EVERYBODY, TAKE A NUMBER 1939

The beginning of high school for me came along just after the Social Security System was inaugurated in the United States. I had never heard of it, but that oversight was corrected when I applied for my first real job. I learned at school one Monday in the fall semester that Handelman's Clothing Store on Main Street needed a boy for after school. I hotfooted it to downtown when school dismissed and asked the manager if he had a job open. He answered, "Yes, I have, son, but do you have a Social Security card?"

"No sir, I don't. I don't even know what it is."

"Oh, yes, everybody that works now has to have a Social Security card. I have some blank application forms here, if you want. Just fill one of these out and I'll mail it for you."

"Thank you, sir. What about the job?"

"I need you to come by here every week day after school and sweep out the store. Also, every Monday you will wash the display windows and squeegee them dry. I'll pay you two dollars a week. Once in a while you can work on Saturday selling shoes for another two dollars." When I heard his words, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven! Four dollars a week was good money for a 14 year old boy!

I went to work the same day, sweeping and washing the windows. It was not until I started home that my mathematical mind began looking at my job and its salary in another way. Each weekday I had a walk from school to downtown, an hour's work, and then a mile's walk home for a total of 40 cents. Then I thought about the time Charles Emmett and I walked a round trip of 10 miles out on S. H. 24 for two movie tickets worth 8 cents and I felt better.

The Saturday hours began when the store opened at 9:00 in the morning and finished at 10 that night after I had swept out the store. The doors were closed to customers at 9:00 PM and we replaced stock and cleaned up, then we got paid for the week. I was surprised to receive only $3.96 in a little envelope. I must have looked my disappointment, for the manager said, "Don't forget the Social Security tax. It's not much, only a penny on every dollar, and that will stop after you earn $3000 in a year." As far as I was concerned, I didn't imagine I would EVER earn $3000.00 in a LIFETIME, much less a year; right now I was more concerned about the loss of 4 pennies.

When I got off work on Saturday night, there was nothing to do in downtown McComb. I was too tired to wait for the midnight movie to start, for during the entire day I was allowed to sit down only at lunch break. The only places with lights on were the Greyhound bus station and the bakery. I chose the bakery, because that envelope full of money was burning a hole in my pocket. The smell of bread was so powerful that I realized I had eaten nothing during the day. A dozen big fresh glazed doughnuts cost a quarter so that's what I bought. On the way home, I ate the whole bag, finishing the last one as my foot hit the front porch steps of my house. I didn't need a key to get in because nobody locked their houses in those days. In fact, I never saw a front door key until I got to Houston in 1953.

What happened to the other $3.71? I haven't the slightest idea. I do remember where 25 cents of my money went every Saturday as long as I worked at Handelman's.