When going through my cedar chest recently I found an afghan I crocheted while riding the bus to a job I had in downtown Minneapolis. The afghan is wool, made of granny squares with beautiful colors. I freshened it up and started using it again.
And, as often happens, I started reminiscing about the afghan and the job.
In the early 70’s I attended a community college and took a class in interior design. And because of that, I landed a job at an interior design showroom, Gene Smiley Inc., a wholesale shop for fabrics…upholstery, drapery, etc.
This was my second official job. My first job was as a maid at a hotel downtown Minneapolis, during summers, in high school. My high school girlfriend worked there too, and we made $1.85 an hour. We were able to clean rooms together. We used to walk to work from her house in lower NE Minneapolis.
At Gene Smiley’s my main job was to cut fabric samples for designers. Only interior designers were allowed in the showroom to look at the fabrics, but mostly we would cut and mail samples out to designers per their request. I enjoyed the job.
The company encompassed the second floor with two large showrooms and one room for an administrative office. I worked with two women on our side of the showroom. The younger woman, named RuthAnn, made a lasting impression on me. At the time I thought she was sophisticated. She lived on her own, in a rented house, and always “dressed to a T”. She got married while I worked there. I looked up to RuthAnn. I still have, and make, her lasagna recipe!
The other woman, Phyllis, was a much older woman…probably in her 50’s (o my!) but very congenial.
Since Gene Smiley Inc. was located downtown Minneapolis, and I was living in NE Minneapolis at the time, I took the bus downtown. Riding a bus was not something new to me. A girlfriend and I often took the bus to where we wanted to go as teenagers, so taking a bus to work was not problem. In fact, I liked it. It was much better than driving! And I could read or crochet, which is when the afghan I pulled from the cedar chest was crocheted.
There are two other events that came to mind when I started thinking about this job.
One, I remember the bookkeeper made some kind of mistake on my tax statement and ended up writing me a personal check to amend her mistake. I do not remember the extent of the mistake, but I remember her kindness. I had forgotten this tidbit until I started thinking about this job.
The other event I remember that stands out is quite comical when I think about it now. I cannot recall what I was going to do next but I was ending my time at this job and I distinctly remember asking my boss for a raise, after he knew I was leaving. He sat me down and said this was highly unusual – and I said, “but it will look good on my resume.” And if memory serves me correctly, he gave me the raise! When I think back on that now I just laugh!
I did, however, save my letter of recommendation from this job.
At some point in time Gene Smiley Inc. moved from its Nicollet Avenue location to the International Market Square along with many other wholesale interior design showrooms. I have lost touch with the people there, but it was fun to think about them again.
We had a trumpet for sale…we advertised it locally and got one response. We made arrangements for the interested party to see it. He stopped by and said he doesn’t play the trumpet…he was buying the trumpet to give away… to pay it forward. He explained, when his two girls were younger they were each given an instrument by someone wanting to help out his young family. He told himself he would pay it forward someday…and this was that day. He handed us crisp $20 bills, more than the asking price, and walked out the door.