Container
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Title
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Audio 969A
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Subseries: Shindel, Mildred
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:30
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BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND : Shindel was born and raised in Milwaukee. Graduated West Allis Central High School, 1936. Father a sheet metal layout man; mother never worked. Oldest of four children.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
02:05
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FIRST FOOD STORE WORK AT MORGAN FOOD STORE, A CORNER GROCERY, WHILE IN HIGH SCHOOL : Owned and run by a widow. Shindel and the widow's children were the only employees. Waited on people. Cut meat. “We had the necessities that they had to have, and that was it.” Carried only one brand of each item. Worked about 30 hours a week--after school, Saturdays and Sunday morning. Made about 30 cents an hour, plus meals. Owner lived behind the store. Owner bought, from Armour, enough meat to last one day. Ground boneless rump roast into hamburger; sliced bacon and sausage. “I learned a lot from her, I'll tell you. Learned how to be with people.” Everything in bulk. Electric refrigeration. Very little produce. Chunk butter; would weigh it and wrap it in waxed paper for customers. People shopped every day. “I think that was one of their outs.” Store open 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.; half day on Sundays--ham and rolls. No deliveries; people took groceries home in coaster wagons. Mostly credit business. People tried to pay on pay day. Cash register, but it did not add; items tallied on a piece of paper or a grocery bag. Price not marked on items and sometimes not even on the shelves. Very clean. Anecdote about getting cockroaches into the store once; called exterminator.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
13:40
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JOB AT PHOENIX PRODUCTS : Factory work. Made coat hangers and shirt-collar cardboard. “I didn't like it there.” Worked there only four or five months; then got married.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
14:40
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WORKED FOR TWO YEARS AT TRIMBORN FOODS PRIOR TO PHOENIX : Much bigger than Morgan's. In Milwaukee. Trimborn grocery, an independent produce market, and Shinner Meat Market all under one roof. Beginnings of a supermarket but still waited on customers. “I can remember getting the cereal down with...a stick with a clamp on the end.... I got real good at that. I could get the cereal down without knocking the whole bunch down.” Customers shopped each department separately. “In those days, when you put in a long day, like say Fridays you maybe would work 12 hours, then when you got through working, you had to bag. They'd come out with a hundred pounds of powdered sugar, a hundred pounds of brown sugar, a hundred pounds of granulated sugar that you packaged in brown bags. I can remember doing that. And you think, 'Oh, I'm going to go home.' Forget it. You had so many hundred pounds of everything for the next day to go.” Worked full-time, whenever the store was open. Did not get paid for the hour or hour and a half spent bagging after hours. No union. “I don't think unions were heard of in those days.” Store was heated, but “you dressed warm.” Still tallied orders on paper. Not much credit extended but did have deliveries. More pre-packaged items than at Morgan Food Store. Got the job through a girl friend working there. Did not make much money after deducting car fare. Made about 45 cents an hour. “I enjoyed it, though. It was fun.”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
22:10
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WENT TO WORK AT HARRER FOODS IN 1947 : Did not work, 1940 to 1947, while children young. Got divorced and went back to work. Mother came to live with her. Gus Harrer owned a large grocery and produce store. Separately owned meat market next door. Clerks still waited on customers. Cash registers added. Not much bulk, except cookies. Store hours about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; open later on Friday and Saturday; closed Sunday. Worked whenever the store was open.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
26:05
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WORKED AT HARRER FOODS THREE YEARS; THEN REMARRIED; MOVED TO WATERFORD AREA, BUT WORKED FOR FOUR YEARS IN BROTHER-IN-LAW'S TV STORE IN MILWAUKEE
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
26:30
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THEN WORKED FOR 20 YEARS AT SENTRY STORE (IGA WHEN SHE STARTED) IN WATERFORD : “I felt like I was a fixture out here. They sold the store three times, and three times I moved along.”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
27:00
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MORE ON EMPLOYMENT IN BROTHER-IN-LAW'S TV STORE : Commuted to Milwaukee from Waterford. Got laid off when business got slow, “which was all right. I didn't mind. I had a husband to take care of me.”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
28:10
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:30
