CIGARS (Part II)

I found my new job very interesting, particularly in my relatiomship with the fifteen retail cigar salesmen. They were a friendly lot given to much joking with each other and with the eight office staff. The office manager, Mr. B______, a veteran in the business, was very thorough in the way he directed the office, and very patient with me as he taught me the business from the ground up, as they say.

My primary job, as assistant office manager, was inventory control. I had to balance, on a daily basis, the number of cigars carried by each salesman (beginning number, less sales for the day, and ending balance on each panel truck) add to this total the number of cigars in the warehouse, and come up with the total by physical counting. Exacting work, but quite interesting.

I had this job for about three and a half years. In addition to taking inventory, I wrote monthly reports to the general sales office and directed the office staff when Mr. B_____ was absent.

The one drawback to the job was financial. The yearly raise was miniscule and was reflected in my take-home pay, which just about covered our expenses. I decided to look around for another opportunity and found it!!

In the church we attended was a man my age whose father had a retail camera store in downtown Philadelphia. O____ told me one day that the company needed an office manager to give some relief to his dad, at the store. Once I got the details and found the pay to be fifty percent more than my current job, I took the leap, although it meant working for half day on Saturdays. I left the cigar companyy with some regrets (isn't it always so?), but was anxious to "run the show" in this new venture.

The camera company was quite small personnel-wise, but a growing business. The atmoshphere was relaxed and friendly, and I thrived in it.

More, later.