The season has turned and Billy Indrisano, the beloved manager of the Wit’s End Café, has graduated and passed the torch.
The Wit’s End, a central part of the social and gastronomical life of the UMB community, has a new manager, Ozgur Ozer. Talking about Billy, Ozer said “It’s hard to replace him because he was so well liked, but I’ll do my best.”
Many who worked with, or knew, Billy were touched by his charm. Linda Smith-Mooney, an assistant director of Student Life, and advisor to the Wit’s End, said, “We’ll miss him. He’s hard to replace, because of his personality-he was everyone’s counselor, friend, you name it.”
Joyce Morgan, director of Student Life, was also fond of Billy, “His personality was a morning pick-me-up, sometimes people didn’t even need their morning cup-of-coffee if they met Billy.” Morgan added, “But I look forward to having Ozgur as manager, she’ll bring her own identity, her own brand of happiness.”
Billy had been the manager for Wit’s End for the last “three or four years,” according to Smith-Mooney, though he had attended UMass Boston many years before and had left UMB for a couple of years, and he had worked at the Wit’s End when he first attended UMB.
In late June there was a cookout and get-together at the Fox Point Pavilion to bid Billy goodbye. Billy then went on an extended vacation to California and returned in late August, his skin a healthy bronze tone from a summer of golden California sun.
Ozer is the first Graduate Assistant to be the Manager of Wit’s End, and said she is honored to replace Billy as the Wit’s End Manager. “Before, I worked for a construction company, as an engineer. Now I’m in Management and will deal with people much of the time, and I enjoy interacting with people. I’ll also benefit [from being the manager of Wit’s End] because I’m an MBA student.”
Ozer had been the manager of the Wit’s End Kiosk before being named manager of Wit’s End. Smith-Mooney said that Ozer had applied as counter help, but after Smith-Mooney read Ozer’s resumé she offered Ozer the manager’s position at the Kiosk. “Timing is everything, they say. Ozgur applied right as we were having the grand opening of the kiosk. I took her down there and showed her that and said, ‘How would you like to manage this?'”
“Her resumé was phenomenal,” Smith-Mooney said, though Ozer will be limited from getting paid for more than twenty hours because she is an international student. Smith-Mooney said that the two assistant managers are always there to assist Ozer. Anders Rasmussen will continue as night manager, and Danielle Devin will be the day manager. The new kiosk manager is Ruchi Dupre.
Originally from Turkey, with an undergraduate degree from her home country, Ozer has rapidly gained command of the American language and culture. She has been in the United States for almost a year before she took a return trip home for a month-long visit. “It was a great to go home; I missed my country so much. I got to see my friends and my family. I had a wonderful time there, but I am excited to be back here. I am ready for the semester.”
Ozer is eager to return to her new position and about additional improvements Wit’s End will be implementing. Wit’s End recently added games, such as chess, dominos and cribbage, as well as juggling balls. “I’d like to make it a fun place for students to spend time,” Ozer smiles, hinting at even more to come.
Ozer and Smith-Mooney are planning an outdoor café near the kiosk, and have arranged for furniture and “more things to play with,” as well as working on plans to bring musicians to the outdoor café.