Day 332: This is all from childhood memories, so my siblings and older cousins can set me straight with today’s Mallory’s Department Store post. As I remember it, The Store had one of those freight elevators with the open metal framework doors that pulled closed. I also remember a rope on a pulley, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t actually pulling ourselves up with it. The elevator took you to the second floor, which was all storage when I was around. There were boxes of old discarded stuff and extra inventory, and in the back corner, there was a huge ornate cash register which had been replaced by more modern versions through the years. I thought that cash register was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
Like my Grandpa Cox’s adding machine, the cash register was all mechanical. It added the total purchase price, but it did not have the capacity for the clerk to enter how much was paid, to figure how much change should be returned. This is where Mom’s lesson would come in. It was “important to know how to count back change” she would say. So, very early on, when my friends and I played Store, Mom turned it into a math lesson by having us figure out how much money should be given back to the customer, and how to properly count it back to them. “Your total was $12.97, from $15.00, is 98, 99, 13, 14, and 15. Thank you for shopping with us today.” I bet she thought I wouldn’t remember.
Hey, Cousins! Does anybody remember the old cash register?
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