Members of a local community have formed an honor guard for a retired Kmart doorman who worked his last shift after 18 years.
A large crowd gathered outside the Stockland Green Hills store in East Maitland, in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, to cheer Glenn on as he completed his last day of work before retiring.
Video recorded at Glenn’s farewell shows customers applauding as they formed an honor guard.
Glenn was touched by her emotional farewell as he smiled and greeted customers.
He stopped to talk to many of them, leaning over to chat with the little boys who were there to say goodbye.
The ‘Surprise Clap Out’ tribute was organized for Glenn on Facebook, with the caption: ‘The amazing, charming, funny man we’ve all come to love who works the doors at Kmart Green Hills is retiring.’
Glenn was touched by her emotional farewell as he smiled and greeted customers.
“He was always cheerful, an amazing man and you should be proud of how he passed that on to others,” one tribute read.
Many Facebook users posted touching tributes to Glenn.
‘He’s the fun, cheerful grandpa to all the kids (who visit) Kmart, my little ones especially love him and my older kids think he’s awesome and has great dad jokes. They wanted to skip school to go to Kmart to say goodbye,” one person wrote.
‘What a great turnout… even people who had no idea before joined in to say goodbye to Glenn. “Our family wishes Glenn a wonderful, long and fulfilling retirement,” wrote another.
‘What a beautiful farewell to an incredible man. Honestly, I have never met someone so happy, friendly and kind in stores. “We will definitely miss him.”
“He was always cheerful, an incredible man and he should be proud of how he passed that on to others.”
One Facebook user summed up the community’s love for Glenn: “He makes the world a better place simply by being in it.”
Tributes on Facebook mentioned the famous jokes about Glenn’s father.
One post said: ‘I left yesterday with containers and a basket. His comment was very quick and brilliant: “Now you are contained, don’t become a fool.”
After bringing smiles to the East Maitland community for 18 years, Glenn will now have more time to devote to his hobby of astrophotography.
