Good story. The pay sounds tiny, but then prices were also low. I received a good education when I grew up in the DC area, but little of it was of any use to me. But then I didn’t take typing.
The pay was tiny by today’s standards but I was in high school in the 1950’s and it was my ticket to what I thought was financial independence. Ice cream cones at Dairy Queen were $.05 and you could buy a Ship ‘n Shore 100 percent cotton shirt for $3.99. We used to ride the street car in town and used either red or green plastic tokens - believe they called them mills but it was too long ago to remember. No credit cards, counter checks at all the stores and people used layaway and paid $1.00 or so a week until their items were paid for. Life was good.