Memories of My First Job: Sorting Pop Bottles at Anderson's Grocery

The seemingly mundane task of sorting pop bottles at my Uncle Earl's grocery store became my entry point into the world of work—at just nine years old. When my uncle looked at me one day and declared "you need a job," little did I know how those simple responsibilities would shape my character for decades to come.

Working at Anderson's Grocery in Pine Knot, Kentucky during the 1970s meant organizing returnable soda bottles by brand, sweeping the store porch every evening, and picking up trash from the gravel parking lot by hand. For about $20 a week—decent money for a child back then—I learned lessons about responsibility that no classroom could provide. The most disgusting part? Cleaning up cigarette butts when someone emptied their car ashtray in the parking lot—a chore that instilled in me a lifelong commitment to never litter.

This episode isn't just about childhood nostalgia; it's about recognizing how formative experiences shape us. Anderson's Grocery wasn't merely a store selling groceries, gas, feed, seed, and countless other essentials—it was a community hub where relationships mattered more than transactions. People knew each other by name. Conversations weren't rushed. In today's fast-paced world, perhaps we've lost something valuable that small town stores understood intuitively. What was your first job, and what did it teach you? Take a moment to reflect on those early experiences and consider sharing them with the people around you, creating a legacy of stories that transcend generations.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy
• 0:24 Recent Travel Adventures
• 1:17 StoryWorth: Preserving Family Memories
• 2:40 My First Job at Anderson's Grocery
• 4:57 The Value of Building Relationships
• 6:18 Closing Thoughts and Contact Info

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I'm your host, dan, and each week we'll embark on a new adventure, discovering memories and life lessons of our incredible guests, from everyday travelers to thrill seekers and everyone in between. This podcast is your front row seat to inspiring stories of passion, resilience and the pursuit of happiness. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. I am back home in Cincinnati. The last couple of weekends have been fun weekends of travel.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Linda and I were able to attend the opening round of the IndyCar 2025 season in St Petersburg Florida visit with Aunt Linda for a good bit, and then the following weekend I actually went back. Linda spent the week with her. I went back and we test drove a Tesla and I thought I would never say this, but it was an amazing car. Doubt that I'll ever own one, because you know we're BMW fans, but it is worth a test drive. I usually tell people, if you don't even like auto racing, you have to go to the Indy 500 at least once. Well, I would say that's true for a Tesla. You probably ought to go drive one just once.

Speaker 1: 1:17

For Christmas in 2023, my daughter Lauren gave me the gift of a product called StoryWorth. You can check it out at StoryWorth. You can check it out at storyworthcom. She basically picked 53 questions for me to answer. She has heard me say time and time again I regret not asking my own parents some questions, so maybe that drove her to give me this gift, but it was an amazing gift. I fell behind a few times and had to catch up. Gift I fell behind a few times and had to catch up. I actually just finished my 53rd story this past week and I must say it's been fun for me and I hope it's something that she and Henry will hold on to for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 1: 1:57

Just some fun stories. As you know, this podcast is all about stories, really other people's stories, and occasionally I throw in one of my own. Well, I thought I would share some of these answers to these stories and my only reason for doing it is not to share about me, but it's to encourage you to take maybe this question I'm going to share and answer it in your own way and hopefully it'll bring back some memories for you and it might leave a story for your family and friends for them to enjoy. So here we go. This is kind of a test run of this. If you want, you can reach out to me and say don't like those, dan, stick to having guests. So the question was how did you get your first job? And here's the story. This is going to be a fun story.

Speaker 1: 2:44

I have to go back to being about nine years old. I grew up across the street from Anderson's Grocery. It was started by my grandparents in Rock Creek, kentucky. Rock Creek was well off the beaten path from the town center of Pine Knot. I'm not certain of the year my grandparents moved to Pine Knot, but the store moved with them. My mom was a staple at the store until her retirement, working for Uncle Earl, who had purchased the store. I have so many memories of the store and one of those was my first job. As I said, I was nine. My brother had left for college. My cousin Connie, who was Uncle Earl's son, had left for college also and would later serve our country in the Navy. I will always remember walking across the street to the store.

Speaker 1: 3:28

My uncle was sorting pop bottles. Yes, there was a day when people bought soda we called it pop in a bottle which would then be returned. When you bought the pop, you were charged a deposit on the bottles and then credited. When you returned the bottles Back to my first job, uncle Earl looked at me and said you need a job. He put me to work straightening the pop bottles. That is what he called it. You have to organize by brand and the delivery person for Pepsi Coke, rc yes, that's right. Roll Crown Cola Company for them to pick them up. I quickly learned all the different brands that did not stand out as Pepsi Coke or RC. There were brands like Tab Sprite, a&w, diet Right, fresca Crush and 7-Up, to name a few.

Speaker 1: 4:17

The other part of my job was to sweep the store porch every evening. The parking lot was gravel, which created quite a bit of dust. It was amazing how dirty the porch would get in just one day. I was supposed to do this each evening after closing at 7 pm. Some nights I would get busy or maybe just lazy, I don't recall. The store opened at 7 30 each morning and if I missed the cleanup the night before, my mom would wake me up early to sweep up. The other part of the cleanup job was picking up trash in the parking lot. Remember it was gravel. This was done by hand or occasionally I would use a rake. It is probably the task that has always prevented me from throwing trash on the ground. The most disgusting part of the parking lot cleanup was when someone would decide to empty their ashtray. Yes, cars in those days had ashtrays. I worked every day of the week except Sunday. The store was always closed on Sunday. If my memory serves me correct, I was paid around $20 a week. I'm not bad for a nine-year-old boy in the 70s. I would later go on to bagging groceries, doing delivery. Yes, long before today's delivery services, we were delivering, taking orders. Again, we were way ahead. People would call in their orders, stocking the shelves and still cleaning up.

Speaker 1: 5:37

I love the store and all the people who were part of it. It is a memory that I'll never forget. It was a slower time when people knew each other by name. They took time to have conversations. It was never just about a store selling groceries, gas, feed, seed, flower plants, car batteries, motor oil and everything else under the sun. It was about relationship. Slow down today, build a relationship with the people around you.

Speaker 1: 6:05

I hope you enjoyed this little drive down memory lane for me and I do hope you'll take time. Think about your first job. Think about the memories it brings back for you. You'll take time, think about your first job, think about the memories it brings back for you and do build a relationship with those people around you. Thank you for tuning in to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I hope you enjoyed our journey today and the stories that were shared. If you have any thoughts or questions or stories of your own, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Don't forget to share this podcast with your friends and family and help us to spread the joy of road trips and great conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring and keep having those amazing conversations. Safe travels and remember you can find me on the internet at dantheroadtripguycom.