by Jan Sterrett

Created on: May 25, 2007

The first thing I ever did that earned me extra cash was babysitting. I don't regard this as my first actual job, as it was almost too much fun to be considered work. I got to play games or read stories to the kids. After they went to bed, I got to watch whatever I wanted on TV or could spend the time doing my high school homework. I could help myself to whatever snack food was available, and I actually was paid for doing all of this. Back then, probably the most I made was $1.00 per hour. Often the parents gave me an extra dollar or two at the end of the evening, for the babysitting care I provided for their children. The only downside to babysitting that I recall now, was when a child resisted going to bed, or the few times I had to change a dirty diaper.

As I advanced through my Junior and Senior Years of High School, I needed to work more hours each week, at something that would earn me more money per hour as well. Many of my high school friends were working at a retail store called Turnstyle. This was a store that carried many different types of products, just as WalMart, and Target do today. I put in an application, and was soon earning my first consistent part time hourly wage, somewhere in the area of $1.65 per hour. While that certainly isn't much by today's standards, back then, it seemed like a lot to me, and I was happy to get those first hard-earned paychecks as a high school teenager.

The employees at Turnstyle were given a smock to wear and a name tag that was pinned onto it. The smock was an ugly shade of light green, made out of a material that had almost a plastic feel to it. The smock buttoned in the front, and had two large pockets to hold miscellaneous items.

I was assigned to work the Candy Counter. This was a rectangular shaped counter, approximately 25 to 30 feet in length. Customers gathered around all four sides, waiting to purchase their various candy orders. At that time Turnstyle sold Brach's candies, in bulk, with a price ranging from 29 cents a pound, to something as high as 79 cents a pound.

Turnstyle also carried a finer line of Chocolates from Dutch Mill, such as Chocolate Covered Cherries, or Almond Bark, as well as a selection of different nuts, like cashews, pistachios, or Spanish peanuts. We also had boxed chocolate from Dutch Mill, that was already wrapped and available for customers to purchase. The minimum purchase a customer could make, was a quarter of a pound for any of the selections of candy or nuts available.

The woman

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