My first 'real' job. A reminiscence.

[trof]

Yeah, I should post this in the 'Seniors Forum' but nobody goes there, so suck it up.

1955, I was 14.
Grandpa knew the owner (a fatherly old Italian guy) of a small local chain of grocery stores, so I had a foot in the door.
He had three stores that eventually grew to six or seven.
They were known for their high quality meat and custom cutting so we got a lot of customers who came for that and bought the rest of their groceries there too.

I started as a bagger, after school and week ends.
Minimum wage. 75 cents an hour.
I was a chubby kid back then, still had my baby fat I guess.
:-)
We wore dark pants (NO JEANS!), white shirts, and a black clip-on bow tie.
I'm serious.

I soon learned the ins and outs of the job.
We always carried the bags out to the parking lot and put them in the cars.
We (usually) were tipped.
A dime was the norm, a quarter was GOOD!
I soon learned who the GOOD tippers were.

Some of the guys I worked with I'll never forget.
Gary. A big, good looking guy. A senior and football player. Gary had 'his' customers. Big tippers. Some would ask for him. But woe betide you if you took one of his chosen. I learned that the hard way.
:-(

Foy. My first acquaintance with a redneck. He was a scrappy little 30-something guy. If he got into an argument with one of his coworkers, which he often did, sooner or later he'd say "Yer a-lyin', yer feet stink, and ya don't love Jesus."
:rofl:

Tony. He was the only black guy there. I'd guess he was in his late 30s or early 40s. He did NOT EVER work 'up front', bagging groceries. He worked in the back, unloading trucks and sometimes stocking shelves. This was Birmingham in the 50s. Tony was the one who showed me how to open a pack of cigarettes from the bottom. This was to deter 'bummers'.
"See, man? Open a little hole from the BOTTOM. That way the top looks like you haven't opened the pack, so if a guy asks to bum a smoke you can say AW, I HAVEN'T EVEN OPENED THE PACK YET."
In Tony's world, this was a valid reason not to share and kept the freeloaders at bay.

That's enough for now.
More if there's any DU enthusiasm.
:shrug:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

1. Keep em coming trof!

I love these kinds of stories.