I was hired for Christmas help at J.B. White's Department Store at the end of 1980. My job was primarily working in Stationery as a sales associate, but I also helped in Housewares, Luggage, and Lamps. That experience helped me further in life, when I worked at Belk and Rich's/Macy's, but those stories will come later.
Stationery was pretty easy. I just rang up cards all day and into the night. Most of my hours were during the latter portions of the workdays. The security guard came by my register one day and looked at me. He said that I looked familiar. I told him that I lived nearby and shopped at White's all the time. I recognized him too. He was the same guard who caught me shoplifting from that store 12 years before. He had a great memory, but I never let on that I was the same guy. That was a long time ago.
On the morning of December 9th at 6am, my Mother woke me up and told me to cut on the radio. I didn't have to be at work until much later, but I did as she said. My radio was tuned to a NYC station, as I was listening to it the night before. When I turned on the radio, I heard the news that John Lennon had been killed. I was stunned. A Beatle was dead! How could this be? I was in a fog the rest of that day and several days afterwards. I grieved along with everyone else. He was my favorite Beatle. His solo music shaped many of my social beliefs. I went into work, but I was on autopilot. I couldn't be cheerful to customers. It was as if I had lost a family member. In retrospect, it was worse than losing a family member.
A few weeks later, I was working one night with a bad cold. I took some medicine that made me very groggy. While ringing up two women with cards, I felt faint. I excused myself and took about 5 steps and collapsed in the aisle of the store. I tried to get up to get to the lamp stockroom. My legs felt very rubbery. I crawled the rest of the way to the stockroom. The customers that I had left were complaining that I had left them in the middle of their transaction. They were more concerned about their .79 cards than me. When I finally got to the stockroom, I sat on some steps to try and get myself together. My supervisor, who was the father of one of my youth friends from Kilbourne Park, got to me in the stockroom. He told me to go home. After feeling better, I called the next day to see when I was working again. They never gave me hours, but they never terminated me either. J.B. White's closed later on. I guess they had to close to end my relationship with them.
Back to Lennon. In early 1981, I was scheduled to perform at a actor's showcase for the SC Arts Commission. I was supposed to do my monologue of Hosea, but I changed it at the last meeting and did dramatic readings of 3 Lennon works--Imagine, Across the Universe, and In My Life. It was very tough getting through the readings, because my emotions were still raw. By making that choice, it cost me getting some acting jobs that year. The Arts Commission wanted to see my talents, not my reading skills.
I also wrote a one-person play on the day John Lennon died in NYC. I wanted to use his music, and I wrote to Yoko Ono to see if she would give her permission for me to use that music. She said no. I ended up performing the play without the music a couple of times. Yoko was nice to me by sending a cost price list of Lennon eyeglass frames that Eagle Eyewear produced. The wait time in stores was 7 months at a price of around $200/each. I got my 2 pair of frames for $30/each, and they came in less than 2 weeks. It pays to know people. Yoko and I had a friendly relationship for several years thanks to a mutual friend who paved the way for me to contact her. Our friendship became strained years later due to a money problem I had, and she cut me off from being friends. A couple of years ago, I had to write to her about the death of our mutual friend. It was the hardest letter I have ever had to write. She responded. I hope she doesn't hate me anymore.
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