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HOW SHE GOT THE FOOD STORE JOB IN WATERFORD : “When I went back to the produce, I went and weighed my own apples, I weighed my own stuff; and Mr. Rockware said to me, 'Well, you seem to know so much about this work,' he said, 'Did you ever work in a grocery store?' And I said, 'Yeah, quite a few years.' He says, 'Well, how would you like a job?' I started May 1, 1955.”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
02:00
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DESCRIPTION OF WATERFORD STORE WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED WORK THERE : Owner had had a small store in town; then built a bigger one on the outskirts of town. “Everybody said, 'You're crazy to build there.'” The new store, an IGA at first, was about the size of six lanes of a bowling alley. Has since been torn down and replaced by a larger store.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
03:00
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IGA STORE BECAME A SENTRY STORE : “He was forced into it, really.” Owner had been getting his groceries through the Godfrey Company and when he got larger, the Godfrey Company expected him to become a Sentry store. (Sentry is Godfrey Company's brand name.) He sold the store shortly after that.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
05:50
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MORE DESCRIPTION OF THE IGA STORE : Four checkouts. Very clean. Each checker had an aisle she was responsible for. Shindel had coffee, cookies and candy aisle. Did ordering and stocking for that aisle.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
06:40
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CHANGES WHEN STORE BECAME A SENTRY STORE : “Sentry would give you an automatic shipment that sometimes you needed and sometimes you didn't need it.... I always said, 'I thought that was a good way of Godfrey's cleaning out their warehouse.'” The warehouse would send more of an item than was needed and soon thereafter, that same item would have a cents-off special. “You'd have to sell it..., but you couldn't take advantage of the one that had the discount on it.... You couldn't send it back; that was your automatic shipment. They did that with a lot of things. I used to get so mad....”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
08:45
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DUTIES OF ASSISTANT MANAGER AND OWNER : Assistant manager was a woman. “She would check out us.... We asked her the questions more so than going to the boss.” She did the books and helped up front. The owner “was one of these old-fashioned grocery store owners. He'd never say, 'Sweep that up.' You'd look, here he is with a broom. Then, you'd say, 'Well, let me do that.' He never would ask you to do nothing.... That's a different type of people. Today now, they say, 'You do this, and you do that.'”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
10:30
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MORE ON THE AFFILIATION WITH THE GODFREY COMPANY : If the merchandise started to get stale, the warehouse would either have to take it back or authorize a sale. Used to be bread vendors would be paid out of the store. Now all bills are paid through the warehouse. “You have to pay that bill by a certain date, but you don't get the discount. Godfrey gets the discount for handling it.” Store had to send a blank check to the warehouse before it could receive any groceries. Godfrey Company paid all the bills, including payroll. After taking the Sentry name, no longer had the option to purchase outside the Godfrey Company. Everything, except meat, which was delivered on Fridays from Iowa, came from the Godfrey Company.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
16:40
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MORE DESCRIPTION OF THE IGA STORE : No conveyor belts at the checkouts. “Old-fashioned” cash registers.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
17:25
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THE CURRENT SENTRY STORE IN WATERFORD : Built about 1970 by the third owner and her third employer at this location. Much larger. Bigger selection of everything. “He was compelled to build this new store...by Godfrey....”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
18:50
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CHANGES IN THE OLD STORE : The second owner, a Mr. Tank, did not permit the checkers to do any ordering. Checkers continued to do stocking, but not of specific aisles.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
20:20
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FIRST OWNER'S WEEKLY BANANA SALE : Big shipment of loose bananas received on Friday and sold at 4 pounds for 25 cents. Clerks would bag them, and they would sell rapidly. “I think now that those bananas go to the zoo.”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
21:55
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HOURS AT IGA : Closed Sunday; open Friday night. Worked 12 hours on Friday and 8 hours all other days. 52-hour week.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
22:25
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COMING OF THE UNION : “We never turned union until Mr. Tank (the second owner) came in. And Mr. Tank, every time you asked him for a raise or anything, it was he couldn't afford. That's when we turned union.” Three years without a raise. “You're working, you're working, you're working and not reaping any of the benefits. I mean, you figure you're increasing his business and you're doing a good job, and he could show a little appreciation.” Organized by the Retail Clerks International Association (RCIA), Local 1401, out of Madison. About 15 union-eligible employees at the time, mostly full-time, though only working 35 or 37 hours a week.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
