Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Day 6: 1st Job (30 Days of Days)


Day 6: The day you first held a job


Summit, MS is a very small town.  At the time I lived in it, the population was estimated at a little more than 1800 people.  I’m not sure if that has changed much or not.  There wasn't much to do in Summit; if you wanted any excitement, you had to go to McComb, the next town over.



In Summit, there’s only one grocery store.  Piggly Wiggly.  That is where you want to go if you didn't feel like going into McComb to get anything.  The management at Piggly Wiggly knew that, so it was advantageous to them to have the prices slightly high for convenience.

Summer of 1995, I wanted to try and save up some money.  I had aspirations of going to college and knew there may be some expenses to go along with it.  I figured if I started working now, by the time summer of next year came around, I would have had a significant amount.

I got hired right away as a cashier.  I’ll never forget that apron.  It was navy blue with red trim, and in the center of the chest was a smiling pig. I'm sure the design has changed since then.

At Piggly Wiggly, you had to scan everything, except for the produce.  You weighed it and then pushed the corresponding button.  The machine wasn’t all that sophisticated.  

One day, the scanning system was messed up so we had to punch in all the UPC codes by hand.  It was a nightmare, especially when I had this one lady that had purchased almost two hundred dollars worth of groceries.

True, I was only making minimum wage, which back in 1995 was $4.25 an hour, but I was very happy getting that pay day every week.  It just felt nice to have a bit of change in my pocket.  Plus, I could do help out Grandma and Grandpa when I could, even though they would never ask me to.

I worked there until time for me to go to college, but I would also work there during my freshman year of college when I had breaks.  After that I stopped, because for the next two summers afterwards, I ended up doing internships.  But I was always thankful for the opportunity that Mr. Vinson gave to me.

Day 6, that’s a wrap!

7 comments:

The God'ess said...

The Pig now had red aprons but only the people in the meat dept wear them around here.

And yes...they do jack up their prices here too.

Mahoganydymond™ said...

Aww... Sounds like my Bi-Lo I work at.. I HATE Grocery Stores..

Reggie said...

I'm big on the pig.

By the way, I actually know where Summit is, I've driven through Mississippi more than a few times. In January I went to a funeral in Fayette, my uncle was then buried in Natchez. I have family all over the state of Mississippi.

Thee_Kween said...

I went to a Piggly Wiggly just once. When I was visiting my great grandmother. She lived in Red Springs, NC and the store was in Fayetteville. I bought some oatmeal raisin cookies and a mello yello. lol

ABoyd378 said...

My friends in SC gave me a Piggly Wiggly discount card (the one for the key chain) as a souvenir.

I like the Piggly; Supermarket AND Liquor Store in One! :-D

No Labels said...

ABoyd, back in the day when I worked, the Pig didn't have a discount card, so it has come a long way since I worked there back in 1995.

Wow, Reggie, you get extra cool points! Most people know where McComb is, even Jackson, but never where Summit is.

Yeah, Maria, I'm sure the Pig's prices are still a bit high. You would think they would build another grocery store in Summit. Unfortunately a lot of businesses have closed down--the main street in downtown Summit is a ghost town--a bunch of empty buildings. Wal-Mart being in McComb really caused quite an impact once they opened. Even the Pig doesn't get as much business anymore from what I've heard, except from those who don't have the transport to get to the next town over.

Reggie said...

Oh I've been through McComb and Jackson too. Like I said, I've got family all over Mississippi. I went to high school and college in Alabama. When I used to live in New Orleans and went to see my family I went through many a little town like yours. Both Alabama and Mississippi are full of little cities and towns just like those.