My work as clerk in 2 country stores

I enjoyed the jobs I had on the farm for that was where I was born. One year while at my cousins Cecile, she heard that the store keeper in their close town needed some one to help in the store & also in his home as his wife was ill. This was in Dummer Sask, about 2 miles from her place. She took me in for an interview & as I had my grade 12 Mr Mills asked me if I could work in the hotel where both he & his wife lived, she was a diabetic on insulin so needed help. He was in the store a short ways from the hotel. The store was opened only when the train came in Monday, Wednesday & Friday. The mail & supplies came in those days as well. I would help put these supplies away & be ready when the customers arrived to get mail & their groceries. His store sold everything the farmers might need. He even had a yards good counter. I could measure out the yardage they needed also cutting it. He had thread, buttons & various other sewing needs. He had some pop in the back but there was no cooler to keep it in. He had bins for bulk raisin's, nuts etc. One day he had me bring water over to the store for me to wash the raisin's as there were worms in them. I was to skim off the worms, drain, put them on a clean cloth to dry, clean the bin. Then I was to put them back in the clean bin. The nuts were cleaned as well as they also had bugs. I believe the bin of rice was cleaned in the same way. He also had his own soup mixture with sauce he cooked then put in tins cans. I didn't eat soup after I saw how he made it. The only ones who every stayed over night as well as a evening meal were the traveling sales men. Mr Mills always made a large pot of soup. He would scrape any left over food off his or the travelers plate into the soup. This is why I couldn't take soup for years. No one ever got ill from his soup & I never told this to anyone.This was in the time of the dry years but we survived. I would clean her house & when we had travelers I washed the bedding. This was summer time so I washed outside in a big wash tub. Water was heated on the coal
stove in the kitchen then carried out. I added some melted home made soap, put the wash board in the tub & rub a dub, I washed all the clothes in the tub. I had to ring them out by hand. When it came for the sheets to be rinsed, I would squeeze the water out by hand the best I could. Mrs Mills came out helped me squeeze some water out after the last rinse. She would say " that is good enough" then helped me throw the dripping sheets over the out door clothes line to dry. Those were the dry years so they dried well in the hot breeze.

Mail day I help fill the grocery orders for the customers. I had to write their order in a order book, which had a black tracing paper in between the order sheets so the customer could get a copy as well as the store keeper. We would have each order ready for the customer when they came back to pick their groceries up. Some paid cash. I pulled out a drawer to place the bills in one section & coins in separate places for pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters,etc. This is how it was done before cash register's were used. Mr Mills made a lot of the meals but I did what ever I was asked to do. I cleaned the living quarters each day made the beds & helped her as she needed help. She was a kind but a very large lady and not well, she didn't eat right as a diabetic. Mr Mills gave her insulin by needle each morning & some times she would go into a insulin shock if she didn't eat enough,he would spoon feed her until she came to.

I would go back to my cousins for each Sunday so I could go to church with them. Some days I would ride a old bike to come & go to work from the Johnson's. When this job was finished I got a job in the store in Parry Sask which was the next town. Mr & Mrs Sherr's were related to my cousins husband, as their daughter was married to Mr Harry Johnson's sister Mildred. The Sherr's lived up stairs over their store. I helped her with the house work & some of the meals. The same train stopped in Parry to leave off supplies for the store & the mail. The train days were the same days as in Dummer. My new employer was much cleaner & both of them were so good to work for. While I worked in this store the Sask Education tax came in, & it was either 2 or 3 cents on the dollar. We also used a drawer to put the money in as well. He had me to leave the tax charge for him to add when he did the books. This store had more customers, they carried more supplies. Saturday night was a very busy time & all three of us were in the store until after 11 at night. One day while in the store cleaning I was alone when a man came in. He ordered got some groceries then asked for a large bottle of vanilla. Then the next week he did the same thing. I asked my boss why he, a bachelor would use that much vanilla in a week. He also bought several bottles of pop so this was how he celebrated his week ends. They told me this mixture was very hard on the stomach. I enjoyed my time I worked in this store. Saturday nights the youth would walk around the main street block on the only side walks in the town, girls & boys looking at one another too shy to talk to each other, so they walked, giggling girls & whistling boys. The youth were actually shy then. Times have really changed sense those good old days!