Wayne Frison had manager written all over him from the time he started working at Sunflower Food Store.
He often resisted promotions, and he even left the store a time or two, but today he is thriving as manager of Shoppers Value in Indianola.
Frison was not always the outgoing leader he is today.
He was enrolled at Mississippi Delta Community College in 1995 when he suffered the loss of his father. He dropped out of school to go to work, only to lose his mother two years later.
That is when he set his sights on becoming a bag boy at what was then Sunflower Food Store.
That position did not come easy.
“Every time I would come in, James (Jeffcoat) would say, ‘I don’t have anything for you today, but check with me next week,’” Frison said.
After six weeks of getting the same answer, Frison forced himself out of his shell.
“I’ll never forget it,” Frison said. “James and Johnny Mack were standing at the end of aisle three or four, and I walked up and asked him if he had anything available, and he said, ‘No, check back with me.’ I turned around and walked off, but I stopped. I turned around and walked back up to him and looked him right in the face and said, ‘You don’t know me, and you don’t know anything about me, but if you give me a chance, I will outwork any of these guys that you’ve got here.’ He just looked at me for a few seconds, and he said, ‘I tell you what, come back Wednesday with a white shirt, at 4 o’clock.”
Frison loved the work, but he was still shy when it came to his customers.
“One of my first customers I ever took groceries out for, they told me I’d make more tips if I opened up more and talked to the customers,” Frison said. “In my mind, I was like, it doesn’t look like I’ll be making many tips.”
Customers have a way of breaking that shell, Frison said, and he continued to open up through the years.
“I loved every second of it,” he said. “I never had an inkling of an idea of being a manager. I was just happy where I was.”
Frison would end up leaving the company twice, the first time in the early 2000s when he went to work at the Dollar General warehouse.
He was selling insurance for Liberty National when he returned to the store part-time. He eventually let the insurance gig go, and that is when things began to change for him.
On one of his days off, Frison happened to come into the store to buy groceries.
His supervisor told him the owners of the store were in town, and he wanted him to participate in a group session.
Frison went to the meeting, in his street clothes, and ended up giving an impassioned speech about customer service. He said he was insistent that he did not want to speak in front of the owners, but his supervisor volunteered him.
“From that, they ended up giving me a position,” Frison said. “They gave me a raise.”
Frison was then put in charge of training all new hires.
“I was excited and happy about it,” Frison said.
Three years later, Frison went back to work at Dollar General, but he would not be gone permanently.
“There was always this tug to come back,” he said. “I just missed it. I missed interacting with the customers.”
Frison said he felt that God was leading him back, and sure enough, he returned as assistant manager.
Much like his prior promotion, Frison was hesitant to take the new leadership role, but his supervisors saw the potential.
Last year, the position of store manager became available, and Frison was once again reluctant, but it was out of his hands and in God’s by that point.
“I didn’t plan on it being this soon,” he said. “I figured it would be five or 10 years down the road.”
Frison gives all the credit to God, but he is also supported by a strong foundation with his family, which includes his wife and five kids, as well as his in-laws, who have adopted him as a son.
“I had not had a father figure in my life since my dad passed in 1995,” Frison said. When (Rev. Richard Jenkins) came into the picture, it wasn’t easy, but he began to mentor me and help develop me in my spiritual walk. He would give me life lessons. He would always encourage me. I would not be the man that I am today had he not stepped in and took me on as one of his sons. He doesn’t even call me son-in-law. He calls me son, and I call him dad and father. He’s really been a strength to me, because it hasn’t been easy.”
Frison is married to his wife Pamela and they are raising Aaliyviah, Breanna, Caylah, David and Ethan.
Frison has one grown son, DeWayne, from a prior relationship.
In his spare time, Frison helps his in-laws, Rev. Richard Jenkins and Rev. Vivian Jenkins at their school, Restoration Ministries Christian Academy.
