Of course, you need to understand what Vic was like before he left.
No one knew much about his background. One day he came to help us on a job in the centre of town and then stayed on the payroll. He was always good at his job. I mean, always—never seemed to have off days, or call in sick when he had a hangover, or pull subversive faces behind the manager’s back. Yeah, like I do. He helped with everything, too, wanted to be everyone’s friend, knew his way around the branch better than any of us. And that was after only a couple of months.
What’s more, he was always very caring with the clients. They often asked for him by name; they only wanted him to see to their family business. He had the right balance of solicitousness and pleasantry, or that’s how we heard the manager describing hi
