Name: Nada Hyde
Position: Riverboat mascot – “There’s only one of me and there’s millions of folks out, but I try to get everywhere.”
Location: Southern Belle Riverboat Co.
First job: Working at Provident Life Insurance, now Unum.
Favorite part of the job: “I love when the children come up; they run up and give me a hug. When I get home, I always find a little bit of candy or syrup on my dress, and I have to clean it up. So when I’m doing that, I just say a special little prayer for each child.”
Least favorite part of the job: “When I was a little girl, I was outside all the time on a farm, but nowadays, the humidity’s a lot thicker than it used to be when I was little old gal out on the farm. Some days the humidity’s so thick you can’t breathe. But folks are real nice about letting me step in the lobbies, and they always offer me cold water.”
Best advice: Be grateful for what you have. “There’s a lot of homeless folks out here. When you think you’re down and out and you look around, there’s a lot of folks a lot worse off than you are. I may be hot out here, but I’m grateful to have my job. Sometimes a homeless person will come up and ask me for help, and I tell them to meet me (when I leave work). I’ll give them something to eat or show them how to get to the Salvation Army. I help them along the way. I’m thankful to have my job. I look around and I see these homeless families with nothing. I have a chance to try to lift their spirits. It’s awful hot out here, but I’m grateful to have my job.”