With rising unemployment often leading the news each evening, I was thinking about my first job.
In high school (mid-1970s), as part of the ROTC program, I worked at Hallmark. Back then, cashiers actually had to figure out the change; cash registers didn’t do it for them. Unfortunately, math was never a strong point for me. One day, the assistant manager told me the manager wanted to send me to another, slower retail store. Age 16 is a tough age generally, but to be rejected, told I was a failure, was really, really hard to take.
The assistant manager felt sorry for me, and taught me how to count change backwards and in increments. She explained it in such a way that I was able to pick it up immediately. I was soon counting change faster than anyone in the store, including the manager. When the holidays came around, the manager hired me as paid employee.
I’ll never forget the kindness and generosity of the assistant manager who took the time for a struggling teenager. I’ve made a point of paying that forward with young people throughout my life, including a stint as a volunteer youth crisis counselor.
I still suck at math, though.
What was your first job?
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April 14, 2009 at 7:04 pm
mary
There was a local department store in the shopping center down the street from my childhood home. At 12 I got a holiday job ‘wrapping presents’ which sure sounded like fun. Too bad it was really about making bows by spooling ribbon on this hand cranked device for 8 hours at a time.
Oh, I think I wrapped a few boxes, if the more senior staff were at break…
But the whole idea of a local department store sounds so novel now. They had a full sewing department as well as clothing and housewares.
But don’t get me started on Jake’s 5 & Dime across the street, and all the bins of little things to buy. I loved that place. I could spend hours there, but they didn’t need a 12 year old bow turner.
Wonder what my pay was?!!