had one floor for display and a basement for storage. I had a friend who worked there and told me they are always hiring. So as soon as I turned sixteen in September of 1960, I went to the store and filled out a job application. Started the following week. They had me in charge of the sporting goods and the record department. I was responsible for ordering and keeping the shelves stocked with sporting goods of the season and for ordering and keeping the current 45 records on the shelves. Pretty easy job. Or so I thought. I was OK with the sports stuff since I was a pretty good with athletics, but the record part was tough since I had no idea what was popular and what was not. Had to get help from most of my friends with that part of the job. Only worked two days a week from 5 to 9 PM and Saturday from 9 to 5 PM when the store would close for the rest of the weekend. In 1960, Pennsylvania had "Blue Laws" that forbid stores with non-essential services to stay open on Sunday. The idea was to have everyone go to church on Sunday. Later the law was repealed because it was unconstitutional. Made $1.35 an hour which, after deductions didn't give me much. The money I made from my job was used to keep my car on the road and to start to customize it a little. I also used some of it to buy some of the records that I was selling. I had quite a large collection of 45s by the time I left Grants for my next adventure in the retail business. But, that's another story. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photo shows some 5,000 people as they watched a parade and listened to speeches at the opening of the Lancaster Shopping Center in February of 1958
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The "First 'Real' Job" Story
It was an ordinary day. I was on my way to work at Grants Department Store. As soon as I turned 16 I thought I had to have a job to help pay for the gas and insurance for my 1953 Henry J car. For years I had raised guinea pigs in my back yard on Queen St. and had made enough money selling them to by the Henry J. But, this is my first "Real" job. The first strip mall in the area, The Lancaster Shopping Center, had opened in 1958 and had about a dozen stores. One of them was Grants which was a department store that had one floor for display and a basement for storage. I had a friend who worked there and told me they are always hiring. So as soon as I turned sixteen in September of 1960, I went to the store and filled out a job application. Started the following week. They had me in charge of the sporting goods and the record department. I was responsible for ordering and keeping the shelves stocked with sporting goods of the season and for ordering and keeping the current 45 records on the shelves. Pretty easy job. Or so I thought. I was OK with the sports stuff since I was a pretty good with athletics, but the record part was tough since I had no idea what was popular and what was not. Had to get help from most of my friends with that part of the job. Only worked two days a week from 5 to 9 PM and Saturday from 9 to 5 PM when the store would close for the rest of the weekend. In 1960, Pennsylvania had "Blue Laws" that forbid stores with non-essential services to stay open on Sunday. The idea was to have everyone go to church on Sunday. Later the law was repealed because it was unconstitutional. Made $1.35 an hour which, after deductions didn't give me much. The money I made from my job was used to keep my car on the road and to start to customize it a little. I also used some of it to buy some of the records that I was selling. I had quite a large collection of 45s by the time I left Grants for my next adventure in the retail business. But, that's another story. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photo shows some 5,000 people as they watched a parade and listened to speeches at the opening of the Lancaster Shopping Center in February of 1958
had one floor for display and a basement for storage. I had a friend who worked there and told me they are always hiring. So as soon as I turned sixteen in September of 1960, I went to the store and filled out a job application. Started the following week. They had me in charge of the sporting goods and the record department. I was responsible for ordering and keeping the shelves stocked with sporting goods of the season and for ordering and keeping the current 45 records on the shelves. Pretty easy job. Or so I thought. I was OK with the sports stuff since I was a pretty good with athletics, but the record part was tough since I had no idea what was popular and what was not. Had to get help from most of my friends with that part of the job. Only worked two days a week from 5 to 9 PM and Saturday from 9 to 5 PM when the store would close for the rest of the weekend. In 1960, Pennsylvania had "Blue Laws" that forbid stores with non-essential services to stay open on Sunday. The idea was to have everyone go to church on Sunday. Later the law was repealed because it was unconstitutional. Made $1.35 an hour which, after deductions didn't give me much. The money I made from my job was used to keep my car on the road and to start to customize it a little. I also used some of it to buy some of the records that I was selling. I had quite a large collection of 45s by the time I left Grants for my next adventure in the retail business. But, that's another story. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photo shows some 5,000 people as they watched a parade and listened to speeches at the opening of the Lancaster Shopping Center in February of 1958
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