The technology has changed over the decades, but the faces behind the counter are still as familiar as ever.
This year marks Sean Peychers’ 30-year anniversary at Motueka’s Reliance Betta Electrical, where he spends his days serving customers and delivering whiteware.
Sean’s employment radius is a compact one. He started out at Whitwells Menswear when he left Motueka High School and, after a stint travelling overseas, moved four doors down to what was then known as Appliance Court.
It was a learning curve for the then-21-year-old to pivot from selling shoes to moving fridges. Some things have changed during his tenure, with different brands coming and going and technological advances making some items more efficient. The biggest single change has been the size of televisions, which no longer weigh 60kg a pop.
Sean is reluctant to give store owner Craig Skillicorn the satisfaction of showing too much workplace exuberance. “It’s quite good” is the summary he gives his job, adding that he enjoys the variety of both chatting to customers and getting out and about to deliver items.
For his part, Craig reckons Sean does a pretty good job, except for that one time years ago when he tripped over a pot plant and dropped one of those enormous televisions.
“There was no catching one if you dropped it,” Sean agrees ruefully.
