1954,55 & 56 FIRST EXPERIENCE OF WORKING FOR MONEY Part ii

Mark Foy's Piazza Department Store was a model of style and elegance

1955

At the conclusion of 4th Year at Marist Brothers Darlinghurst, the question again arose of some holiday work. I applied to Woolworths and was posted to their Liverpool Street Store which, if I remember rightly (I think it no longer exists) was on the Southern side between Castlereagh Street and Pitt Street. It was on two levels, a basement and the Ground Floor or street level ( which Americans call the First Floor). both the basement and the Ground Floor were accessible directly from the footpath because of the slope of Liverpool Street, via steps up and down.

I was posted to the Hardware and Electrical Section , which was a bit of a laugh because I had little practical inclination or knowledge. But it didn't matter, because it seemed to me that everyone working there loathed working there. Only two things stick clearly in my mind about the time I spent there :

. one of the female sales assistants, a plump  young Methodist girl, stole my wallet! At the time I had no credit cards of course(neither did ANYBODY else!) and I had the habit of keeping what little cash I had in my trousers pocket. So, when it went missing from my jacket in the staff locker room, I thought I had probably mislaid it. However after about 10 days, I received a letter from a lady, who owned the boarding house where the girl was staying. She had found my wallet under the girl's pillow! (Snooping?) She asked me to contact her to retrieve the Wallet AND SUGGESTED HOW IMPROPER OF ME SHE THOUGHT IT WAS, TO BE FRIENDS WITH THIS GIRL WHEN I WAS PLANNING TO BE A PRIEST! Her snooping had extended to the contents of my wallet and there was a letter there from the Vocations Director, Father Kevin McGovern, which also gave her my address. I was amazed at the action of this girl who was either a kleptomaniac or had her eye on me! I wasted no time phoning Mrs. Snoop and setting her straight about my total lack of interest in the girl in question. and later recovered the wallet. I felt sorry for the girl , who was really rather pathetic. My time at Woolies was just about up and I don't recall ever confronting the girl about the theft.It seemed pointless.

. the second point I remember was that the senior woman who was in charge of the Section, had had a brother, who died in the War (then only 10 years past) at the hands of the Japanese - whom we always called "JAPS" in a Prisoner of War Camp. This had so affected her that she implacably HATED THE JAPS. It was terrible to see the venomous change in her  personality whenever the subject was raised, or she raised it - we had plenty of "Made in Japan" cheap goods  that prompted such occasions. Evil begets evil.


1956

5th Year was over and so was my High School time.But before the Seminary Year of 1957 was to commence, it was necessary to find some temporary employment.

In each of these holiday periods, the rationale was the same : Mum and Dad could not afford cash for me to have even a modest holiday, they did not in any case believe it was good for me to idle around and I wanted to get some spending money. Solution : get a job.For 1956 together with my best friend Tony Hannon I applied to Mark Foy's Department Store an impressive Italianate building which they termed the Piazza Store bounded by Liverpool Street to the North , Elizabeth Street to the East and Castlereagh Street to the West. at the Southern end across Goulburn Street the 1926 built underground City Railway dived under the building and split into two tunnels the western one tending left toward TOWN HALL STATION and WYNYARD STATION and the other pulling sharply to the East to promptly arrive at the shallow MUSEUM STATION and then on to ST.JAMES STATION.The tunnel subverted MARK FOY'S not only physically but commercially. The effect of the undergound City Railway was to move the commercial hub of the City to the North midway between MARK FOY'S and Circular Quay.And at that centre point on Market Street lay the deadly threat to MARK FOY'S : DAVID JONES' LADIES AND MEN'S Store and FARMERS ( Now MYER).

Poor Tony got the rough end of the pineapple and was appointed to the carpet cutting section of the warehouse across Elizabeth Street from the Piazza Store, whereas I , I had the high privilege of working in Ladies Handbags and Umbrellas!! AAaaargh! This was on the Ground Floor and was headed up by a Mr. Fenwick - who , despite the verrrry British name was, I believe, Maltese. Mr F. was, shall we say, rather fastidious - if I remember rightly- he wore a bow tie! He made it obvious I was not part of his plans and I should not get in the way or touch anything. Despite all these strictures I do believe I managed to sell a few things. 

One occasion is burned in to my memory, in embarrassment : Tony's sister Robyn ( my wife of 41 1/2 years, and her Best Friend Penny Rowley ( who later became Penny Loughland and with her husband Keith   they are our oldest friends) and several others from St Clare's College Waverley, came into the Piazza Store and stood across the floor from my Section giggling and smiling.I made my self busy and shifted around the other side of a pillar hoping they would be gone before Mr.F noticed. He was not the type to take kindly to giggling girls! In time they left but the embarrassment lingered on.

That was it really, my glorious career in retail trade was at an end! From milk shakes and ice creams to Ladies' Handbags and Umbrellas via Hardware and Electrical! Been there, Done That!


BTW in due course dear old Mark Foy's - famous for its Grand Ballroom succumbed to the commercial subversion by the City Railway. The Store closed and after a period of being boarded up,was bought by the Labor State Government for a Court and Legal Complex and dubbed the Downing Centre after a Labor Minister.A great loss to the City.