The Champ
When I see and hear about young college students desperately striving to meet rising tuition costs, some with seemingly lifetime repayment loans and others with under paying jobs, I think of my college experience. When I was going to school, it was necessary that I have some kind of part time job to pay for books, transportation and spending money.
While my folks did not have the means to assist me, I was able to live at home and it did not take much to meet my expenses. Having been granted a tuition scholarship, I did not have to concern myself with those fees. You may snicker at the $10 a credit cost in those years (compared to the huge charges today), but back then the $1,000 – $1200 for the year was a lot of dough. During the summer months, I managed to find a 3-month job as a busboy/waiter up in the Borsht-belt Catskills and was able to earn and save some $1500-$1600 which really relieved me of financial pressure.
While I have written about my Catskill experiences, I never discussed my 4-year sales “career” at an A.S. Beck Shoe store in “Joisey” City. Unless there was inclement weather resulting in fewer customers and a call from the store manager telling me not to report for work that day, I worked Thursday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday. During the Easter and Christmas seasons, I worked every day except Sunday.
My job as a shoe salesman was to wait on customers by showing and trying on shoes. In those years you did not walk into the store without expectation of someone assisting you (I recently went into a local chain and sat there for 10 minutes before a live body showed up to help me). As a matter of fact, as soon as someone entered the premises, the manager would direct one of us to wait on him/her.
Most men usually stayed with their accustomed style in brown or black while women would be more flexible with the latest styles. Older woman continued to wear “high tops”, some requiring a hook to lace up. Customers would spot a shoe in the window, write down or remember the style number assigned to it, and ask for that style when they entered the store. We would measure their feet (sometimes not a pleasant experience) with a device similar to the metal length and width device still used today. If the size was in stock, they would try on the shoe and if the fit and style were satisfactory, a sale was made. If it was not in stock or the customer just did not like the appearance of the shoe, we would try similar styles as a substitute, and if the customer insisted on that item, we would try to persuade the customer to back order it for them.
At the pay counter we would promote Esquire shoe polish to maintain the look of the shoe. At $.25 a jar or tin and a 5 cent commission for us we pushed that polish, along with men’s socks. Women’s stockings and handbags were sold by the counter cashier. Incidentally, were you aware that that little bottle of 25 cent polish and/or shoe wax tin today goes for $6 -$7 each these days?
The shoes sold for $5.99 – 7.99 which, compared to Thom McCann and National shoes was expensive. However, the quality was a little better and the target market a higher demographic. My pay was $.60/hr with 1% commission on regular merchandise sales and 5% on discontinued items. With the salary and commission including the $.05 for each polish I sold, my earnings averaged $12 – $13 a week. Now, this is
1946 – 1949, and my not having a car, sporadic dating, and wearing neat but not stylish clothing, that was not bad for a person in my situation. I even contributed $10 a month (how generous) to the household expenses.
One of my jobs which resulted in my missing several holiday celebrations and my high school prom was helping to take inventory each Saturday, month end and New Year’s Eve. Remember, there were no computers then and therefore no perpetual inventory systems. I developed a technique for clearly and quickly calling out inventory item code numbers and sizes by emulating a tobacco auctioneer. Thus, on a Saturday night after the store closed, I would call out the items remaining on the shelves. I would yell something like style such and such, 4 benny twice, charlie 3 times, david once; 4 ½ benny once, Charlie twice, david 3 times and eddie once. The names, of course, indicated the width of each shoe as in benny, a B and Charlie a C, etc., etc. I developed a rhythm and sound like the old Lucky Strike commercial. In fact, I was so good that I won several prizes (usually a silver dollar) and appeared once in the Shoe Corporation of America (parent company of A.S. beck) monthly bulletin in a 5 liner praising my “expertise”. Our district manager called me the best and fastest in the business which I must now laughingly say made me quite proud of myself.
While I made a few extra dollars, the disadvantage of that inventory taking was that I had to work late on “date” nights and holidays. Also, and this really saddened me then, I had to stay late on my prom night. My girl friend at the time, Ruth Greene, did not forgive me, and we never dated again.
I guess one of the most memorable of events that happened in that store occurred on my watch. An attractive, fashionably attired woman came in and asked for a certain style in her size. I brought them to her and helped slip them on. She walked up and down the aisle assuring herself that the fit was correct. When she returned to her seat she did a final test by stamping her feet on the carpet. Suddenly, and this happened so fast, I could not believe it, her underpants dropped around her ankles. In one unbelievably swift (and athletic) movement she stepped out of them, shoved them into her pocket book and bolted out of the store. I still smile over that.
So there you have it. That’s the way it was in “ancient” times. I thought until recently that things were easier for young people today, but on reflection, with the economic mess we are now in, the contraction of the job market (better paying jobs in particular), and those looming loans, I’m not so sure. Since the future and well being of the country will depend on our cognitively competing in the world, I am perplexed by our under funding of education. But that’s another issue that needs addressing. Maybe, in our simpler times we were better off.
AS – 06/2012
