When I was 16-17 years old, I worked in a three-story department store in the town where I grew up. I worked there full-time during one summer and after school and all day Saturday during the following school year. My pay was sixty cents an hours. (Boy howdy, does that date me.) In my department, we also got a discount on all clothes purchased which was a real incentive to me as a teenage girl.
Before the end of my first year there, a family friend of ours mentioned to my mom that the small factory in which she worked was looking for help and wondered if I might be interested in the job.
I went in for an interview with the owner of the company and was offered the job. I told him I was eager to accept but would need to give a two-week notice to the department store. I would then be ready to start in the factory when school let out for the summer.
On my next work shift, I went into Mr. Larkin's office, who was the manager of the department store, and gave him my notice of quitting. He asked why I was leaving, so I told him of the job I had been offered and of the pay increase going up from sixty cents an hour to $1.00 an hour. He told me that if I didn't mention it to other employees, he would offer me the dollar an hour to stay. I thanked him but said I felt it was time to make the move.
So, dear reader, where is all this preamble leading?
To this magazine from 1925 that my daughter shared with me a few days ago.
What a blast looking through it, reading the articles and looking at the many ads the magazine contained.
Imagine my surprise when I came across this ad for Stillman's Freckle Cream. The very same small company I started working for when I left the department store in 1960!
Stay tuned. Next blog post . . . my job and adventures working at the freckle cream factory.
10 comments:
Oh, my. I remember my grandmother using freckle cream on her hands. I don't recall the brand, but she had freckles on her hands which she thought made them ugly. To me, they were the most beautiful hands in the world, but she sure did want to get rid of those freckles!
Leigh - Curious that your grandmother had freckles only on her hands. I remember seeing people with freckles on their face when I was growing up, but never see that now. Is it because make-up (for adults) used as a cover-up is readily available now? Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw a younger person with freckles either. Could it be our complexions have changed that much over the generations?
As a long time furniture finisher/restorer, it amuses me to see air brushes in the makeup departments! (Not that I spend a ton of time in makeup departments....)
One of my favorite quotes: Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense.
My first job in a hardware store paid fifty cents an hour. Cheers!
Tim - I did always wonder exactly what was in the "freckle cream" that caused it to remove freckles. Had to be some kind of bleach? Yuck. And maybe ouch, too! (So, do you care to explain just how you did find out about air brushes in the make-up department? Hee-hee.) ;o)
Awaiting the next installment, with bated breath!
Rosalea - Don't get too excited! ;o)
OK, Mama Pea, You asked! Here is why I know about makeup departments: High quality soft bristle brushes (which I use to soften wood stains and glazes, much like softening makeup on faces) cost a ton of money at the art store. However, I discovered that the makeup companies subsidies the best brushes used for the same purpose on people's cheeks as I wanted on gold picture frames and fine carvings on furniture. Hence, since I'm from Iowa and not easily embarassed, I just walked right up to the counter and began my selections. People brushes have short handles, so I put long ones on for my own use (long handles have better balance for what I do).
I have hand tied sable brushes for gold leaf work. Some of those cost me nearly $200 each. So, I do occasionally spend some actual cash. But a buck saved, as they say!
And now you know.
Sometime, I'll have to tell you about two great big guys buying panty hose at the grocery store, and the old farm wife who nearly drove her grocery cart into the wall watching us. There's a reason, but it was fun pulling her chain, too!
Tim - Now that's thinking "outside the box!" And something we all should learn how to do more often. The scenario of the two macho guys buying panty hose sounds like a good blog post to me. I say go for it! :o)
Wow thats cool that you saw the ad!
Now this I need to read more of! Apparently some people are having freckles tattooed on their face now!
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