Wal-Mart 'Sticker man' loves his work

WASILLA -- Not many people can walk into the Wasilla Wal-Mart without getting a hello and a sticker from Stan Larimer, one of the Wal-Mart greeters that has been working in the store off and on since it opened in 1994.

"Wal-Mart decided to open a store and I said 'well, I gotta do something,'" said Larimer.

Larimer has worked many jobs throughout his long-time stay in Alaska. He first came to the state in 1959 and worked as a microwave technician, although he says he really didn't know anything about microwaves. He has worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman, he sold mobile homes and prefabricated cabins across the street from the Windbreak Caf/, ran an air boat in Fairbanks and even worked at JC Penneys for a time.

"I just kind of went where the wind blew me," said Larimer.

Even with all the different jobs he has held, Larimer said he has the fondest memories from the work he does at Wal-Mart.

"I really like it better than anything I've ever done," Larimer said. "I'm a people person, I like to talk with people, especially the kids."

It seems that communicating with the children that come into Wal-Mart is Larimer's specialty. In 1996, Larimer was handing out stickers to three siblings. When he asked the youngest child if he wanted a sticker, the kid loudly said "No!" Larimer asked again, but when the boy said no a second time, Larimer quickly slapped the yellow smiley face sticker to his forehead and told the boy that he was going to keep it on until he came and took it off. The boy took the sticker off later that hour, but the sticker on the forehead trick stuck.

"I've been wearing it on my forehead ever since," he said. "If I don't have one on I hear about it from everybody."

Larimer's nicknames, "sticker-head" and "sticker-man," have also stuck. After eight years as a pillar at the Wasilla Wal-Mart, Larimer said he gets recognized in some pretty odd places, including a number of places out of state.

"Someone recognized me in Detroit," he said. "Another person in San Francisco came up to me and asked if I was the sticker man from Wasilla. When I said yes, they told me to get back to work."

Larimer said he plans to work at Wal-Mart as long as he is able.

"I have a lot of fun with the kids, they come in screaming and hollering, and I can calm them down," Larimer said. "I love my job."