Education Matters Online
Recognitions

Volume 2, Issue 3: March 3, 2004

For those of us who know him well, it is no surprise that the OSSTF Provincial Executive has snapped up Bob Fisher as their newest Secretariat member. He is a bright, articulate and hard-working person and his leaving has left a bit of a void here in our office. And as the person struggling to fit into his shoes, I am now the one fielding many of the calls about the contract. 

"Oh, so you're the 'new Bob'," I will hear on the other end of the phone, when I pick it up.

"Yes," I'll answer, "but with longer hair."

You see, part of the "Bob magic" was the fact that he is so much fun to work with. Did you know, for example, that he has a huge collection of Mr. Potatoheads? Yes, those Mr. Potatoheads in the photo above all belong to Bob and they resided with him in his office on the second floor here at Industrial Road. At last count, when he was boxing them all up for their journey to the third floor of Mobile Drive, there were eleven of them. I guess you could say that they are all moving up in the world.

One of them even has a repertoire of fifty "knock knock" jokes, most of them groaners. Every once in a while, we'd be working away in our respective offices, and all of a sudden the intercom on our phones would crackle to life and it would be the talking Mr. Potatohead doing a "knock knock" joke. We'd burst into laughter and then continue working with a smile on our faces.

Now things are decidedly quieter. We haven't yet been able to cut the apron strings entirely though. During this transition period, invariably one of us is talking to Bob on the phone about one thing or another. Whether it is "where will I find the file on 'such and such'" or "who do I call about...", we all still contact him every now and again. Or is it just that we miss the sound of his voice? Probably both.

In any case, Bob is very highly thought of here in our office and around the board office too actually. At a small gathering that we held for Bob just prior to his departure, Bill Bryce, the TVDSB Director shared with us a "grievance" that he said he would be sending to the OSSTF General Secretary. It stated that the board was "grieving" the fact that Mobile Drive kept poaching District 11's personnel--first Dale Leckie, then Ken Coran, and now Bob Fisher. The remedy that he suggested was a one-year moratorium on the hiring of District 11 members by Mobile Drive. We had a good chuckle over that one.

Congratulations, Bob! We are proud of you! Come on back and visit anytime!

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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