"If you'd rather not be tempted," he said, "I'll give it to Ernestine upstairs."
"No, don't do that yet," I said, already starting to salivate. "Just leave it there on the table and I'll think about it."
After a few minutes of careful thought, I made my decision. I'd eat all 6 pieces before the end of the day with the intention of just getting it off the radar scope...so to speak. Mission accomplished.
This afternoon I stopped by Joann's to look for pompoms to decorate the bunny slippers. Sometimes when I'm in there, usually while I'm waiting in a long line to check out, I hark back to my teenage years when the building was a department store and I was one of its employees. By juggling my part-time sales job with my babysitting jobs I was able to amass a nice collection of Johnny Mathis and Pat Boone record albums. I wasn't into loud, clattering music. My parents didn't realize how lucky they were.
As I stand there inching my way up in line, I notice the rack of thread and zippers--the greeting card department. I learned how to make change one very long Saturday standing at that cash register--with lots of tutoring from customers. There were no fancy digital registers back then to do the math.
The yarn aisle was the ladies hat department. I got stuck there a few times. I was always grateful for a slow night. I didn't know the first thing about hats, except for the couple of times I went to church with my cousins and had to wear one.
Decorator fabrics used to be sporting goods. My only experience working there was on inventory day--counting fish hooks and golf balls and baseball mitts.
The highlights of my department store job were the few times when a boyfriend would meet me at the employee door after work and take me out for a Coke and a 19-cent hamburger. Having that to look forward to somehow made it less painful to serve time in mens underwear.
2 comments:
Wow, that was a good idea to get rid of the temptation all at once! About JoAnn's, so you worked at the Broadway Dept Store, too? I did,too, only in Long Beach Los Altos Center. Part-time during college years and I worked the ladies "unmentionables" especially back then. That was actually kind of fun...especially when a man wanted to buy something for his wife! Thanks for the memory.
Are you making a trip to Polliwog Park this weekend? We are almost in Oshkosh, WI so I won't make that trip this year! Wish you were here....heeheehee!
I like your works,your ideas,and your style....wish I could meet you but I think that's not very possible. I have talent like yours but I don't have enough time to use it. Maybe in the future...I wish. I will forward in seeing your works again!:P
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