He celebrated 50 years of employment with E Hayes & Sons last month and plans to work at the business until his retirement.
As a former pupil at James Hargest College he remembered "furiously cycling" through Queens Park at the age of 15 after school to get to his job.
At the time his role consisted of sweeping, and assembling lawn mowers for the company.
"School and I never got on, so I asked if they had a fulltime job and started working instead."
He signed up for a fulltime position in the inwards goods department on September 21, 1972.
From there he worked his way up to sales manager in 1983 and remained in the same position with the added title of retail supervisor.
He never expected to work for 50 years in the same job and believed it was the family aspect of E Hayes & Sons, Invercargill which kept him there.
He had seen ownership of the business passed down three generations during his time there.
He recalled Irving Hayes, who first hired him; Norman, who taught him the business of the trade; and current business owner Neville.
"When you work for them they look after you and they were always extremely accommodating and made you feel like you are a part of the family.
"I have a strong allegiance to the company."
A lot had evolved through the years including the price of a quart of paint, he said.
"We were big in serving the farming community and big in serving the industry of engineers, and today we have evolved to a trades zone and we are a big retail footprint."
The aspects he enjoyed most about his job included serving customers and finding solutions to their problems.
"If you help people it will always come back and it is serving the public and helping people which gives me a big buzz."
The wealth of knowledge he had built over the years was shared with his fellow staff members and customers.
"I don’t think anybody can fool me about anything we sell here. I’ve had a hand on most things."
He felt lucky to be a part of the management team and had a "brilliant time" with the company.
"I’m lucky to still be working, maybe not as hard, but I still have the same wit and my mind hasn’t gone anywhere."
Outside of work, he enjoyed fly fishing, claybird shooting and hunting.