24:50
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THIRD OWNER HAD A LARGE FAMILY, AND ALL THE CHILDREN WORKED IN THE STORE : Had 11 children. Currently there are about 6 or 7 employees, out of 25 or 30, who are not family.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
25:35
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THE STRIKE, ABOUT 1973 OR 1974 : The owner wanted the employees to give up their fringe benefits. Contract expired in June; struck for two weeks in October. Owner lost $70,000 in those two weeks. Owner kept the store open, with his family operating it, but Waterford was a good union town, and no one would cross the picket line. The store was the only place in town where people could pay their electric bills. Women would go in to pay their electric bills after informing the pickets they were not going to make purchases. “And then they'd go in and come right back out. They wouldn't shop. Some of the women said, 'If I shopped in there, my husband would disown me. He's a union man himself, and you don't do that.'”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
27:55
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:30
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NEGOTIATIONS WITH WATERFORD SENTRY : Not part of a chain; thus a separate contract. Current employees tell Shindel owner is asking for a wage freeze in upcoming contract.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
01:10
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MORE ON THE STRIKE : “He was trying to break the union is what he was trying to do.” One family member, a son-in-law, went out with the strikers. “And I guess he must have talked to him like a Dutch uncle. I mean, he went back, and he quit the union.” Owner also had a brother-in-law, a meat cutter, who honored the picket line. Harold Breithaupt was the union representative who was in charge of the strike.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
03:05
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EFFECT OF UNIONIZATION ON THE WATERFORD SENTRY : “Oh, did it make a difference! Our wages went up terrific.... And, of course, then we got more benefits.” Had had no fringe benefits prior to unionization. “Our hours were cut because he was paying us more. We all got cut maybe four or five hours, but outside of that, things were better, a lot better for everybody.” The first raise was 75 cents or $1 an hour or more. The owner “got used to it. At first he didn't like it, but then our store was 100% union except for the one butcher-manager.” That head meat cutter was the only one to vote against the union (the Milwaukee meat cutters' union organized this store at the same time as the Madison clerks' union), and he benefited most, having his hours cut from 60 to 40. Wages never got as high as the Milwaukee level but did get up to the Madison level.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
05:50
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WATERFORD SENTRY EMPLOYEES AND UNION MEETINGS : Would usually have 100% turnout at informational meetings held in Waterford.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
06:50
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GRIEVANCES : The meat cutters' union had a couple, but Shindel remembers no grievances by clerks.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
07:15
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MYSTERY SHOPPERS : Had no idea who they were. Looked for cleanliness, appearance, customer treatment. “I remember this one time this here woman gave this girl such a hard time, and she was a shopper. Just to see how she could aggravate the clerk.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
09:20
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SENTRY IS THE ONLY SUPERMARKET IN WATERFORD : Big sunnier business, though not as much as in the past because there are now more year-round people. Put on many high school students in the summer.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
10:45
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STILL NOT MANY PART-TIMERS IN WATERFORD SENTRY
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
11:10
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COMPARISON OF WORKING IN A SMALL TOWN AND WORKING IN MILWAUKEE : “I like the small town better. You get to know the people.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
11:45
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CUSTOMER RELATIONS : Still runs into customers from her Milwaukee work who remember her. “I've always tried to be nice to the customers.... They're paying your paycheck. The nicer you treat them, the better they'll be to you. And they'll come back. But today...they ignore the customer.” Checkers carry on private conversations today while they are waiting on a customer. Stores used to be stricter. Checkers used to handle many customer complaints, but now everything has to go to the manager.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
14:45
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DURING THE THREE TRANSFERS OF OWNERSHIP, NO JOBS WERE LOST
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
15:45
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MORE ON CURRENT OWNER'S “FAMILY” EMPLOYEES : Even has grandchildren working in the store now. “It isn't fun to work in a family store.... I'm happy I'm out. Because they all want to be boss. Did you ever have 19 bosses? And I've already told a few of them off, when I was there. I said, 'When you sign my paycheck, you can tell me what to do.'” Missed only three days of work due to snow in her 20 years there.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
