A funny thing happened to Bob Dzierba on the way to his brother's wedding
A funny thing happened to Bob Dzierba on the way to his brother's wedding last June. Bob himself received what he described as an unexpected wedding gift.
No. A wealthy widow did not put the grab on the handsome 25-year-old and turn the affair into a double hitch, if that's what you're thinking. It was better than that. And Bob is perfectly satisfied with the single life, anyway.
Taking time from his job in Chicago, he had come down to Bloomington specifically to witness the wedding ceremony. While in town he felt a strong urge to visit his former co-workers at Pearle Vision in College Mall. He couldn't have gotten a better welcome home than the one he received from manager Kim Strater. She'd been trying to reach him, calling the Windy City. She was anxious to tell him she was leaving and had recommended him to take her place, and that the job could be his if he wanted it. If that wasn't some kind of telepathic event, it was at least what Bob had been wishing for.
He previously had worked at Pearle as a lab technician. For months he'd been dreaming of such an opportunity so that he could stay in Bloomington. When hope dimmed he went to Chicago. But Bloomington was home. He made no secret of that, and good friend Kim remembered. When opportunity beckoned to her from Missouri, she started looking for Bob.
"When I worked here before," Bob said one day last week from the Pearle Vision store, "I had hoped to someday be the manager. When I walked in here to say 'Hi,' I was really surprised to learn that Kim was looking for me. It was," he smiled, "an unexpected wedding present for me."
That's only part of the story. Bob has a degree in math from Indiana University, and he perhaps could do well in that field. He prefers working for Pearle, something he also does do well. He is one of those people you like from the first moment of your first meeting; friendly, warm, helpful, competent, all the qualities you expect to find in a person working in a store, but rarely do. There must be numerous Pearle customers and other people who will stand in line to say ditto to all of that, he's that nice a person.
"My life has been good to me," he said after telling me about what he called his brother's wedding present to himself. But there were a few minutes one afternoon last July when he was tempted to doubt that. He had accepted the job at Pearle and returned to Bloomington to make all the necessary arrangements to move down from Chicago. With a Nickburger under his belt for lunch he started walking east through campus toward his next destination. His route took him behind Swain Hall and on toward Ballantine.
Because it was a hot day he wore only shorts and T-shirt, and carried his driver's license and his money in his hand. When he got to Ballantine he realized he still gripped his license but he'd somehow dropped the money: a $100 bill, two 50's, one 20 and two 5's."I had just got back into town," he recounted the moment of shock. "It was all the money I had. I needed it. And I'd lost it. I thought my life was over. I ran back hysterically, believe me. There was a gentleman and his wife and two children coming toward me and I asked if they had found the money. And the man said he had picked it up.
"I was so excited," Bob continued, "I told him I had just moved back to town and that I needed the money. I told him that I would give him part of it as a reward but that I needed every single dollar of it to find a house and get settled. I told him I hoped it would be reward enough for him to know that he had just saved my life. He believed me."
With his money back in hand Bob then continued his route, his feet never touching the ground. "I can't remember another time when I was so happy," he said. He was so happy he overlooked his manners and forgot to ask the good Samaritan his name. He did note that the man was wearing light brown slacks and a plaid shirt (and glasses of course). If he reads this and stops at Pearle Bob will thank him. But he should know that he's been thanked several dozen times already.
"It's a good thing I was in Bloomington when I dropped that money," Bob said he also kept telling himself. "If that had happened to me in Chicago I would never have gotten my money back."
Bob is slight in stature, 5-feet-1, and weighs 120. In light of that I had to ask a question. "Suppose the man had refused to give you your money? Suppose he wanted to think you were lying and kept it."
Bob said, "It would have been unbearable. Especially when you're supposed to be old enough to be able to take care of yourself. But I would have begged. I would have pleaded that I needed the money for my mother's emergency surgery. I would have tried something. Anything. But," he smiled, "nothing physical."
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bob Dzierba returns to Pearle Vision Bloomington
