In 1986 I moonlighted one Christmas season at JCPenney. It was still pretty primitive with cash register tape and ink ribbons and like 100 different keys on the register. You rang up cash sales one way and credit card sales another.
Then at the end of your shift you had to balance out. And all of that was the easy part. The hard part was dealing with hundreds of customers during the Christmas rush. Never again
I worked at Famous Barr in Clayton, Missouri after school around 1967 when I got my driver’s license. I got stuck in the basement toiletries department. I really wanted lady’s shoes, but they wouldn’t let work there.
I was collecting silver coins because silver mintage ended in 1964 and it was already getting scarce. For every silver dime or quarter I found, I replaced it with one of the cupro-nickel pieces of junk of the same denomination. It didn’t take long for store security to ask me in for an “interview.”
I really liked retail. You got to meet a lot of interesting people.
I remember a couple of really drunk guys who were buying gifts of perfume for their ladies at Christmas time. They had no idea what they wanted, and asked our advice.
We salesgirls got a pretty good commission out of that one...