WORKING AT SEGROVES PHARMACY

 

 I was probably about 10 or 11 in this picture working at my dad's drugstore. I started working in the store as soon as I could see above the counter, probably when I was 6 or 7. Of course I never got paid but all my family worked there. That's what you do when your family owns a business. This was good training for me and one reason I have always tried to have a good work ethic and I like to think that I passed it on to my children. Daddy drummed it into me that the customer was always right. Working security has taught me that that is not necessarily so. I believe that good customer service is a two way street but I still believe that it is the primary responsibility of business to go out of their way to please the customer. Good customer service is lacking far too much in modern day society.

I swept the floor, dusted the merchandise, cleaned windows and worked behind the cash register. That was the thing that I loved doing the most. One of the funniest things that happened to me was when a male customer leaned over to whisper something in my ear. He was asking me for a pack of Trojans. In those days condoms were kept under the counter and they weren't displayed out in the open like they are today. I never got the talk about the birds and the bees. Sex was a taboo subject around our house. Once when I was riding my bike I saw the F word for the first time written on the inside of a drainage pipe. Of course I didn't know what it meant so I asked my mom. She didn't handle it too well and quickly changed the subject. Not knowing what Trojans were I hollered at my mom who was working in the prescription department, "Mom, where are the Trojans". The store was noisy and full of customers but you could have heard a pin drop as my red faced mother sheepishly walked over to me and pulled out a box of condoms from under the counter. She then handed the man his package of Trojans. I can only imagine how embarrassed that he was. Needless to say I never made that mistake again and I can't remember if she ever explained to me what a condom was.