Tony Montana: Goodnight to the Good Guy

                              "You never know, that dishwasher could be a beholder."
                                                                                     --Rick Ross, "Push It"

Antonio Montana--Tony to all--will be retiring from the Uhle Tobacco Company at the end of this week.  In his 31 years of work there, he has done it all---the store, the warehouse, shipping and receiving, tobacco blending, even some bookkeeping.  In everything, his diligence came through--we could all depend on Tony Montana.

A Cuban native, Tony first came to Milwaukee in 1980.  He was part of the Muriel Harbor boatlift, though he rarely talks about his younger life; he had, as all of us do to some extent, a reckless youth, and put it behind him.  Through a friend of his, he came to Milwaukee from Miami, even though "I had other paths open and things, you know.  But I just wanted to try something new in the land of opportunity."


When Tony first started at Uhle's, the country was in a recession, as it is now.  His outlook, though, never wavered:  "You work hard, you earn it.  Though I have to say the bankers had better interest rates back then," he said with a chuckle.  And he remains optimistic about the current tough economy:  "Just keep at it, keep moving product.  You don't have to break your back, but you go to stay loyal--to your suppliers, and especially your customers."

He credits Uhle's with his sense of thrift.  "I never owned a house.  What do I need all that room for?  I don't need some fancy staircase or a statue.  I learned to be happy with what got."

Like all of us, he wasn't above temptation:  "I think everybody wonders 'what if.'  If I had stayed in Miami, I don't know if I would have been happy."  But instead of wanted the world, he made peace with his decisions:  "It's, you know, the people around you that matter.  I learned that here.   For a while, I thought I couldn't change, that I wanted too much.  But I learned to be happy."

He's not happy, however, about the restrictions on smoking that he has witnessed over his long career.  "It reminds me too much of The Beard," he said, referencing Fidel Castro.  "Restrictions everywhere.  Telling you what to think, what to feel.  For me, smoking is part of the freedom of this country, and it's really sad to see it turned into something people think is bad."

He leaves Uhle's happy, though.  "I have changed for the better.  I have made friends and overcame my past.  It was being here that caused me to be a success.  I made it."  I wanted to ask him if "here" meant this country or Uhle's, but he of course had been called away to help someone.

Thanks, Tony.  When we see you leave Uhle's at the end of this week, we know it is the last time we'll ever see a good guy like you.
Twitter:  @thepipebit