So What’s The Deal With Kevin?

So What’s The Deal With Kevin?
A Blog Story by Claire

Here at Cordillera Consulting we pride ourselves on having not only a professional atmosphere, but one where having fun is part of the day. If you have been following our blogs (strongly recommended) you will have read about our office mascot Kevin the sock monkey. How did a sock monkey named Kevin become the mascot of a fresh water monitoring lab you ask yourself? Well, as his mom let me tell you.

My name is Claire and I have been with Sue and Cordillera for…..a long time. In my role as Sorting Manager I help train all of our new seasonal staff in the fall. A few years back my daughter, who was in middle school at the time, was assigned to make a sock monkey in home economics. My daughter is a very creative child and took such undertakings quite seriously. When she came home with her sock monkey she was quite upset. You see, her monkey had crooked ears (deformed too), crooked eyes, a crooked smile, uneven arms, and a bottom, that well… made sitting straight not an option. She handed him over to me mortified at her creation and announced his name was Kevin. He had the face only a mother could love, and so I did. I thought he was lovely and he made me smile every time I looked at his cheeky, crooked head.

So what is a person to do with a little treasure that is so simple but makes you smile? You share it! I asked my daughter if I could take Kevin to work with me to show my colleagues. Of course she was quite hesitant about this, but she agreed. When I showed everyone Kevin in the morning he did exactly what I thought he would do, he made everyone smile and laugh. He instantly brightened our day. By the following week he had some clothes, the best seat in the house by the window and to top it off, he even got his own miniature microscope so he could look like he was working!! He had a banana shaped cake made for him (we ate it of course or that would have been a mess!) and he joined us on some lunch outings. At Christmas time we dressed him up as a Santa Clause in our window and he greeted the passerby’s with a floppy wave while sitting in a big wrapped box.

He has also joined us on some field trips. You can see he got up to some fantastic adventures with Adam and Rita a couple of months ago. I never thought I would see the day when a bunch of grownups, men and women, would enjoy hanging out with a sock monkey. When we get our new sorters he becomes a nice ice breaker in conversations. He has helped make what at times can be a solitary and dull job, into something light and social.

Great things not only come in small packages, but sometimes they are stuffed with cotton and lopsided too. Now that you’ve met Kevin, you can stay tuned into our blogs to see if he makes anymore appearances or gets to join us on another field trip.