Reading stories about the A&P reminded me of working in the old neighborhood.
It seems that you could always find some sort of job for a little extra $. I used to fill in for the regular delivery boy at Pleasant Foods on Archer. This store was run by Seymour & Bell ( I forget their last name). At the time, most of his business was run out of the basement of the store. He had a whole other store, shelves and all set up down there. This was for people that phoned in the order or dropped off a list. The order would be put together down stairs, sent up on a belt system to the street and off you would go. The orders were written on the insides of cigarette cartons that were ripped up. The order was sent in boxes - the same ones that the food came in.
I remember walking up to the 5th floor with multiple boxes of groceries. It seemed that nobody on the 1st floor needed delivery (duh!).
The one thing I hated was those people ( and you know who you are ) that instead of a tip, they would give you their empty deposit bottles, that you had to lug back to the store & cash in yourself!
As far as shopping at the store, when you were ready to check out, Seymour would take a paper bag and a wax pencil (the type with the string on it) and list all the prices on the bag, and add it up as fast as any calculator. You would then walk out with the paper bag - with the total on it!
A great way to "break in" to the working world!