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5. Today is Labor Day in the United States. How old were you when you got your first job? What was that job? Did you enjoy it?
My first real job was with David's family at their Western Auto Store in Iva, South Carolina. It was the summer that I turned 19. I enjoyed it very much and looked forward to it being my lifetime job. David's dad died a few years into me being there and that was the end of that job, that store, and a lot of other things. Our lives were forever changed.
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Nice learning about you! Love the photo too. Have a lovely day ♥
ReplyDeletesummerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
Thank you. It is one of our favorite photos of us together. It was taken just before we got married. :)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting, and for leaving your link here. Have a blessed week.
I am sorry that David's Dad passed so young.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen. It was a tremendously difficult time. He was such a big part of our lives, as most daddies are to their kids. We were nowhere near ready to let him go. He was only 52 years old when he died. He had two grandsons at the time, one almost a year old (ours) and one just past a year old (David's sister's son). He was so proud of those boys.
DeleteMy daddy made it almost a week past his 71st birthday, and still, that was just too soon for me.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a great week!
Gosh, I remember those Western Auto stores. I guess that company is long gone, perhaps merged with some larger corporation, as I haven't seen those stores since I guess the 1970's. Not many people have "lifetime jobs" these days. A friend of mine recently retired after working 47 years for the same company--a job he started when he was still in high school. He liked his work. I told him that he should have stayed on for another 3 years so he could brag that he'd worked for the company for 50 years. But he was ready to retire and didn't care about that honor.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Sears bought the company back in either the late 80s or early nineties. They bought it for the Total Charge customers. That was Western Auto's private credit card. They took out the Western Auto WestCraft tools, which were guaranteed against everything except rust and loss.
DeleteFor a while, you could get DieHard batteries at Western Auto. Then, Sears closed all the distribution centers and company stores and sold the name to Advance Auto Parts.
The Western Flyer bike was the most popular private label bicycle at the time. I still visit homes that have working Wizard Citation appliances.
When the movie Back to the Future came out, Western Auto memos went out telling the stores about how when McFly went back to the 1950s, there was a Western Auto Store on Main Street. When he went back to the eighties, the store was gone. Western Auto pointed out that unless all stores did a better job at merchandising and advertising that might be the plight of most small towns.
You might wish to read my post called Television Marathon, or watch it on YouTube https://youtu.be/1lMnYjGU0n8
There is a Western Auto sign outside of a store in the old section of the next town down from us. That's the most recent reminder of these stores that I've seen. I sure miss those days of working there.
DeleteHow cool that your friend worked the same job for so long! I could see myself working at David's daddy's store for that long. At this point, though, I can't imagine doing anything for that long...well, except for genealogy research. I'll be doing that until I get planted in the ground myself. :)
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