The 21^st Century Magazine, at South Florida's www.miami-dade-online.com.

We worked on Saturday starting at eight in the morning until ten at night for the total pay of two 1920's dollars. The owner's wife decided to have a contest between me and my friend. The one who sold the most merchandise would receive a twenty-five-cent pair of underpants. I won every week but I shared with my friend. After about six months, I decided I had enough of the fruit market and so had my friend. In fact, she had enough for business all together. But, not me; I had higher aspirations.

There was a shoe store on the main street and I decided to get a Saturday job there. It was just before the Easter Holidays. This was Family Store - men, women, and children. I went in "cold" and approached the owner, a Mr. Little. He asked if I had ever sold shoes before. I said no, but I was a quick learner. He was very skeptical and negated the whole idea. And then I told him I had a proposition for him. Try me for the day, and if he was not satisfied he would not pay me. He looked at me, laughed, and said, "What do I have to lose?"

This was Saturday morning and I started that very day. He gave me a tour of the merchandise and showed me how to read the sizes. As luck would have it, my first customers were a family of five (mother, father, and three children) all in need of shoes. With the owner's help, I outfitted them all in new shoes. From then on, I hardly needed the owner's help. At the end of the day, he not only praised my work, but he asked me to come in every Saturday.

That is how I started in the Shoe Business and working on the "commission" basis. As time went on, Mr. Little, who was very enterprising, opened another shoe store in Pittsburgh. This shoe store was the first "cancellation shoes" outlet in the area. I suggested it would be a good idea to use the telephone book and call people to explain this new concept of sales - quality merchandise of popular name brands at reduced price.

This happened during the summer when I had no classes. I would sit on the phone at his home and make these calls. Mr. Little felt I was most qualified to do this, because I spoke so well and had a good control of the English language. Most people were interested and asked for more information. Others would hang up on me in annoyance and frustration. I believe it was the beginning of the present kind of telephone solicitation call. And, I was still in High School and already an experienced "telemarketer". Telemarketing was just as boring then as now and I finally told Mr. Little that I either went back on the floor to sell or I quit. I went back to selling.

During the 1930's and the Great Depression, I was earning good money during the summer. I was still working on commission and could make extra by selling merchandise that was hard to move. At the same time, I was not terribly happy with my college courses. I wanted Business Administration, but it was not offered at Carnegie Tech, later Carnegie Mellon. I decided to take some time off from school while seeking higher pastures.

Kaufmann's is a prestige department store in Pittsburgh. One afternoon on my day off, I decided to try my luck - what did I have to lose? I did not go to the Employment Office, but approached the manager of this high class Shoe Department, Mr. Witters. He was a very tall man and I had to look up at him, while he looked down on me. I apologized for approaching him directly, while immediately telling him about my experience and the type of clientele I had delt with.

Mr. Witters stared at me from his great height, finally saying that he admired my nerve and approach and asked when I could start. I told him I would have to give Mr. Little notice. When I tod Mr. Little what I had done, he said he did not need two weeks notice and would not stand in my way, even though he hated losing me. I left Mr. Little's employment with his blessing.

I started my new job, again paid on the commission basis. For those times, I did fairly well. I eventually ran the "top-bank", meaning I made the best salary in the department. When the Union came into the picture, they naturally approached the top-banks to join in unionizing the department. When they came to me I asked how they could improve or better what I was doing. I turned them down - which later would hurt me.

It was at that time I met Barney, who became my wonderful, loving, caring husband. Several of my friends and I always arranged our vacation time together and we would go to Atlantic City. On one of our trips, we me some men from Philadelphia. We would all go out together. One of the men said he wanted his nephew to meet me, when I got back home. It was Barney!

