Please join me in congratulating Gary Pierce, the second Employee of the Quarter for 2013. On January 4, 1999, Gary was hired on with Houston’s to work in the warehouse, and he transferred to the IT department on August 15, 2005.

Gary’s job as an Information Systems Technician is seldom boring. A self-proclaimed “Mr. Fix-It,” we go to him with all our electronic fix-it needs: computer malfunctions, the network, the main system…anything electronics-related. He likes that he can work on a great variety of things—from downed computers to malfunctioning telephones to warehouse guns—over the course of a single day, and that his work keeps him roaming from place to place within the building and warehouse. There have even been times when he has been flown to Kansas City to remedy phone problems or other such glitches. Gary especially looks forward to Fridays, the IT “dip day”, when every third week he gets to be food-creative (but let’s face it, bacon is a common ingredient in his concoctions) and bring in yummy dip for the staff to enjoy.

Naturally inquisitive, Gary likes to figure things out, and this, in a nutshell, is the reason he is so good at his work: if he doesn’t know something, he will do whatever it takes to find it out. He is a Google master, often using the search engine as a resource for helping him to solve problems. In Gary’s words, there is “always someone smarter out there who has already fixed your problem.”

After work, Gary likes to visit his great-grandson, play some X-Box 360, watch TV, and sleep. Sounds like some much deserved down time after a hard day at the office! Congratulations Gary and thank you for all your hard work!