Among the various after school jobs I had,
was one in the sign shop of Bambergers Department Store. Bambergers
was the store in Newark and working there was a mark of achievement.
My hours were from 4 P.M. till 9 P.M. This gave me time to get
from school to work. I would eat my dinner at 3:30 on the bus taking
me from school to work.
My job was to print signs from large pieces of type. The signs
usually announced a sale, special value, new item or the like. Since
this was Bambergers, I guess I earned .20¢ an hour. In the
30's any laws relative to minimum wages or child labor laws were
unknown to both employer and employee. To complain to a superior
about any working conditions was the equivalent to saying, "I
quit."
I guess what I liked most about my job was that I could say to
my friends that I didn't get home from work last night till almost
10 O'clock.
The job lasted about two months. After the Christmas season it
seemed that half of the Bam's (as it was called by the locals) employees
we given their walking papers.
My print shop job was just another part of growing up. Even though
it only lasted two months I have fond memories of the job. The knowledge
I gathered at Bam's served me many years later in another job in
which I supervised the making of signs. No knowledge is ever lost.
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