Ad
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

After 31 years, Durango Albertsons says goodbye to Mike Rustad

65-year-old resident celebrated his last day of work on Thursday
Mike Rustad is seen in his Durango home on Wednesday with some of his Elvis collection. Rustad retired from Albertsons on Thursday after 31 years at the grocery store. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

After 31 years greeting customers at Albertsons, Mike Rustad punched the clock one last time on Thursday, not to work, but to enjoy his goodbye party.

At 65, Rustad has been in Durango for over 40 years and has spent most of that time working as a courtesy clerk at Albertsons, the grocery store at 311 W. College Drive.

Rustad said he is feeling good about the transition into retirement but also emotional.

“I made a lot of good friends along the way and I am going to miss everybody,” he said.

Developing relationships and joking around with Albertsons regulars has been the bright spot in his career, Rustad said.

Longtime Durango resident Randy Roberts developed a friendship with Rustad after running into him downtown and as a regular at the store.

“Mike is always real friendly. He’s an affable guy,” Roberts said. “I think for folks that got to know him, they really enjoyed seeing him at the store.”

Not many people are able to say they have worked 31 years for a single company, which Rustad said was hardly effortless.

Changes in work policy and managers have been hard to handle at times, and Rustad said he saw countless coworkers come and go over the years.

“I felt like half the time I wanted to be one of them,” he said.

Albertsons denied The Durango Herald’s request to attend Rustad’s going away party.

But his mother, Pat Rustad, attended and said, “It was a beautiful day, so many people came and expressed their affection and love for him.”

Like many service workers, Rustad found it difficult to handle rude customers. But he said the trick is attempting to let harsh words, “go in one ear and out the other,” even though it is easier said than done.

He has a developmental disability, a fact he is acutely aware of. Having a front-facing service role has exposed him to innumerable casual acts of cruelty, and managing the mental toll it takes was the hardest part of the job, Rustad said.

“I kept saying I was going to quit, mainly because I felt like I wouldn’t get discriminated against,” he said.

But his close relationships have pulled him through.

He said he regularly leaned on the words of a close manager who told him, “I don’t care if anyone doesn’t like you, I love you.”

For people struggling at their own jobs, Rustad gave some advice: “As long as you do a good job, don’t care about what other people think of you. Even if you are different like I am, don’t let anybody push you around.”

Doing a good job may come easier to Rustad than others. He is notoriously reliable, Roberts said, something Rustad himself confirms.

He thinks he may have taken only a couple of sick days over the past three decades.

While Rustad has been a dedicated employee, it is not because he has no other interests.

Mike Rustad is seen in his living room with his extensive CD music collection and paintings by his late father on Wednesday in his Durango home. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Rustad competed in the Special Olympics for about 11 years. He participated on the basketball, softball and golf teams, and he raced in various track and field events.

He is cheerfully self-deprecating when talking about his athletic career.

When he spoke about his time as a basketball player, he said he was never very good and eventually just got tired of it.

“I decided to retire like John Elway from the Broncos,” Rustad said laughing.

And while Rustad’s love of sports has dwindled over the years, his passion for music has not.

The living room in the duplex he shares with his mother has shelves crammed full of records and CDs.

Rustad said his love for music was inherited from his father, Rollie Rustad, a passionate jazz musician and prolific painter.

Rustad lights up when he talks about his favorite artist – Elvis Presley – of whom he has been an avid fan since his teens.

“When I first heard him sing – just wow, what a voice,” he said.

Rustad loves to sing, especially at church. He has been an active member of the First Baptist Church for more than 15 years and his faith has carried him through a lot of the challenges he has had at work, he said.

The Rev. Jimmy Thoma said, “Mike is the guy who sits in the front row, who always sings the loudest and who has more enthusiasm than anyone else.”

Thoma has known Rustad for the entirety of his eight years as pastor for First Baptist.

“The church would not be the same without Mike,” Thoma said. “Something would be missing.”

Rustad worked full-day shifts four to five days a week, and while he is still contemplating what he will do with the extra time retirement brings, he knows he wants to work with animals.

“Helping out animals is my biggest goal in life,” he said.

As a vegetarian and former animal welfare activist who protested outside rodeos, Rustad said he is going to look for new animal rights groups to join and hopefully volunteer at the Humane Society.

Although Rustad is no longer tied to Durango by his employment, he said he plans to stick around for the long haul because of his close community connections.

“I didn’t know what friends meant before I moved to Durango,” he said. “... I love them.”

jbowman@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments