First Job Helped Create Lifelong of Work Ethic - Time Out #297

Occasionally, while surfing social media on the internet, I check out one of my favorite topics, "I Remember Stillwater When". This site certainly allows my mind's eye to drift back to yesteryear, growing up in Our Town in the 1950's and 60's.

A recent post at that site was about having a paper route as a youth, and this subject certainly attracted a great deal of comments from the social site reading public. Yours truly was one of the folks who commented on the social media post, and those thoughts inspired me to expand upon my memory in this week's installment.

As was mentioned by several recent respondents, paper routes were their first "real jobs". Such was the case for me, too. I am sure collecting empty soda bottles for 2-cents each, and turning them in at the local grocery store for my pocket money (spent on candy, pinball machines, etc.), was really the first source of my real income. However, there was not a great deal of personal responsibility connected with my collecting empty soda bottles!

When I decided to pursue a much more lofty occupation at age 13 or so, I rode my 20-inch Colson bicycle downtown to West Sixth Avenue and South Main Street to Schaffer's Cigar and News. It was located one building south of Thomas Ford automobile agency, on the east side of South Main Street. There, I spoke with the store owner and my to-be newspaper carrier boss, Charles Schaffer. It certainly was a bonus for me his retail store also had several nickel pinball machines. These always attracted my attention, and spending my pocket money (refer to previous comments). Well, he gave me one of his Tulsa Tribune afternoon newspaper route jobs, 37 customers, I recall? However, for this small customer-total route, I had to ride my trusty bike over 7 miles daily. Not the same large customer demand as our local Stillwater News-Press for sure!

For the couple of years I threw this route, I really learned some excellent life lessons. Probably the biggest personal gains were in the areas of work ethic, personal responsibility and promptness. Some of my customers wanted their daily papers delivered in precise locations outside their homes, and others wanted to get the papers as soon as possible. Remember, dear readers of Our Town and far beyond, in that time frame, black and white televisions were mostly the only electronic information options available, along with electric and transistor radios. So, newspapers provided some of the best source of current news, back in the day. Of course, magazines contributed to the current information pool, too.

Like all newspaper carriers, I had the usual potential angry dogs on my route. I always tried to not get into a situation of a barking/nipping dog chasing me on my bike, while I was attempting the throw my route. I certainly learned early on the best path to avoid them!

Monthly bill collecting from my route customers was also a valuable-learned life lesson. Most people were very nice and considerate, but since part of my route surrounded the OSU campus, a few of my patrons were college students. A very few of those folks were difficult, or nearly impossible, to collect my money from each month.

My late father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, would occasionally feel sorry for me when the weather was bad, or he and I needed to do something that could interfere with my paper route. When those infrequent times rolled around, he would drive our family car, while I was in the auto's backseat with the papers. We would deliver my route much quicker via auto. I would roll down the backseat windows, and toss the papers out of both sides, as required. I especially enjoyed his helping me when I had to deliver the large Sunday Tulsa World, very early Sunday morning, since the Tulsa Tribune did not have an edition those days.

All in all, the newspaper route job provided me with invaluable adult skills that I have used many times, directly and indirectly, throughout my life. Of course, all of these experiences were enjoyed in Our Town long, long ago. Priceless memories.