Stocker follows code of ethics

May 26, 2006

By DAWN DE BUSK

Frontiersman

WASILLA - While other children chanted, &#8220Finders, keepers. Losers, weepers,” on the playgrounds of West Milford, N.J., Gary Schug always took a different tactic when he discovered lost items. He tried to return them to their rightful owners.

It's a code of ethics his father instilled in him, Schug said.

&#8220My dad would say, ‘When you find something, son, if you don't know what to do with it, let us know and we'll help,' ” Schug said.

Things haven't changed much.

Around lunchtime on Tuesday, in the parking lot of Wal-Mart where Schug works as a stockman, a wind gust blew an inconspicuous envelope across the asphalt. Schug briefly abandoned the shopping carts he'd been pushing and chased the errant envelope. It blew toward the automatic doors, where Schug trapped it with a heavy stomp.

Schug picked up then envelope, which held a tax refund check, and turned it over to the accounting department at Wal-Mart.

&#8220I wasn't even tempted,” he said.

Those same ethics with which Schug grew up appealed to him as the required behavior for Wal-Mart employees, including the associates who round up shopping carts left in the parking lot.

&#8220This is the first refund check I've ever found. We've found pocketbooks, wallets, a diamond necklace, and even loose cash. Once, I found a digital camera still in the box. All seven of us out here bring things inside for integrity and honesty. To keep something didn't cross my mind, even with money flying around,” he said.

&#8220People are in a hurry with kids, the wind, rain or cold, and sometimes, they forget something or drop something,” he said.

Tuesday's sunny weather attracted droves of people to Wal-Mart. Products for yard work and gardening grew increasingly popular.

Schug remembered striking up a conversation with an elderly lady as she exited the store. He asked her if she was enjoying the sunshine. She said the temperature was cold to her, and she would fly back to El Paso, Texas, where it was warmer, later in the week. He talked about working for Wal-Mart in Tennessee and Florida. She mentioned a new Wal-Mart Superstore was being constructed one mile from her home, he said, and she told him she looked forward to the convenience since the other store was 10 miles away. With a degree in sociology and an amicable attitude, pleasing customers is second nature to 50-year-old Schug.

&#8220When people from Talkeetna, Petersville, Hatcher Pass or Sutton come to Wal-Mart to stock up for their businesses, they ask for me,” he said. &#8220I know what items they need. I know how to help load their vehicles.”

Like his father, Schug embarked on a military career. His dad served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Air Force during the Korean War.

While in the military, Schug met his wife, Sandra, and they were married in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 5, 1982.

Next month, the couple will move into a new condo on Knik-Goose Bay Road. Schug said he looks forward to commuting on the well-maintained bike path. He rides his mountain bike to work.

&#8220I feel the people in Wasilla are honest and friendly and people-oriented,” he said.

That small-town feel reminded him of the rural New Jersey town of his childhood, which is what drew Schug and his wife to the Valley. Schug found that same environment in Germany's Black Forest region.

&#8220In a little more than a year, I could get my master's in management, and transfer to a Wal-Mart outside Munich, Germany. That's my goal,” he said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.