• Job: Assistant doorkeeper, Georgia House of Representatives

KARL W. RITZLER/Special (ENLARGE)

As an assistant doorkeeper for the Georgia House of Representatives, Glenn Hartley Sr. gives legislators access to a refreshments lounge when the General Assembly is in session. 'I can't take sides,' he said. 'I open the door for Democrats and Republicans.'

• What I do: Glenn Hartley Sr. opens the door to government for scores of people each day — 180 of them, to be exact, and all of them members of the Georgia House of Representatives.

Hartley, 76, is one of 20 assistant doorkeepers in the House whose jobs are, literally, to open the doors for members.

He works the door from the House chamber to the north anteroom, a refreshments lounge just off the main room. It's stocked with food, beverages and telephones and has restrooms exclusively for House members.

While Hartley stands inside the anteroom, other assistant doorkeepers stand outside each door leading to the chamber.

"I open the door quickly and close it for them so it won't disturb the House," Hartley said. "I can't take sides. I open the door for Democrats and Republicans."

He admits, however, that he has favorites, "because they relate to me."

Whenever the House is in session, Hartley mans the door in 30-minute shifts, alternating with fellow doorkeeper Linda Collins.

"It's an ideal job for retired people, said Hartley, who retired in 1994 after 43 years as a commercial insurance underwriter. "We work three months a year and make a little money."

The General Assembly meets for 40 daily sessions, starting the second Monday of January and usually lasting into April.

Early in the session, Hartley said the legislators may meet for as little as two hours a day.

As the term progresses and more bills near completion, "the days get longer," he said. "They sometimes go to midnight or later at the end of the session."

When a special session is called, as it was last year, there's additional work for everybody.

All the assistant doorkeepers, who work under doorkeeper Phil Tucker, are retirees from other careers, Hartley said.

When he's not attending the door, Hartley mingles with legislators, lobbyists and citizens in the halls outside the chamber.

"It gives me a chance to meet all these other people — very interesting people," he said, pointing to school groups passing by, clusters of lobbyists or members of the media talking with legislators, and representatives talking among themselves.

• What got me interested in this: "Nothing in particular," Hartley said.

As he was about to retire from Allstate Insurance Co., a co-

worker told him that her father was about to retire as a doorkeeper at the Georgia House. "She said, 'You might like to do this,' " Hartley recalled.

He applied for the job, was accepted and began the next January.

Hartley had been planning to work after retirement, but all he found were minimum-wage jobs, he said. While waiting for the new legislative session to begin, he worked as a greeter in a grocery store.

"I consider myself patriotic, so I ought to give back something," he said.

He's also a poll manager in Gwinnett County.

• Best part of my job: "The people," Hartley said. "The other doorkeepers are nice and good to work with."

He also likes the part-time schedule, which "doesn't tie me down all the time."

• Most challenging part: "Driving down here every day" from his Sugar Hill home 38 miles away, he said.

• What people don't know about my job: "Every one of the representatives are people, just like you and me," he said.

• What keeps me going: "I just like to come to work. I worked 43 years and only took five days sick. You're supposed to work."

• Preparation needed for this job: Each year, the assistant doorkeepers must be invited to return, Hartley said. He has been re-invited every year since he began in 1995.

He said there is very little training involved — "just be nice to people, smile, be pleasant and like people."

Hartley is a graduate of what is now Snead State Community College in Alabama and worked his entire career in the insurance industry, with Allstate in Atlanta and Birmingham Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. in Alabama.

Hartley is a member of several civic and church organizations, is an alumnus of the Gwinnett Citizen Fire Academy for private citizens and keeps a collection of fire department memorabilia in his basement, which is open "by invitation only."

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.