Banking and Best Products

It amazes me how much banking has changed in the last 20 years. I think that is how long I have been consistently using banks. Maybe it's 22 years. It was a necessity for cashing the paychecks of the first couple of jobs that I held, starting in the 11th grade.

I have never stepped inside the bank that I have used this last year. I opened the account using the web and mailed the first checks in. I went through the drive-in window once. All of my banking is done at the ATM (three blocks from my house), or online. In fact, I only mail three bill payments now: water, trash, and my wife's tuition (which will be done this semester). Everything else is electronic.

That reminds me, I mentioned earlier that I should blog about several of the jobs that I had (at least the early ones). So, I will state that my first official job was for Best Products, a general merchandise store that sold jewelry, guns, stereos, and maybe even clothes. I worked in the sporting goods section, with all of the hunting rifles. This was in the fall of 1984, eleventh grade.

I was sixteen, and was able to work without special age documentation that previous summer, but for some reason I did not feel compelled to get a job in my sixteenth summer. Maybe I was lazy, or didn't want to start growing up.

I liked that job. I generally worked after school starting around 3-4pm, and most weekends. By November, I was pushing 30 hours per week, which started to interfere with other activities -- like friends, or school.

I stole a flashlight from that store, and a Sony walkman tape player. I don't think I will ever forget those infractions. The walkman was a return unit, because the case was busted. It was probably going to be sent back to the distributor, or Sony, but it was in this bin in the back for weeks. I figured out how to fix it, and then slipped it in my pocket before leaving one day. I gave it to my brother for a Christmas present. Yeah, I are sucked. The flashlight was even worse -- because it came straight off the floor. I knew it was wrong, and I was so afraid that I would be caught before I got to the parking lot. I'll remember that for the rest of my life. If you are thinking about stealing something, even if it is small, don't. It will haunt you forever. That store chain doesn't even exist anymore!

I met my first real girlfriend at that job. She was in the 10th grade and had the most awesome name: Shawnalyn Disney. I saw her at school a few times, and visited her house about five times. I don't even think I took her to eat out, or even to a movie. I think I kissed her only once. She met a guy (college dude!) at the store and broke up with me New Years Eve, on the phone. I cried for hours that night. Man, I was a loser.

Best Products let me go around that same time because the Christmas rush was over. That was probably their plan the whole time.

The salary was $3.45/hour, which was a dime above minimum wage!

I only had one incident where I got in trouble. Every night we cleaned the glass counters, and one of the sales associates was talking with a customer. The store had technically closed, so I was annoyed that the customer was hanging around. I cleaned the counter very close to where they were standing, and I shielded the spray of cleaner with my arm, making it obvious that I was cleaning, and "protecting" them from getting sprayed. I must have made too much of a show of it because the guy found a manager and said that I was "insolent." The manager talked to me the next day and said that it was the only complaint I had received and it surprised him. So, I got off on that okay and watched my attitude and demeanor in every job since then.

Insolent. No doubt about it, that was probably a nice way to describe my attitude.

--gh