ancient-one
US Veteran
Yesterday eve I was watching American Pickers. I don't know where they were but they showed some old gasoline pumps. One was a Johnson oil company pump with the Brilliant Bronze sign on it. During the last of my 14th year and through the early part of my 16th I worked at the Johnson Oil Company Station at Perry OK. We got our gas from their refinery at Cleveland OK. It was a cut-rate station and the gasoline was in the 11 to 12 cents per gallon range, just a little bit under the major companies.
It wasn't just a gas station, it was service station. We washed all the windows, checked the oil, coolant, battery level and aired the tires if it was needed. If their floorboards needed swept out we did it.
On Saturday if you filled up you got a gift. A different thing each week like ash trays, a glass or misc. other items. When we were cleaning my mothers house out I found a clothes brush that was one of the items and it is the only thing I have.
I worked after school and on weekends. I remember that for a full day, anywhere from 8 to 12 hours I was paid one dollar. One time the guy that owned it left for three or four days and left it with me. His instructions were when you close at night stuff the bills in a space under the air compressor motor frame. The night before he got back I had accumulated over four hundred dollars which was a lot money a that time(late 30's and early 40's). When I called and told my dad how much money there was he came and stayed with me until I got the station closed.
Even at that little salary I was able to save and buy my future wife a gold filled expansion expansion bracelet with a heart that opened up for a picture and either a gold plated or filled compact. My daughter has the bracelet and I don't know what happened to the compact. I am glad that I saw that particular show because it brought back a lot of memories.
It wasn't just a gas station, it was service station. We washed all the windows, checked the oil, coolant, battery level and aired the tires if it was needed. If their floorboards needed swept out we did it.
On Saturday if you filled up you got a gift. A different thing each week like ash trays, a glass or misc. other items. When we were cleaning my mothers house out I found a clothes brush that was one of the items and it is the only thing I have.
I worked after school and on weekends. I remember that for a full day, anywhere from 8 to 12 hours I was paid one dollar. One time the guy that owned it left for three or four days and left it with me. His instructions were when you close at night stuff the bills in a space under the air compressor motor frame. The night before he got back I had accumulated over four hundred dollars which was a lot money a that time(late 30's and early 40's). When I called and told my dad how much money there was he came and stayed with me until I got the station closed.
Even at that little salary I was able to save and buy my future wife a gold filled expansion expansion bracelet with a heart that opened up for a picture and either a gold plated or filled compact. My daughter has the bracelet and I don't know what happened to the compact. I am glad that I saw that particular show because it brought back a lot of memories.
