Boss’s generous surprise allows mechanic, 69, to retire
AUTO mechanic Albert Bringas, 69, was spent after long days on his feet looking under car bonnets and pulling apart transmissions. His back ached in the evenings.
‘‘I was getting more tired the last couple of years,’’ said Bringas, who for 13 years worked at Renown Auto Restoration in San Antonio, Texas.
He calculated he would work for another six months, pay off his mortgage and then retire. He was counting the days until he could spend more time with his wife and grandkids and give his body a rest,
His boss, Rudy Quinones, knew that Bringas – the oldest of his 13 employees – wanted to retire.
‘‘I never had any issues with him, ever,’’ said Quinones. ‘‘But I could tell that his age and the physicality of the job were starting to take a toll.’’
So last month, Quinones called Bringas into his office and put forth a question: ‘‘If we took care of your mortgage, would that allow you to retire?’’
Bringas was not sure he had heard his boss correctly. ‘‘I thought, ‘Are you serious’?’’
One week later, shortly before Halloween, Quinones accompanied Bringas to his bank and wrote a cheque for US$4986 (NZ$7800) to pay off the loan he had taken out with his wife Sylvia almost 24 years ago.
‘‘It was something I could do for him that would make the biggest difference,’’ Quinones said.
Quinones also knew that Bringas and his wife had helped to raise their 12-year-old granddaughter and were now helping to look after a new grandson, who is two months old.
After years of faithfully making monthly US$880 payments, the Bringas’s three-bedroom, 140-square-metre home was officially paid off.
‘‘I gave my boss a hug and told him, ‘Sylvia is never going to believe this’,’’ said Bringas, a Vietnam War veteran with two adult children and two grandchildren.
He said it was not the first time he had seen Quinones go out of his way to help his employees.
‘‘If somebody is down on their luck and needs a loan, Rudy is there for them,’’ he said. ‘‘And if your car needs some repairs or you need parts, he’ll take care of it.
‘‘He has a big heart.’’