Get a Job

The morning did not begin well. Though my sniffles had vanished when I awoke this morning, I discovered, to my annoyance, that a certain female time of the month had arrived. Not to mention, I got up a lot later than I thought I would. And when I tried to flip my first blueberry-chocolate chip pancake, it landed on the edge of the pan and got all over the stove.

Mom was doing a lot better than I was when I called her. She was just about to settle in to clean her kitchen floor (which she says is a lot easier than it sounds, it being a brand-new floor). She just got a part-time job at the Micheal's in Rio Grande this week. Not a lot of hours or very high-paying, but it'll get her foot in the door. She hasn't worked in at least five years or more, since my brother was little and she worked at his elementary school, making posters and other art for teachers. She's hoping to eventually train to work on store layouts and displays, not just for Micheal's, but for other small stores as well.

She's not having much luck with Dad or Keefe, though. Her relationship with my stepfather has always been volatile at best. They're both stubborn and bossy, hard-headed and inclined to be violent when provoked. And Dad and Keefe's antagonistic relationship has apparently deteriorated of late as well; Mom's afraid they're going to come to blows, or worse.

I had just enough time after getting off with Mom to grab lunch and head off to work. Good thing, too. Although it wasn't too bad when I came in, by 4 o'clock, the place was hopping. We were in desperate need of help. There were two people leaving at 4, my relief was late, and there was no one we could call from anywhere else. No one had even called out. We just hadn't scheduled enough help. The other girl and I stayed another hour. (Just as well - my original "relief" showed up 20 minutes late.)

Lauren and I were talking about local malls in one of our chats the other night. She has fond memories of Zayre's, a department store chain in her area that apparently died in the 90s, just as Ames and Jamesway did here and elsewhere. Talking about them reminded me of the remnants of the one and only really major mall in the South Jersey area, the Rio Mall. I've written about this unfortunate mall here before, but our chat and talking to Mom this morning brought a lot of memories back again.

When I was a kid, the Rio Mall was the coolest place to shop. Of course, this being Cape May County, it was also the only real place to shop. The next closest malls were the Shore Mall and (after 1989) the Hamilton Mall, and they were 45 minutes away. Everything else were small boutiques and locally owned stores that often had outrageous prices and didn't have what you wanted half the time.

When Petula Clark sang about "Downtown," this was my downtown. There was a Thrift Drug, a record store where Mom bought most of her huge record collection, a movie theater with a great pizza parlor next-door, an arcade, a kids' clothes store (I fondly recall coveting their gorgeous frilly dresses, which you can see in the picture), and a big jewelry store. My sisters and I used to go see Santa here every year; his throne was in the main mall, near the record store and Thrift Drug. We'd go to the Deb Shop next to the K-Mart while Mom checked out when we were old enough to wander on our own.

(For years, the scene in Christmas Story where Ralphie sees Santa in the big department store both mystified and amused me. What was this big department store place? Did department stores get bigger than K-Mart? Why was his throne so elaborate? Our Santa sat on a throne made of red glittery stuff, surrounded by tinsel and fancy decorations, no sarcastic elves or slides. And our Santas were always very polite and nice to us, very warm and sweet. This Santa was a jerk.)

As mentioned previously, the Rio Mall died an ugly death around the late 90s, when most of it's major stores either shut down or moved. Thrift Drug merged with Eckard's and moved to a store next to Shop Rite; it was there as of 2006, now likely a Rite Aid. The JCPenny also moved; it's currently next to PetSmart (formerly Sears Hardware when I was there). (The Peebles is still there, too. It's one of Mom's favorite stores.) The Reynolds moved to a shopping center next to Wendy's on Route 45. Reynolds was going belly-up when I moved; Mom says it's now the largest, nicest, and cleanest Family Dollar in the South Jersey area. Rick's movie theater was downgraded to $2 b-pics and closed when the Bayshore 8 opened in North Cape May. Ironically, a new theater opened in the former Staples/A&P building that shuttered the Bayshore 8 permanently.

(And seriously...who designed that movie theater? Did someone forget to tell them that all the Doo Wop is down the street in Wildwood? It totally does NOT fit in with the K-Mart or any of the mini-malls surrounding them. I'm glad to see K-Mart's still going strong despite competition from a new Wal-Mart, across the street, BTW. Say what you will about their prices; I have a LOT of childhood memories in that store.)