Manager’s tall tales from the Tower

Warwick Bacon finally made it to the big office on the 10th floor of the Bunbury Tower.

It was once the office of the Minister for the South West but it is now used by the Department of Mines and Petroleum.

So it was fitting the Department allowed Warwick, a man who was the building manager of the Bunbury Tower for 16 years, to get his photograph taken in the prestigious office on his last day of work.

During that Friday, Warwick was sprung with a party by many of the office workers in the building. A couple of hours later he was interviewed and photographed by the South Western Times.

“Quite honestly, driving into work today was an anti-climax, ” he said.

“We (Warwick and his wife Sue) have been thinking about this for the last few months. We have been counting down the weeks.”

One of his proudest achievements as the building manager of the tower was the rapport he had built with the people who worked there.

He became emotional as he described his appreciation for the people who came to his final party. He said the relationship had once been between a building manager and a group of the tenants. But those tenants were now his close friends.

Warwick has a long history with the tower, having worked as a carpenter on its construction in 1986. But he admits he would never have thought he would be employed as the building manager 10 years after helping build it.

He can remember being given a mobile phone and a bunch of keys on his first day of work.

“I had no office and I had no idea how the power worked, ” he said.

In his first few days he had to deal with a massive power failure, people being stuck in lifts and a flood. There were doubts whether he would last the week.

“But now, I know it sounds funny, but the building speaks to me, ” he said.

“It is a living entity. I know it is hard to imagine but I have been here for so long that I can pre-empt when something is going to happen. The building is alive.”

Warwick is also quick to retell some funny incidents that happened in his time as building manager.

A few years ago he was woken early one morning by a call to get into the office quickly.

It turned out a frozen chicken had smashed through a window and was strewn on the floor.

Warwick thinks it must have been picked up by strong winds for the chicken to have the force to smash a window.

“Everyone joked about it because wingless chooks can’t fly, ” he said.

For the past 16 years, Warwick has been on call 24 hours a day and has driven about 1000km a week between Bunbury and his home in Balingup.

Although he enjoyed his working life, Warwick sees the rest of his life being about family, including his granddaughters.