‘It is not a job to me’: Shuttle driver loves meeting interesting people

MOSES LAKE — Ray Mayo said Moses Lake, and central Washington in general, are full of interesting people.

Mayo, 77, is a shuttle driver for Bud Clary Chevrolet of Moses Lake and Bud Clary Toyota of Moses Lake. The shuttle driver’s primary job is taking people to and from the dealership while their cars are in the shop.

“I do know how Forrest Gump felt when he opened that box of chocolates, because that’s my day, every day. I get to open a box of chocolates because I never know what I’m going to get,” Mayo said.

He’s been on the job about seven years, he said, and he has so much fun at it that he’s not ready to retire. He has given his bosses notice that he’ll probably retire from his full time job in a little more than two years, when he turns 80.

He said one of his customers on Friday, who needed a ride to pick up his car, was a mechanical engineer whose job with General Electric brought him to Moses Lake. A regular customer from Othello usually grabs a ride to a local restaurant. Some out of town customers take a ride to local restaurants, while others are ready to go shopping. Some set up a medical appointment.

“People that come here, this is where their dentist is. I take them to their dentist, and go get them,” he said. “I take people to the casino from out of town. When you come to town you make a day of it.”

“I take teachers to school. I virtually go to every school in the school district in the course of a month,” he added.

He’s met local business owners who are natives of India, he said, and other residents who are natives of Ukraine and Russia, or originally from Mexico and Central America.

“A couple years ago I had a guy from ‘Bah Habah’ (Bar Harbor), Maine,” he said. “You could tell by the accent he was from New England,” he said.

While the Mainer didn’t think Mayo had an accent, the two passengers he met a couple months later thought differently. They were lifelong friends, one on leave from the U.S. Air Force Academy, who were on a cross-country road trip to wade in the Pacific Ocean. They definitely heard a Yankee accent, he said.

“Look at the interesting people I get to meet,” he said.

He’s come to know many of his passengers who bring their vehicles in regularly.

“People you take to work, every three to four months, every 5,000 miles,” he said. “How much more fun is that? And I get paid to do this.”

The job is not restricted to chauffeuring.

“I never know what I’m going to get. I deliver parts. I go to the bank, post office, Department of Licensing, I run errands,” Mayo said. “This is not a boring, redundant job.”

And he’s just not ready to retire.

“I’ve never retired. And I don’t intend to,” he said.

Mayo said he’s not sure he could find enough to keep him busy in retirement. And besides, he would probably drive his wife Mary Ellen crazy.

“I have to (work). I have a short attention span. I get bored,” he said.

Working helps him stay active in a way being at home might not.

“I think that’s one of the advantages for people who still work,” he said. “I think you keep physically and mentally sharper. It’s the perfect retirement job.”

He’s a longtime resident of Moses Lake and knows the town.

“Like a lot of people, we came, we said we’d try it for a year because we were from the other side of the state. And 46 years later, we’re still here,” he said. “We watched them build most of this stuff.”

In addition, his previous job delivering linens gave him a familiarity with most of central Washington, from Oroville on the Canadian border to Mattawa.

“I know where Schwana and Beverly are,” he said.

And his employers appreciate him.

“It’s really, really nice to work in a place like this, where they actually value my age and work ethic. I get a lot of ‘thank yous.’ Every time I do something, somebody says ‘thank you,’” he said.

“It is not a job to me. This is a vocation,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.