17:35
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PRE-PACKAGED MEAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES IN FOOD STORES SHE WITNESSED : “Nobody liked that.... It always seems like you're buying more than what you really want.” Many people get everything else at the supermarket and then go to a meat market for their meat.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
19:00
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CHANGES IN CASH REGISTERS : Eventually got conveyor belts. Store still using electric, not electronic, cash registers.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
19:50
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VOLUME OF CUSTOMERS HAS NOT INCREASED, BUT VOLUME OF SALES HAS BECAUSE OF INFLATION : Used to be proud of a $20,000 week. Now $70,000 to $80,000 is considered a normal week, and there are fewer employee hours of work.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
21:25
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SHINDEL'S HOURS WERE GOOD : After the union came in, never worked weekends and worked only one evening a week. She and the boss would be the only ones in the store on that night. “They gave me Saturdays off because I was the oldest one there. And that was the only compensation I got.... And the girls used to get so mad.... Then John, that's the assistant manager, had to say, 'Well, if you were here that many years, you'd have Saturday off, too.'”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
23:30
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MECHANIZATION MADE THE WORK EASIER : Preferable to chasing after items for customers. After introduction of self-service, however, there was pressure from customers to get through the checkout quickly.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
24:20
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PHYSICAL TOLL OF THE WORK : “It's hard, especially when you stand in one spot.... You do an awful lot of lifting....” Often would cut bagger hours when hours were cut. Without a bagger, checker has to lift the purchase three times; otherwise only once. Arms and feet sore at the end of the day. “You're tired at the end of the day. Your eyes are tired.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
26:45
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MORE ON CUSTOMER RELATIONS : For some older people, shopping was their only out. “I miss the customers, but I don't miss the work.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
28:00
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MORE ON THE PHYSICAL TOLL : “There could be a lot of stress.... And I think years come on you.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
28:20
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END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:30
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MORE ON STRESS : Days when things do not go right. Complaints, etc. More stress as you get older.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
01:30
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MORE ON CUSTOMER RELATIONS : Only once did the boss get on her for talking to a customer, and she was not at fault then. Customer was trying to make up her mind on an item, and the boss was mad because the front end--Shindel's responsibility--was not cleaned up. Even that was not her fault, since she had just returned from vacation, and no one had cleaned while she was gone.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
03:15
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WHAT SHE LIKED MOST ABOUT THE WORK WAS THE PEOPLE : The customers and the co-workers. Employees, outside of the owner's family, were very close.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
04:20
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COUNTING CASH REGISTER DRAWERS : Checkers never counted out their own drawers. She was never called on a shortage or overage, “unless it was an odd amount,” and then she usually could recall a check written for that amount. Never heard of a checker being disciplined for a drawer that did not balance.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
05:55
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ANECDOTE ABOUT A ROBBERY WHEN SHE WAS WORKING : Two men. Timed it so one punched an unattended register at the same time the checker punched hers; emptied the drawer of all the big bills. Never caught.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
07:35
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SHOPLIFTING : “They never did much about shoplifting in our day.” Caught some, usually children; would be reprimanded, but never went to court.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
08:25
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MORE ON BIG CITY VERSUS SMALL TOWN WORK : Compared to her previous experiences, the Waterford store was modern. Thus the difference was more in the store than the community.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
09:25
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MORE ON SHOPLIFTING : Self-service invites it.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
11:15
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END OF INTERVIEW
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