As far back as I can remember, I worked...at first, at about age 12, I babysat. Quite a bit, too. We lived in what was sort of a summer 'resort town', and if we put an ad in the little newspaper, we could usually get jobs with 'out of towners', or 'fudgies', as we called them...watching their kids, while they were vacationing. (actually, before that, our family worked at a friend's cherry orchard, just to help out, but I'd really like to forget about that) I kept my earnings in a jar and counted it often. After that, when I was 15 & 16, I worked at a local ice cream shop in the summer, earning $1.00 an hour. But, it was 1974, and $1.00 was perfectly okay. It helped out with school clothes, gas station candy, and whatever the new hit record was.
In the spring of 1975, I thought maybe I'd broaden my horizons, and try to get a job that paid a little more. It was going into the summer before I was a senior in high school, and although I was content enough to use one of the family cars to get to and from my job, and to drive it to school on a lot of days, I felt like I was responsible enough, and ready to have one of my own, if I could work all year round. The ice cream shop would close in the fall, and I'd have to find a different job then anyway, if I wanted to buy a car.
So the next stop over was a hardware store. They had a little of everything, like many places did back then.
One side was clothing, baby items, shoes, yarn, things like that. Since that was before there was a Walmart or Kmart in almost every town, many places carried almost anything people needed, whether it was basketball shoes or school supplies.
The other side of the store had hardware, toys and glassware, meaning they had a little of everything there, including something you could buy as a wedding gift or for a birthday party. And of course, sink and tub faucets, toilet seats, nuts and bolts...they made keys, too, and did small engine repair.
So, I stopped in there one day in the late spring, hoping maybe they'd be hiring for the summer, and I talked to the owner, who had by then, owned the store for many years. He and his wife and family lived upstairs, and I knew his wife also worked in the store, as I'd been in that store a thousand times...at least. I knew his kids, too, the oldest daughter was about 3 years younger than me. Nice family.
But, he said to let him think about it a little and that I should check back in a week or so. That was fine with me. I was glad he was at least thinking about it.
I went back in about a week, and the owner met me outside, and leaned into the passenger window of my dad's car that I was driving and said that he thought it would work out good, and that I could start on the following Saturday. Since school wasn't out for the summer yet, I was surprised that I could start before summer, but I was glad about it. And, $1.75 an hour. Cool.
But, what I didn't know is how that job would change me. I'm starting to get a little nervous, so I'll be back later to continue.
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