Kathy Meza of Fillmore.

Her full name is Mary Katherine Meza but everyone knows her as Kathy.

She has been a most dedicated member of the Safeway/Vons Fillmore market since 1980. I speak from experience when I say she is the hardest working, most conscientious member of the store. Kathy has worked in many capacities and is in her 38th year with Safeway/Vons.

Above and beyond her normal duties, She has developed a 15-minute presentation that she takes to preschools, kindergartens and first grade students in Fillmore. "I talk to them about the supermarket (dressed in my uniform), I read them funny books about the supermarket and take my play shopping cart with fruits and vegetables and discuss these, and always give out cookies at the end."

Kathy enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and traveling.

Grandparents Cayetano and Natalia Munoz moved to Fillmore in 1907. "My father John was youngest of 10 children. I graduated from Fillmore High School in June of 1970, and married Ramon Meza two months later. We welcomed our son Ray in 1971 and our daughter Lydia in 1975. Ramon passed away in 2016. Both children are now married; I have 4 grandchildren."

Kathy began working at Safeway in 1980; it was bought out by Vons in 1988. Her position as Supervisor from 2008 to the present involves many tasks, from resolving customer service challenges, servicing money orders, money distribution, supervising breaks and lunches, and much more. Being bi-lingual quickly proved its value when Kathy's first 5 customers were Spanish-speaking only.

Kathy never seems to slow down and always has a cheerful greeting for the many customers who have known her, sometimes, for decades. She is the kind of person all companies seek to hire.

As Direct Pricing Auditor from 2005 to 2007 she oversaw 19 stores in her district, trained new Scan Coordinators and back-up scans, and audited each store at least once a month to prepare for regular corporate audit.

Kathy has also prepared all tags for the reset crew for every store remodeling, as well as coordinated all pricing matters (tags, signs, corrections) when a new store had a Grand Opening.

She also wrote and taught the Advanced Application Manual for file maintenance.

Kathy's duties and corporate accomplishments are too many to recount here, so I will have to summarize.

She was Back-Up Scan Coordinator, Fillmore, 1993-2005, managing a price change crew of seven, and passed corporate pricing audits consistently.

Kathy's extraordinary work history at Vons would seem to merit corporate and managerial appreciation.

This tribute to Kathy Meza is meant to acknowledge her personal efforts in managing the market's affairs and to express the appreciation of the thousands of customers who meet her every week.

Thank you Kathy, and we really do appreciate your cheerful, personal assistance.
Martin Farrell
Publisher
The Fillmore Gazette