A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Thursday, June 19, 2008

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.....

I love grocery stores in the morning. I was reminded of this yesterday when stopping at Safeway on the way to an early meeting.

This all started when I was in high school and my Mom got a job working for the manager of the grocery department in Save-Co. She was the secretary which was odd because she didn't know how to type! When I worked in Human Resources many years ago, we received an application from a girl applying for a clerical position. Under typing speed she put "20, but very accurate." Crap, I would hope so! Anyway, that's pretty much how my mother typed - although 20 might be stretching it. So that summer she asked me to come in with her a few times a week to type stuff. Then she could file and answer the phone. Those two things she was skilled at! Plus she had a dynamite smile and everyone loved having her around. Probably why she got the job in the first place. I always had a suspicion that the manager had a bit of a crush on her.

Anyhoo, I would get there around 8:00 am and the store didn't open until 10. So the guys in the grocery department would crank up the music and sing while they stocked the shelves. This was in the early 60's and during the heyday of the Beatles. Most of the music was the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, Jerry and the Pacemakers, etc. The place would be full of boxes being cut, cans being stacked on shelves, carts of produce being arranged, floors being mopped, etc. There was one guy named Tom that I had a major crush on. First of all, he was 25 years old and totally cool. And he was so nice to me - this gawky 17 year old with acne and braces. And he had a killer butt.

While helping my mom out, I would sometimes have to walk through the store and everything felt to fresh and new. I'm not sure why, but there was something exciting about being "behind the scenes" and part of all the prep.

So now when I go into a grocery store early in the morning, I hear the music a little bit louder, the workers seem a little fresher and more lively, there are very few customers so the workers talk and laugh. And it brings me back to a very happy time with my mother and the British Invasion.

4 comments:

Desert Diva said...

Gee you have all of these wonderful memories and you're so gifted at retelling them.

The only grocery store experience I recall is when all seven kids went once to the grocery store with my parents. On the way home in the station wagon (with the rear seat that faced the back) someone said, "Where's Terry?"

My father promptly drove back to the grocery store as we all viewed Terry standing by the door holding a clerk's hand and crying, "You left me." It would not be kind of me to comment that I have sometimes wished that we hadn't gone back to retrieve him, so I won't... ;-)

Nikki said...

Not only do I like cute guys with good butts, I also like 60's bands with names of a surgical devices for your heart! You can't beat that! :)N

namaste said...

sandi, this is a GREAT memory trigger story! i know you must miss your mom something terrible. she sounds like she was the belle of the ball. i like that behind the scenes prep feeling too. we get it in some of the different jobs that we do. really nice post!

;)

~m

tunia said...

You write wonderfully! I think once you complete 500 posts or something, you should get it published. If not anything else, then for your family at least.

My mom used to take me to grocery stores when I was about three.I was totally infatuated by grocery shopping. I loved stalking my trolley with goodies! Even if I had no clue what they did(I was 3!!) The more attractive the cover of the product, the more I filled up my trolley with it!

So, mom used to give me a separate trolley for myself!! At the time of billing, she'd distract me, sneak it away from me and hide it between some counters!