Throwback Thursday: Assistant Manager

At 25, I was the assistant manager at a camera store in one of the largest shopping malls in Ottawa. My manager at the store in St.Laurent Shopping Centre spent a large deal of time in the back room or was downstairs, at our satellite store, which had a photo lab, and so I was often on the floor.

That was okay, because one of our other sales people was a fast-growing friend. Nearly 30 years later, we are still very close friends.

I don't remember Marc taking this photo: did I have my camera in the store at the time, did he have his, or did he just put a roll of film in one of the cameras on the shelves, to try it out? I'm guessing it was the first option, because this image is actually from a slide, among one of many in albums that I still look at every once and a while.

Back then, 99 percent of the photos I shot were with slide film.

In the photo, I'm opening a box for one of our store's fancy photo albums, probably one for weddings or babies. Was I serving a customer? Was I unpackaging it to place on display?

God, that hair!

I remember the shirt and tie, purchased in May of 1988 in a posh shop in Glasgow, Scotland. Upon entering the store, I was immediately greeted by a salesperson who was up for no nonsense, no browsing, no indecision.

I wanted a dress shirt, wanted one with stripes. What colour of stripes? Blue. Wide stripes or narrow? Somewhere in between. How about this one? That's nice... Fine. Did you want a tie? Perhaps. How about this one? It does go well... Anything else? No.

Five minutes, or fewer. I was walked through the store and I think the ultimate decisions were made by the salesperson. But I loved the shirt and tie. I wore them for nearly 10 years.

The watch, a black-and-white Swatch, was also purchased in Scotland. In a shop along the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh. The selection was so vast, it took what seemed by comparison to the shirt and tie, but I finally found simplicity through all of the colours.

By the end of summer, 1990, I would leave my position of assistant manager, turning down an offer for manager at the Rideau Centre, and go back to school, dropping to part time, back at the Merivale Mall, where my job at Black's Cameras first began.

A month or so later, I'd leave the camera store to work at a bank. I took that shirt, tie, and watch with me.

Sadly, the hair came too.