Episode 15: Going Places

February 2, 2023

Narration

My grandma was someone who – as you know by now – worked hard and was so resilient. She also really had a certain determination about her. She saw opportunities for herself and then found ways to make them happen.

We start this episode when Irene decides she wants to learn how to drive. Then later, another example of Irene’s determined ambition – when she gets into sales.

Bessa: I got my license in 1959 right after Thor was born. I said, I’m gonna learn how to drive. I’m so glad I did. Why, why do you need to drive? I’ll take you wherever. I said, I wanna know how to drive.

Kristen: Yeah.

Bessa: So I went to my uncle. I said, Can you give me lessons? He said, Sure. He took me out every day. But that was an automatic. So I said to Torfinn, I’d like to learn how to drive your car. It was a 1954 Ford, stick shift clutch – the whole thing. He said, You’ll never learn. I said, Well, give me a try. So he did. And I learned how to drive the stick shift. So of course I got my license first try, and that was it.

Narration

My grandma told me how she got started selling Stanley products, when her two kids were young. 

Bessa: After Thor was born,  I went to a Stanley party. Stanley Home Products.

They had house parties, just like Avon does and plastic Tupperware. But we had Stanley.

And I’m sitting there. I watching what she’s doing now. Torfinn is home with Carol and little Thor. I guess Thor was a couple months old.

And after she was finished with the demonstration and everything, I said to her, How did, how did you get this job? Who did you see? How did you get into this? She says, I’ll talk to you later.

So when everything was finished, she came over to me. She said, Are you interested? Could you do something like this? I said, I think I would like to try. I said, What do you make? Is there money in it? She said, you get 33% of what you sell. And they set you up with the things that you need. 

I said, Well, how do I get started? She said, You, you have to have three bookings. In other words, they’re not gonna sign you up unless you can say, I have three parties lined up. I said, How, how do I get it? She said, Well, we usually start with family and friends.

So I went home that night and I told Torfinn, and he didn’t say, no, he didn’t say yes. He  didn’t say anything. I said, Is it okay with you if I take this because I’ll be gone for three or four hours at night. So he said, Yeah. 

So that’s how I started with Stanley. And I was with Stanley for five years. I became a unit manager. I was number one in New York City. I did good. 

Kristen: Wow. 

Bessa: Yeah. I won trips and I got silver goblets as, um, you know, prizes. There was one promotion. They called it “A thousand a week.” If you sold for a thousand dollars in one week, you would get a trip to Lake Placid, with the rest of the gang and you would get the silver – it’s like a wine glass, but it’s silver, they’re still in my attic.

Kristen: And you won that?

Bessa: Yes. What we were selling was furniture polish, and I would demonstrate it on a table and I showed them the bubble bath. That was a big seller and, and all kinds of brushes for your body or for, and for the kitchen. And we have brooms and we have maps, dust clothes. I still have the dust cloths. They were the best.

Oh, glass wax – did it on the window. Let it will go on pink liquid, leave it til it dries and just go… and it came beautiful.

So you needed one suitcase. The stuff that you demonstrated, plus your catalog, a lot of stuff is in the catalog. So you showed them that. And the other suitcase was the gifts for the hostess, for her to pick from.

And the other women would look and say, Ooh, I like these. But if you have a party, you can have that. 

And I had a lot of parties on Staten island, but in those days, Kristen, I had to take the ferry. The car went on the ferry, the ferry took it to Staten island. You drove the car off the ferry and then found a place where you had your party. And then back on the ferry again. That was before the Verrazzano Bridge was built.

Kristen: So if people bought stuff from you, was it in order or did they buy it right out of the suitcase?

Bessa: They wrote down on the order sheet, I took the order sheet home to me. On Saturdays, I would sit at the kitchen table and write out all the orders to the company, mail that into New Jersey – Trenton, New Jersey. Then they delivered to me. Now I have to unpack everything and put it into bags and deliver to all my customers.

And some places I had to walk up to the fourth floor with brooms and maps and everything. It was not an easy job, but you know what? In those days I was so shy, I had no confidence. So the job was good for me. 

For me to get up in, in front of people to demonstrate this and then become a unit manager. And I had at least fifteen girls under me. 

Kristen: Wow. 

Bessa: So I had a lot of, lot of Norwegian girls. There was one girl, her name was Laila. She had a party. She said –  we’re still friends. She lives in Norway. She said, I’m gonna have a party. Can we have it such and such night? I said, Sure. She said, Because there’s a Norwegian boat in and I’m gonna ask all the guys, because I know them. So they can come to the party. We sold shaving cream and we sold men’s combs, different things for them. Well, the guys came, I had a really good party. So now we have to deliver to the ship.

So me and Laila packed everything in the car, drove down to the dock and the ship is laying there. And as we parked, the ship is starting to leave. I said, Laila, my God, it’s leaving. Well, we jumped out, got the boxes and we’re throwing it. And guys are standing on the ship. 

They got it. They got everything.

We didn’t think we were gonna get it! And they got it all. And then we just stood there and waved. I’ll never forget it to this day.

Kristen: That’s good customer service.

Bessa: Too good. <laugh> You wouldn’t find that today! 

Narration

Irene worked for Stanley mainly at night, and sometimes during the daytime. The income she brought in from this job really helped her family. During the day, Irene was home with her young children.

Kristen: So, when they were babies, what kinds of special things did you do with them?

Bessa: I had my routine. I would take care of them in the morning, feed them and you know, clean them. 

And then I made sure that my house was spotless, everything done exactly so, and then I would put them in the carriage and off to the park.

The park was only a few blocks away and I would meet the rest of the Norwegian girls there and their kids. And the kids had a ball, there were swings and a sandbox. And we played all day. Then we went home for lunch and gave them a nap. And sometimes we went back to the park, or sometimes we would walk on the avenue. Yeah. They liked it when I took them to the donut shop. I could sit and have a cup of coffee and they had donuts and juice.

In the summertime, I took them on the subway and we spent the whole day on the beach. They loved it. Coney Island.

Kristen: So you would play with your kids all day and then you would work all night.

Bessa: Yeah.

Kristen: And how do you get up in the next day?

Bessa: It was tough. Sometimes I was so tired. Oh there was mornings I didn’t wanna get out of bed, but you had to, you had to put the food on the table and make sure they got dressed.

Kristen: So you were just used to feeling tired all the time. Yeah. Or you had ridiculous energy or something?

Bessa: Uh, I  always had the energy, you know that, but there were times where – it wasn’t too bad when they got bigger, but when they were little and they had to, they needed help in the morning and stuff. And I couldn’t go to bed early because I had to go to work.

Narration

I’m so proud of my grandma. Not only was she a hard worker and so resilient, but she followed her ambitions also. 

And she figured out how to make her jobs work within her family life.

Next week takes a more difficult turn..as things become difficult in Irene’s marriage.