Meet Connie Horne, the Office Manager of our Christiansburg Store. She is the gentle welcoming voice that you will hear when walking into our Christiansburg showroom, or calling the store. Connie is very friendly and outgoing, and loves greeting the customers. She makes everyone who comes into the store feel at ease with her kindness and down-home charm. She makes new customers feel welcome, and returning customers feel like they are visiting an old friend. She gives the store a warmth and a feeling of home that makes people want to continue to come back to see us.
As Leo Buscaglia said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” While Connie would be modest and tell you, she is just doing her job, I think her kindness and actions have a much further reaching effect on our customers than she would allow herself credit for. I’ve seen many smiling faces leave her desk.
How did Connie become this welcoming warm person we know today? Connie grew up in Salem, in what she describes as just a normal little neighborhood in the city. Her Dad was a truck driver, and her mom stayed at home with the kids. Connie is the middle child, with one older brother, and a younger sister. When she was older, her family moved to Shawsville, where she attended high school.
Hard work has always been a way of life for Connie. She thinks hard work builds character and says it has helped her be thankful for all the things in her life. Connie began working when she was fourteen and taking care of herself and her own expenses. When she was sixteen, she was married, and her first child followed a year later. Today, Connie is the mother three children, and a grandma to one precious granddaughter.
Before coming to Ideal, Connie worked as a cashier at Wade’s Supermarket, and then she worked as a manager of a Day Spa Salon for several years. The Salon moved locations and the job just wasn’t the same, so Connie began looking for a new career path, and that is when she saw the ad in the paper from Ideal Cabinets. When she interviewed, she told Ken (Rakes) that this was a dream job for her because she loved watching HGTV. They still enjoy a good laugh about that. Who knew HGTV could draw in new employees for Ideal Cabinets ? We are thankful that it did.
We asked Connie, “What is your Favorite thing about working at Ideal Cabinets?” She said she loves working with the customers and helping them choose the finishes and countertops and then seeing it all come together. She really enjoys the before and after photos of the projects. She says “The transformations are amazing.” She is right. There seems to be no limit to what our great team of designers and craftsmen can do together.
When Connie isn’t helping our customers, she enjoys many types of crafts, including quilting, flower arrangements, and sewing. She even makes her own greeting cards. She used to have the nickname “Martha Stewart”, but after that little incident where Martha was incarcerated, Connie asked for a new nickname.
Connie also enjoys traveling with her husband, Keith. One of her favorite places to visit is Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee. She loves the mountains. But that doesn’t mean that she isn’t always up for a great beach trip too.
Connie has been with Ideal for over ten years, her dedication and commitment are greatly appreciated by all who work with her. The work ethic that she developed at such a young age certainly shows by the hard work that she puts into making sure each customer’s needs are met, and that the Ideal Cabinets’ standards are kept for each project. She always helps to make certain that we live up to our name. Connie is an example of someone who has weathered life’s storms, and can proudly say just as Vivian Green did that, “ Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass … It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
