Invested in the blue vest

Jessica Bergman is the longest-standing employee at the Moscow Walmart, but she doesn't believe she will have a job at the retailer by the time the calendar flips to May.

Bergman, 52, is one of hundreds of disabled greeters Walmart plans to phase out next month as the company shifts the position to a more physically-demanding role. The new position requires employees to be able to lift 25-pound packages, climb ladders and stand for long periods.

It leaves Bergman, who has spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord fails to close properly, no option other than to end her employment. The 25-year employee was informed late last month her final day is April 26.

For Bergman, the money she makes from her two four-hour shifts is secondary to the eight hours per week she gets to mingle with her community.

"I like being out talking to different people, listening to a lot of different conversations," Bergman said. "Seeing how other people live."

She has her "regulars." Over the past quarter century, she's received nearly a half dozen handmade quilts to keep her warm next to the automatic doors at the entrance to the big box.

And there's not many places in Moscow she can go without someone stopping and saying hello. After all, she's greeted thousands and thousands of people in her nearly 26 years under the blue vest.

"It makes me feel like I'm contributing," Bergman said.

While some greeters throughout the nation have been informed they may keep their jobs, Bergman hasn't received that call. She's not sure she wants the job anymore.

Her mother, Myrna Bergman, said the corporation has made its intermittent leave policy more stringent in recent months, requiring her daughter to have a doctor estimate how many days she plans to miss per year, along with other paperwork and questionnaires. She said she thought then the company may be trying to force her daughter and others with disabilities out.

Jessica Bergman said she isn't sure if she wants to deal with the new hoops.

While she will miss the extra spending money, she's more upset and concerned about other greeters, like John Combs, of Vancouver, Wash., who has cerebral palsy. He told KOIN 6 News in Portland that he uses his Walmart income to "pay for his rent and his dog."

"It's not fair we're people, too," Jessica Bergman said.

She blames corporate higher-ups.

"The manger said she would keep me if it was up to her," she said.

It seems few people are as dedicated as Jessica Bergman. She broke her leg twice - both times at work.

While her legs are brittle and more subject to breaks because of her disability, she continued to take the bus and never thought about giving up her job.

Jessica Bergman said her job accounts for most of her interactions with the community, and it provides money to get around and visit the mall and restaurants. It allows her to be a working member of the community.

"They've been good to me," Jessica Bergman said of the company. "It's like a family that I'm leaving."

She said after Walmart, she plans to work for the Kingdom of Jehova's Witnesses handing out pamphlets, and she will get out with her care providers more often. She'll also probably have more time with Hako, her vocal Shih Tzu.

"It's not good for the people with disabilities, not just Jessie," Myrna Bergman said. "She could just retire. Jessie is sure she won't be in another position because she doesn't qualify. She can't lift 25 pounds, can't climb a ladder."

Jessica Bergman can be found noon-4 p.m. today and Friday at the entrance to the Moscow Walmart. Her last day is April 26.

Josh Babcock can be reached at (208) 883-4638, or by email to jbabcock@dnews.com.