Jonathan David McCord
(November 30th, 1979 - June 14th, 2003)
Jon started working at Encore in 2002. At first I didn't like the idea of Richard hiring somebody else onto the staff, because I figured that they would be just another person to push me around or to step on my job security. Let's just say that I was very surprised when the time rolled around for the new graphic designer to start to see a guy around me age wearing a Spiderman shirt. I knew that this guy was going to be pretty cool the next day when I walked into his office and it looked like KB Toys had set up shot in his office.
During the first couple of months Jon and I had to work together a lot because I had to train him on phones. One of my first memories of Jon's crazy personality is when I had to call him from my office which was like 5 feet away from his, to practice the whole customer service deal. Every time that I called him he answered in a different voice and a different name. From then on I knew that anytime that I was down or needed a smile or a laugh that I could go and visit Jon's office and I would be cheered up.
For some reason we are always getting calls at work from people asking for the Gaithers. Jon thought that this was one of the funniest things in the world. Then he discovered that it would be even more fun if he would transfer the calls to me when anybody asked for Gloria Gaither. Then he went as far as to replace my name plate by my office with a post it note that read Gloria Gaither. For the next year or so you never could tell what my name plate would read. Nor his for that matter.
For my 20th birthday some of my friends asked me to go to Red Robin. Josh had class so he couldn't go and my mom wouldn't let me go unless I either rode with somebody or followed somebody. I begged Jon and Ben to go so I could follow them. Finally they gave in and decided to come. Jon came over to my house first and he wanted to come in and see my dog and my house. My dog had just had surgury and she was not supposed to get excited or she could hurt herself, so I didn't let him come inside. I really am sad about that, because my family never got to meet him. Anyways, at Red Robin Jon
told the waiter that it was my birthday so they came out with icecream singing and clapping and they made me stand up on the chair and wave at everybody while they shouted my name. It was so embarrassing, but it was so funny at the same time.
Last year I invited Jon to come to our church hayride. He came and he and my friend Megan hit it off pretty well and a couple of months later they were dating. That was really awesome to have one of my best friends dating Jon, so he was around a lot more and started coming to church. Megan and Jon were always a lot of fun to hang out with. Megan is really great.
That year on our annual Nashville business trip, our boss Richard sent Jon and I to the lobby of the hotel to find out what there was to do in the city. All that I can remember from that trip is the mullet lady with two teeth that was hitting on Jon and asking him what he was doing that night. It was so funny.
One thing that Jon did for me that really made me feel special was about 6 months ago when we were hiring new people in at work. A person came in that really made me uncomfortable and he knew it so he told Richard that he really didn't want to hire this person. That was one of the nicest things that anybody has ever done for me. That really meant a lot to know that he was nice enough to want me to be happy.
Jon was one of the nicest people that I have ever met and I am so glad that I got to know him for the short time that I did. The year that he was at Encore he really lightened things up and made our working environment a lot of fun. I was really amazed at his incredible artistic talent. One time I told him that I was cold at work. The next thing I knew he was handing me his gray fleece sweatshirt. He had clock out and walked over to his house to get it for me. He was also the one that always was there for me at work. I talked to him all the time, both about work related problems and things that were stressing me out in life. He always listened and showed that he cared and even remembered the things that I told him and asked me about them later to make sure that they had gotten better. Jon was one of the best friends that I ever have made and I am so glad that I got to know him for the time that I did. He showed me that I could look at life through a different perspective and life could be more fun. I will forever be grateful for that.