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 Selenik's last day at the post office paralleled his personality,
as the man of few words kept his focus on the work and he quietly
and diligently got the job done. His final day was however an
extremely busy 10 hour day that seemed to fly by every bit as
quickly as the years to retirement seemed to have crept up on him,
he noted in his speech on the workroom floor.
Given the busy nature of his job, he really had not thought much
about what he would do to pass the time until the day before
retirement, when he had a scheduled day off from work. "It was kinda
funny, yesterday was my day off and I was sitting around just
thinking about what if I didn't have to go back to work? What am I
gonna do today? About one o'clock I ran out of things to do," he
laughed and said, "And then I think taking like a nap everyday is
kinda nice. So I laid down for a couple minutes and slept for an
hour and a half."
He did mention seriously that he plans on doing a lot of things
around the house during retirement, like painting and fixing things
that will keep him busy for a couple months. "Then I'd kinda like to
find a part-time job around Lincoln and keep busy doing that every
week," he said.
 Looking back on his career with the post office, Selenik remembered
those early days on the job when even though he started as a
part-time flexible clerk, he was allowed to cross crafts and carry
mail on some days.
He particularly recalled one of the early days after he first
started and the supervisor Leroy Sablotny sent him out on the
streets of Lincoln just as the snow began to fall. "Leroy took me
out in the LLV and dumped me off and said start here," Selenik began
to laugh as he recalled the cold winter day, "It was snowing when I
started and the snow was that wet kind of snow that clung to
everything and everything was white. Most of the street signs, you
couldn't read them and some of the house addresses, you couldn't
read. That was a heckuva start. I just was freezing."
Current Letter Carrier Shawn Lock, who started the same day as
Selenik as a PTF Clerk, remembered that day, too, and laughed when
he said, "They pretty much sent Mike out there with a ball cap on."
Adding that was probably an exaggeration but the point was the guy
who was born and raised in Chicago really did not have the clothing
necessary for carrying mail in the middle of a winter storm and
therefore he decided to stick with being a clerk while Lock quickly
switched to the carrier craft.
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Selenik noted that he did finish the mail route that cold, wintery day, although
he had to take a thirty minute rest in the LLV to get warm and he added, "But I
liked carrying. I really did. But I liked clerking, too and I didn't really see
any reason to change. I liked carrying mail. I thought it was fun."
He also admitted to liking his job all these years. "I liked my job. I really
did. There have been a lot of good people at the post office and I have always
enjoyed being around them." To show the feeling was mutual, the post office had
a special breakfast for Selenik catered by IGA and a couple of his retired
buddies, Don Wolpert and TJ Jackson even showed up to offer their
congratulations.
Selenik resides in Mount Pulaski with his wife, Susan, who also works for the
post office in Warrensburg. He actually met Susan at Kmart when he was the
manager there and "she was my employee" he said coyly.
His career at Kmart lasted 20 years and his employment with the USPS began when
the Lincoln Kmart closed.
Selenik also has a daughter, Bree, who is a senior sociology major at Eastern
Illinois University. As a native of Chicago, Selenik is an avid White Sox fan
and you can bet he will have more time in retirement to watch his beloved South
Siders.
Congratulations, Mike, and enjoy retirement.
[Teena Lowery]
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