Even then we almost did not meet. He was to pick me up at my house at 8:30. However, he got lost and when he called at 9:30 to apologize, I told him he was too late. He pleaded with me to understand and so I gave him another chance. As punishment for his being late, I asked to be taken to a very expensive hotel for dancing - something I had never done before. Barney turned out to be a wonderful dancer and we had a great time. On the way home, I suggested a cup of coffee, but he made some excuse of the late hour. Much later Barney confessed that he had used all his funds for cover-charge and drinks. We talked and laughed about that incident quite often during our married life.

Barney and I got married in1941, on the fifth of January, the coldest month of the year. We had a small, afternoon wedding in the Rabbi's study. However, unbeknown to us, my mother's nephew who was quite well-to-do had invited the whole wedding party to his house. There he had a full catered affair with every kind of excellent food, plus a three-piece orchestra. The wedding went on until three in the morning from that early afternoon ceremony. Barney did not want to leave the wedding guests.

At three in the morning, Barney and I are looking for a hotel to spend our wedding night. Originally we had planned to leave for our honeymoon in late afternoon. Our honeymoon was to be a car trip to three of the coldest cities in the world during the coldest month of the year - Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. Why? Because Barney had relatives in those cities. As he said, he wanted to show me off to his relations. We finally got to Chicago during convention month and could not find a hotel. Finally, we found one a place on the lake. We couldn't leave through the front lobby because it was so cold and windy. On the way home, we broke down in some small town in Ohio with no hotel. We had to stay in a rooming house for the night. The owner asked if we had used both beds, which would require an additional charge. We only paid for one.

We rented and furnished a one bedroom apartment. I gave up my job to keep house, but then Barney lost his job and I went back to work. The month before our first anniversary, on December 7^th 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Barney was drafted into the Coast Guard. We gave up our apartment and I went back to live with my mother. Barney went to Baltimore and Boot Camp.

When I had gone back to ask for my job back at Kaufmann's, my boss was delighted to have me, except the Union was contacted and said they would go on strike if I was rehired. But another department had opened that was not unionized and that manager asked me to come work for him. He gave me all kinds of concessions to allow me to travel to be with Barney wherever he would be. I went to Wilmington Delaware when Barney went to Officers Training School. From there he went to Philadelphia and on to New Orleans. Then he was shipped to San Francisco on way to Manila on a hospital ship to bring back wounded soldiers. Wherever Barney went, so did I, and I found work with no problems. In fact, I was normally offered top salaries plus all kinds of bonuses to stay on; but I followed Barney for as long as he remained in the States.

I did not see Barney for three years of war. When he came home he was offered the opportunity to open and manage an office for a large paper company in Clevesburg, West Virgina. That is where our daughter Barbara was born. When Barbara Jean was three years old, an uncle of Barney's suffered a heart attack and asked Barney to come back to Pittsburgh and join his car dealership business. We moved back to Pittsburgh.

On one vacation to Atlantic City, Barney suffered his first heart attack. For six weeks we were stranded in Atlantic City with our five year old Barbara. It was a very trying time before we were able to return home. Barney recovered and the years passed by so quickly. Barney and I had a very happy married life. Yes, there were family problems, as in all families during a lifetime. But we overcame and our love endured. Barney had a second heart attack, which thank God he was able to again recover.

At that time, the city was buying property for expansion and our business area was eventually sold. Since Barney was a workaholic and did not have any avocations except work, retirement presented a problem. That is when I suggested we come to Florida where there were other retirees, even though he had retired at a much younger age than most. In Florida, Barney put some of his energy into the condominium where we had settled. He became President of the Condominium Board, which I do not think was not the best decision. Barney was much too sensitive for the abuse and criticism that officers of a condo board must endure.

But, Florida was for the most part Paradise for the five years we had here together. Barney passed away in 1976. He loved the ocean and living here. I am thankful and grateful we had those thirty-five years of love and caring. I have always felt I had the best with Barney and have never been interested in marrying again. Barney was the love of my life and I have stayed where he left me, in Florida. It is still a good place to live but Paradise left with Barney.

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