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"Old Stories We Remember"

Below we have Stories from the past we remembered
while working at Chatham's that are Interesting & Fun to read.
Scroll down or click on a "Title" and read their "Story"
We hope you too have some old stories to send us
and post here to remind us why we enjoyed working at Chatham's
[ Send Us Your Stories ]   (NOTE: Use the Return to list to return to this list)
"Go get me the Shelf Stretcher"     Return to list
I remember when I first started working at Chatham store #8 as a Bagger back in 1969...
Now keep in mind this was my 1st job, I was only a kid,...

One day after being there only a few days, one of the stock clerk's or a manager
(not sure which or who) was working in one of the grocery aisles,
and he said to me,
"Go get me the shelf stretcher"
My reply was "Where is it at?"
he said, "In the Grocery back room"
So I went to the grocery back room and asked an employee there,
"Where is the shelf stretcher? Mr. 'Whatever' asked me to come back here and get it for him"
That employee said,
"It's in the basement, you can use the elevator but you will need the key. They keep it in the Produce back room."

So I went to the Produce back room and asked an employee there,
"I need the key for the elevator to the basement so I can get the shelf stretcher for Mr 'Whatever', can you get it for me?"
He said, "Oh, I just used the elevator and it's still unlocked..."

So I returned to the grocery back room and found A DIFFERENT employee
who was there, so I said,
"Mr 'Whatever' sent me to get the shelf stretcher that's in the basement and the produce guy said
he left the elevator unlocked, can you show me where the elevator is?"

The employee pointed to this huge machine that had cardboard in it.
I said, "That's an elevator? I've NEVER seen one that looks like that. How do I operate it?"

He pointed to a Green button and pushed it and the top of this thing started going down.
I said "OK, but where is the door to enter?"
He said, "We will have to wait for it to come back up"
So after waiting about 5 minutes,
I said "How long will this take? Mr 'Whatever' is waiting for me to bring him the shelf stretcher"
He said, "You have to push the green button again for it to return"

So I did and it started coming back up. When it stopped I asked the clerk again,
"Now, where is the door to enter?"
He said "Just pull that large handle up and the door will open"
and he walked way (rather quickly if I remember)

WELL, I grabbed the handle and before I started to pull it up...
I noticed a few more employees had entered the grocery back room who were not there before...
and when I started to move the handle only about inch of the way up,
Suddenly they all shouted "STOP !!! that's the cardboard bailer !!
It doesn't need a key, we don't have an elevator, we don't have a basement
and there is no such thing as a shelf stretcher... Welcome to Chatham's !!!"

... I guess you just had to be there, I fell for the Shelf Stretcher joke it at store #8 in 1969
Odd thing is, store #8 really DID have a basement, where in the summer time
the manager would send a bagger to re-bag charcoal. That's another story...
...but there was no elevator !

        Joe Connell ...Now it's YOUR turn, send us a story you remember. It doesn't have to be funny. Just something that will take us all back to our days at Chatham !!!
  ...Come on Nihranz or Spag, you remember... "Bar-B-Q Time... the supervisor is coming" at #16
Joe Connell      Return to list
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