Back in the 50’s & 60’s I looked about 5 years younger than I was. Getting a part-time job was difficult because I looked so young.

I returned from a year in Israel in August 1964. I was 21 and looked 16 and weighed under 10 stone (140 pounds). I went back to work for my uncle who owned an engineering company. He specialized in renting and selling all types sewing machines to the industry. He also created and sold a twin-tray fusing press. After working there for several months, I became quite good at understanding different types of clothing quality. I could tell by the finish whether I was looking at a jacket that was going to last me and a jacket that was going to fall apart quickly.

Although I was working full-time I still wanted to get a Saturday job. My friend Alan, had a job at Brick’s Menswear and he was going to quit so he recommended me.

The store was at Graham Rd & Mare St. At that time the stores were known for their low-cost clothes. They did sell Rael-Brook shirts, which were very popular. They also sold name brand jeans like Levi’s. However, in my opinion, the suits and sports jackets were very poor quality and I doubted they could survive a dry-cleaning. My guess was that if you sent them out for a dry-cleaning all you’d get back would be the belt loops and buttons.

On the third Saturday I arrived to find a hole in the store front window and some of the mannequins were naked. I walked into the store and found one of the owners, Reuben, laying across one of the display counters with his head in his hand bemoaning the theft. My nature is to cheer people up when they’re down, so without any thought I said you know you have to look on the bright side. Reuben looked up at me and asked, “What could be the bright side?” I said, “Well, they could’ve been putting stuff back.” I was transferred to another branch.

I was sent to the Lower Clapton Road branch where I worked with “Morry The Mishiganer”.

I think Morry worked on an incentive bonus. At least he ran the store like he was. It was winter and the store was so cold that I had to wear my sheepskin coat while I worked. The customers complained about having to try on clothes because of the cold. One time I opened the front door to go out and a passer-by complained about the draft.

The Customers

A lady came into the store and asked me if we sold men’s swimsuits. I asked, “what size is your man”, and she replied, “men’s size”. I replied, “lady you may not have noticed, but men come in 3 sizes; small, medium and large”. Well they did in those days. Today it starts at large. She said, “well, your size only larger”, I got out a medium size and she started to explain why she was buying them. Apparently, her daughter was getting married and the newlyweds were going to Spain for their honeymoon. Seems the daughter liked to swim in the ocean and the husband didn’t, so for safety’s sake they were bringing the best man as a swim buddy. Very smart thinking, even if a bit peculiar. “Will the best man be needing pyjamas”, I asked, with a cheeky grin. The woman didn’t know and would get back to me. I’d loved to have known the outcome.

Customers would come in and try to bargain with me. I was showing a pair of £3 jeans to a customer. “Will you take 30 shillings?” He asked, “Sure, if you only want one leg in the jeans”, I shot back. He laughed and paid full price. That’s how it was most Saturdays.

The Manager

As I already stated, Morry was a weird guy. He used to boil his tomato soup in a kettle and insisted that the soft tissue toilet paper carried disease. I found that out when he sent me to buy toilet paper and I came back with the soft type. I had to return the paper and buy the shiny, smooth and stiff, Izal  toilet paper that actually hurt when used.

The other peculiarity was adding up all the cash and comparing it to the register tape. If it didn’t balance to the penny we had to keep counting and recounting until it balanced. It got to the point that if the cash was less than the register, I would quietly use my own money and recoup my loss when the cash was over. If I didn’t do that I would lose half my Saturday night.

All in all, it was a good experience. I lasted about 15 months and then I’d had enough.

Here’s the Rael-Brook ad from the 60’s.