Shortly after my mother graduated Central High, she began working at Providence Base Works, a former General Electric manufacturing facility for light-bulb parts. "I remember those three steps... the steps that I walked up to the conveyor", she said, as she remembered how she had to inspect 4 bases at a time and "reject" the ones that were damaged. They'd go down a shoot, and another woman would wheel the damaged ones and sort/recycle them.
"I made good money there" she proudly says about her weekly pay, which averaged about $60 - $70 per week. She got paid piece work by the number of bulb bases she inspected. Mom, not too shabby for a week's pay in 1940! I'm proud of her as well.
Along with this job came a pretty significant perk too. She worked there for three years, during which she got a good deal on a GE fridge that replaced an old ICE BOX that the family used to keep food cold. Though it's kind of sad that the ice-man lost some business, at the same time, quite an advancement for her family to have an electric fridge. Can you imagine how excited they all were?!
She also reminisced about driving her sister, Angie to Uncas Mfg. nearby her job at the Base Works. (Ev worked at Uncas for awhile with Angie at one point but wasn't quite sure of the timeframe).
But she did use her brother's car at this time while he was overseas in the service and oh, she remembers banging his car in the driveway. Oops! Sounded like a little fender bender. She blames the driveway for being narrow! (which I will say it was!) But the car got fixed when Anthony returned and that was that!
Evelyn was a little off on the timeline of some of her jobs, but for most of our interview, she has been quite detailed and accurate, even remembering the length of time worked at some. She recalls a seven-month time frame in which she worked as a cashier at the Carlton Movie Theater near the Biltmore Hotel in Providence (around 1944). Also, she remembers details of learning of the job opening and remembers the woman that told her about it. Something tells me my mother is on target with her details! We are talking about over 70 years ago. Wow!
After that job, she worked as a Telephone Operator at the Providence Telephone Company for a few years, where she had the tricky task of making sure the cord on the manual switchboard stayed at a 45-degree angle when answering a call. If not, you would hear another conversation on your line and get reprimanded for the slip-up. Imagine all that? What a difference from an easy swipe of a cell phone today!
Also, a part-time job at the Biltmore Hotel brings her joyful memories. She worked at a concession stand during the time of WWII. Here, Ev and a girlfriend stayed very busy checking in coats and hats and helping at the stand all for $4 each a night. She hesitantly admits that one night the two took it upon themselves to make an executive decision and take $10 each from the big tip money they collected. Not too big of a skeleton in her closet. After all, their great customer service could have easily been the reason the tips were so big. Only fair they should get some of that pot once in awhile!
She mentioned one more job at Floral Products where she inspected and packed bathing caps and beach bags. She worked at night when my sister and I were young. Here again, the job paid by piece work and she said, proud of herself, "I made good money". Also, some fun perks with this job...., well, fun for us 1950's kids, .... we had bathing caps with flowers on them, beach bags with silky sea blue fringe, and many more decorative variations! Her sister Helen also worked here where she decorated the bathing caps during the day and Ev inspected and packed them by night. Pretty cool family teamwork!
Evelyn says she always loved working. As my sister and I grew older, my mom began working for Temp Agencies bringing back her telephone skills by working as a receptionist at various companies and law offices. She looks back upon it all and other than a few "stinkers" of bosses she had at the telephone company, she has all good to say about her working life. "I just loved working. I picked up quick. It made me feel accomplished. And it was just fun. And I liked the money", are Ev's happy expressions of her working years.
Stay tuned for Part 3 next!