon decided that he wanted to get away and come along with us. For months before the convention, Jon kept saying, “Yeah, buddy…I can’t wait to get on that plane to Vegas.” The photo of us above is from that trip. I always thought it was hilarious that the photo of Morrissey on Denise’s t-shirt looks just like Jon.
Jon and I decided that we hadn’t seen one another since I left the Beavercreek Kroger store in 1996. We actually spoke by phone a couple of years ago but never had the chance to meet up. Last night on April 7, 2007, I enticed Jon to coming over for a visit since Jennifer Young was going to be here also. He hadn’t seen her in almost as long as it had been since he’d seen me. So the three of us had a nice evening reminiscing and drinking a few bottles of wine (well, technically Jon doesn’t drink, but he always seems to absorb our intoxication). Jenn and I decided that those ten or eleven years that we hadn’t seen Jon had just completely melted away. Jon hadn’t changed a bit.
It was great to see him and we all look forward to the day when we can have a larger reunion of our other Kroger friends from back in the day. We’re working on it…
Continue with 2007…
Continue with the next reunion…
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