by Meg Landek
In 1972 when you were 15 years old and lived in Naperville, you only had one thing on your mind. Where can I get a job this summer?
You didn’t rely on Mom and Dad for “going out” money or clothes money or makeup money or car money. You wanted it; you had to find a job.
All — and I mean all — of your friends were getting jobs! So when you turned 15, you could get the coveted “work permit’ from your school counselor. This allowed you only to work limited days and hours, but at least you could do something besides babysitting!
Now, the usual way you “got a job” in Naperville in 1972 was through word of mouth. I don’t think I can remember one friend who “filled out an application.” If you got a job, you knew someone.
It usually went like this: “So you’re Sheila’s sister or brother or cousin or neighbor or babysitter etc.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m her sister.”
“Have you held a job before?”
“Yes ma’am, I’ve babysat.”
“And you are 16?”
“No ma’am, but I have a work permit”
“So you can only work limited hours.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Hummm. OK, you can start Monday. You’ll receive $1.10 an hour.”
That is how you got a job in Naperville in 1972.
So, this first job making $1.10 an hour was at Cock Robin. My manager gave me my little white uniform dress with a bright red apron. She instructed me in buying “well-made sturdy white uniform shoes” which “had to be worn at all times.”
I walked over to Giesche’s and bought my shoes. I went down the street and purchased nylons and hairnets at Broecker’s. I was set to go. I only had to get home and hem this uniform to a “mini.” It was a job, but boys needed to eat hamburgers and malts in Naperville 1972!
I’m ready for my first day of work, but I realize that I have one huge problem. “The Bridge.” Not a bridge, but “The Bridge.” “The Bridge” was exactly the EAST SIDE ONLY of the Washington Street Bridge.
Back in 1972, Naperville had its own collection of “hippies, beatniks, draft dodgin’, long haired bums” who would sit on the east side only of “The Bridge” day and night.
They’d do nothin’ but be an embarrassment to their parents and the entire town of Naperville in general. They just sat there and smoked and talked and smoked and slept and smoked. And kissed! And necked! They did this dressed in “real hippie” clothes.
So myself and almost every so-called “normal” kid in town were so afraid of them! Why? Because this was Naperville 1972.
Back then, Cock Robin sat directly adjacent to “The Bridge.”
So if I couldn’t go by them, how was I supposed to get to work? If I walked on the other side of the bridge they’d see me! This was just awful.
Then it happened. My Mom. My busy Mom who was raising 12 kids says, “How about I give you a ride to work?”
We didn’t even talk about it. I just said, “Sure.” At that moment I loved my Mom so much. Then I got all dressed.
This was my first day at a real job! I was going to make one dollar and ten cents an hour and I was so proud! And at that moment, I instantly knew I had to walk by those kids. So, I didn’t have my Mom drive me afterall. I did walk right past those kids on “The Bridge” and I walked right into Cock Robin and started making “Silver-Star” sodas and “One-in-a- Million” malts! It was the best job ever!
That’s the day I remember in Naperville in 1972. The day a scared, but determined 15-year-old crossed over one of many bridges in her life.
Meg Landek is a lifelong Naperville resident and community volunteer.
