Memoirs - Page 17
I had no "track record" so far as a work ethic was concerned. I was, I think, not allowed or encouraged by Mum to have a newspaper stand or round as was prevalent in those times for the young (she may have, at one stage, relented in Vince's case??). Even so, I gained a good reputation as a raffle ticket seller for church/school appeals - once actually gaining the prize for the best performed seller. How I was permitted the wide and dangerous freedom to hawk sales door-to-door (even outside the parish) of tickets and by hopping on and off moving public trams, running on tracks up and down Ross Street and St. John's and the Glebe roads, I do not know [perhaps I merely overlooked telling anyone what I was up to!]. My first real work - apart from the occasional assistance to Dad on his vegetables/fruit run when I used to rise early with him and proceed to the Haymarket to collect his produce (by the hessian bag; carton; deal case) - was when, just before commencing my P.S. career, I worked with brother-in-law Victor AITKEN who managed a grocer's shop (ORAMS - later to become part of the FRANKLIN'S chain) in PYRMONT.
Here, for a few shillings, I was exposed - after school and at weekends, or in the school holidays - to the wonders of commerce at the coal face. Slight of body and limb - somewhat podgy in fact - I was assigned, generally, to the back room where I weighed and packaged, into brown paper bags, small quantities of flour, sugar, dried fruits etc. etc. from much larger sacks, boxes or whatever. I became very skilled in the arts of "cleaning up", placing goods on shelves for display and re-stocking the shelves as supplies were sold, and with re-stocking refrigerators and display stands. I eventually - in busy periods - got to have a turn at the counter and the opportunity to converse with customers. I do not recall ever being a delivery boy, but volume purchases by customers in those days were a rarity. These were the days when some war/post war constraints were in place through government rationing (food & clothing) constraints. I continued for some time to work with Vic - at weekends (i.e. Saturday mornings) - after I commenced my P.S. job and even at other branches, particularly REDFERN, as needs demanded where I gained the useful experience of working for other bosses (store managers).