Usually I close the shop for two weeks... or thereabouts... over the Christmas holidays. As the company is involved in skylights, and work really slows down once winter weather sets in, there is usually not all that much to do over the holidays. In fact, I usually end up feeding the staff for two or three months over the winter, so that they are available and ready when construction season picks up in the spring. Even though they don't get paid for all the days over the Christmas break, they seem to look forward to the time off.
This year, the shop closed on Friday December 20th, and will not re-open until Monday January 6th. On Friday the 20th we shut down production at noon, and had our annual staff BBQ. As in the past I picked up some steaks, and a bunch of food and beer, and we had our annual Christmas party. But this time around, things were a little different. Two representatives from the company that is buying the operation showed up for the BBQ. I made the announcement to the staff that the company had been sold. A couple of years prior I had let them all know that I was looking to slow down, exploring all options, and that the sale of the company would be one of them. I'm not sure if this really took anyone by surprise as it has probably been fairly obvious that something was up. A lot of people have toured the shop in recent months and there has been all sorts of discussion, correspondence and review.
I assured all of the staff that their jobs are secure and that the new owners need them to move forward. This was backed up by the two representatives that were present. I think everyone took it fairly well and hopefully there are no issues moving forward. I assured them that come the beginning of January it would be business as usual and I would be staying on for at least a year to transition into new ownership. I guess I will have to wait and see if everyone shows up, ready to work, in the new year. But, I've always tried really hard to be appreciative of the staff and to treat them like family. Probably to my own disadvantage as at times if felt like there was a sense of entitlement, and that my efforts were not fully appreciated.
Even though none of the staff are present over the holidays, I have been in to work every day except for Christmas Day. That will continue through the remainder of the holidays. I have a lot of things to wrap up in advance of the sale of the company. We need to complete a detailed inventory count and come up with an accurate valuation. I also need to compile a list of all payables and receivables, as well as close off the accounting system in advance of the sale. The inventory count was undertaken on the weekend of December 21 and 22, and I wrapped up the odds and ends on Monday the 23rd. I spent the weekend at the shop doing the count with the assistance of one of my partners. Since then I have been working on the valuation, and the rest of the paperwork.
With my retirement on the horizon, I don't really feel all that bad about forfeiting my Christmas holidays this year. I just keep reminding myself that in a year I will be fully retired and that all the days will be holidays. A small price to be paid for freedom from the daily grind.
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