Friendly face leaving Elgin license office

On a November day about eight or nine years ago, a man dressed in a dirty painter's outfit walked into the Elgin Secretary of State's driver's license facility to buy a vehicle sticker.

He just had one problem: he was $10 short.

Barb O'Connor, a Carpentersville woman who waited on the man that day, lent him the money.

The man repaid her the next day.

"To this day, he comes in just about the same time every year and brings us all boxes of doughnuts," recalls O'Connor, now the facility supervisor. "It's little things like that that are neat. You never know. I always taught my kids you don't judge people by the way they look."

Since May 5, 1977, her first day at the Elgin driver's license facility, O'Connor has seen generations of Elginites and other Fox Valley residents get their licenses, take exams and buy vehicle stickers.

O'Connor, 68, is retiring on Saturday, Jan. 30 and she attributes part of her longevity at the Secretary of State's office to her love of working with people.

She also has a healthy sense of humor and doesn't take it personally when customers are angry.

O'Connor landed at the Secretary of State's office when it was looking for more employees to help produce photo licenses on site.

Her youngest of four kids was off to grade school and regular 9-to-5 hours made it a little easier to manage her family and household.

O'Connor stuck with the job after her husband, Roger, former grounds keeper at Wrigley Field, died in 1995 at the age of 53.

Carol Juza has worked as a public service representative for 10 years at the Elgin Secretary of State Office.

Juza, who usually does car registrations, said O'Connor shows customers that she cares and does not get rattled under pressure.

"She's absolutely given everyone her undivided attention and her 100 percent effort to resolve issues," said Juza. "She just makes you feel important. Customers come in when they don't have to just to say 'hi.' She's really well thought of in the community."

If people skills are one of O'Connor's strengths, her weakness is organization. For example, her desk is a mess.

"I'd rather wait on people than do paperwork any day," she said.

O'Connor said she usually would volunteer the Elgin facility to participate in the state's pilot programs, such as selling license stickers at driver's license facility years ago.

"You need to keep it interesting. You need to challenge your staff and yourself," she said. "The office is all about customer service. The more customer service you can offer, the better you feel."

Like most employees, she's had people try to bribe her if they failed part of test. She said it used to happen more in the past, but less and less now.

O'Connor never accepted and would tell each wannabe briber: "If you wish to support me in the manner I wish to be accustomed to for the rest of my life, go for it."

"It's not a comfortable situation, but it's something in our job that you know it's going to happen at some point," she said.

O'Connor doesn't have any huge plans after her final day.

She enjoys golf but is not very good at it. Having Mondays off was ideal because she and friends could golf and not worry about upsetting more serious golfers.

She's working on a trip to Florida with her sister, who also is retired.

O'Connor also will make more time to watch Chicago Cubs, her favorite baseball team.

"I really hate to leave the job, but it's time," she said. "And they know where to find me, if they need me. I told them that."