Members of a local community have formed a guard of honour for a retiring 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 NSW to cheer Glenn as he completed his last day of work before retiring.
Video shot at Glenn’s farewell shows customers bursting into applause as they formed a guard of honour.
Glenn was touched by his emotional sendoff as he smiled and waved at customers.
He stopped to talk to many of them, bending down to have a chat with young children who were there to say goodbye.
The ‘Surprise Clap Out’ tribute was organised for Glenn on Facebook, captioned: ‘The amazing lovely & funny man we have all come to love who works the doors at Kmart Green Hills is retiring.’
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Many Facebook users posted heartwarming tributes to Glenn.
‘He’s the funny and chirpy grandpa to all the kids (who visit) Kmart, my little ones especially love him, and my big kids think he’s awesome and has great dad jokes. They wanted to skip school to go to Kmart to see him off,’ one person wrote.
‘What a great turnout… even people who had no idea before joined the rest to send Glenn off. Our family wish Glenn a wonderful, long and fulfilling retirement,’ wrote another.
‘Such a beautiful send off for an awesome man. Honestly I’ve never encountered someone so happy, friendly and kind at the shops. He will def be missed.’
‘He was always joyful, an amazing man and should be proud of how he spread that to others.’
A Facebook user summed up the community’s love for Glenn: ‘He makes the world a better place just by being in it.’
Tributes on Facebook mentioned Glenn’s famous dad jokes.
One post read: ‘I walked out yesterday with containers and a basket. His comment was so fast and brilliant, “Now you’re contained, don’t become a head basket.”‘
After bringing smiles to the East Maitland community for 18 years, Glenn will now have more time to devote to his hobby of astrophotography.