Guest Post: Diana R.G. Trautwein

I first meet Diana Trautwein at Laity Lodge and found her to be a warm,wise and genuine woman. She blogs over at Just Wondering, where she reflects on retirement, photography and continued learning.
Window Coverings, Riding the Bus & Growing Up

by Diana R.G. Trautwein

I’ve had a lot of different jobs in my life – babysitter, lawn-waterer, house-tender, school teacher, stay-at-home-mom, administrative assistant, florist, teaching assistant, staff pastor, curriculum writer and spiritual director. But the year I turned 15, I got my first ‘real’ job. A friend suggested I apply for a position as a retail clerk at a local, family-owned business that sold curtains, draperies and the hardware for hanging them. And I got paid a whopping $1.25/hour. After three years of baby-sitting for thirty-five cents per hour, that sounded like a great idea! I had to apply for a special dispensation from the city government because I was under age, and then, for the next 18 months, I worked every Saturday and all vacation days at Bruce’s Draperies on Orange Street in Glendale, CA. I learned a lot about measuring windows, calculating how much fabric would be needed for custom drapes, and which rods could best bear the weight of which fabric density.

It was boring.

I mean, it was really boring.

But my employers were kind, the customers were gracious – and I got $1.25 per hour!

That job parlayed itself into a job in downtown Los Angeles my senior year of high school in – ta da!- the drapery department of a large department store. So every Saturday morning, I would board the bus, ride the 30 minutes into the city and get off on the corner of 6th and Hill. Bullock’s was a large, imposing edifice, filled with lovely things and lots of interesting people. And it had a great restaurant. I quickly learned what I could afford to order for lunch and I thoroughly enjoyed my bowl of soup and freshly baked bread every Saturday that year.

I was given a bit more responsibility with this job – closing out the cash register at the end of the day, stocking the shelves when new products arrived, filling out custom order forms. Again, the people were easy to work with, most of the customers were reasonable and the work was not too taxing. I added a few new vocabulary words  – like ecru (that’s a color) and ninon (that’s a very filmy fabric) and panels (that’s what individual long curtains are called. Well, it was new to me in 1960!)

But what I really learned during those years was far more important. I learned that I could take care of myself in new and sometimes nerve-wracking situations. I learned that a smile goes a very long way in this world. I learned that earning your own spending money is a gloriously freeing thing – and also a responsibility. I learned that people are people – interesting, neurotic, demanding at times, but generally responsive to kindness, patience and welcome. I learned that being a salesperson is a noble endeavor, that offering goods and services to others is a good thing, a necessary thing. I learned that if you’re honest, if you try to find the good in others, if you’re patient with yourself and with the people around you, most tension-filled situations tend to dissipate and settle themselves.

Bullock’s was bought out by another large department store chain about 30 years ago and the building I went to each week is now a Macy’s. There is a rumor that the old stores will be re-born in a suburban mall somewhere, but they can never be the same, I don’t think. I kept that job through the first semester of my four years at UCLA and I never tired of riding that bus into L.A.  

But a job right on campus beckoned – and it paid $1