"I used to work in the meat market [of the PD Store]. [I sold the meat over the counter. I] wrapped it and charged them. Some paid cash and some paid with the coupons. Each department had their own cashier. I liked it [the job]. I liked to wait on people. It was during the war and like I was telling Carlitos the other day, there was the Indians. They'd come over there and stand in front of me and says, "Mutton." That's all they says, "Mutton." I told them, "Well, how many pounds you want of mutton?" Then the Philippinos, "Pork!" (laughs)

I worked a few months at the Longfellow Inn as a waitress and I hated to be a waitress. [That was before the job at the hospital.] I didn't know too much about waiting on people. You meet a lot of strange people there. [They were mostly anglos.] Some of them were particular. It was when there wasn't too much discrimination because at the beginning you couldn't go in there. The Mexican people couldn't go to the Longfellow Inn. They wouldn't allow you.

One day we went because Joe was going to the service and the boyfriend of Little Elvie was going too. So they invited us to go. I never had gone to a bar or nowhere. Joe says, "Come on, let's go have a drink." I told him, "I never have gone to a bar." "Come on, I'll order it for you and it won't be nothing strong." So I told him, "okay." We went and we had just gotten in when this darn dame come over there and they were gonna call the cops on us. They said, "If you don't get out of here and take that little girl out of here, we're gonna call the cops for you." It was Little Elvie. But I think they were just making an excuse. We got out and I was grateful that we didn't have to go and buy a drink.

I used to carry a card because you used to have to carry a card with your picture. An ID card. I never felt that [I was discriminated against in my jobs.] I worked in the kitchen [of the hospital], fixing trays, washing dishes, and making salads.

[Before] I worked in the meat market [of the PD Store], I asked Tony, the manager, if there was any openings. He said, "If you want to start right now, you can come and work right now." I told him, "Can I come tomorrow, 'cause I'm not ready." That was during World War II. There were a shortage of workers everywhere. No men. They were hiring women in the PD but they weren't hiring no Mexicans. They were mostly anglos in the production, for the mine. I don't remember how much I was earning. I used to keep papers, but I went and lost all my papers during the floods. I went through two floods in Duncan.

That Tony was a dirty, filthy-mouthed talker. He didn't talk dirty to us [the employees], but to the people. He was nice to us. His name was Tony Sepezia. I saved [the money I earned] and would buy me clothes. I used to buy me these baby doll shoes and I had every color for every outfit that I had. They were canvas and they were yellow, blue, green. It was about that high (holds finger an inch apart) and it was with a little strap here (points to instep). They used to call them baby dolls. I used to like hats. I liked pill boxes. It was just a little hat with a little flower.

[My co-workers] they were all about my age and all of them were nice. There was two of them that were my best friends, besides Little Elvie. Little Elvie used to work in the hardware department. Some of them were chinorolleras. They used to tattle-tale. We used to like to make weenie roasts. I would furnish the weenies. (laughs) The other girl that worked in the bread department, she furnished the mayonnaise, the mustard, and the bread and all that. The other one that worked in the vegetable department, she furnished the tomatoes and the fruit and the vegetables. The one that worked down below in the delivery truck, they used to take the truck. We used to do so many things in that PD Store no wonder they didn't fire us. They didn't fire me, I quit. [We did the weenie roasts] in the evenings. We used to pass the word around there was gonna be a weenie roast at the Eagle Creek or Cherry Lodge, not Cherry Lodge, Potter Ranch. We'd all go down to the river and have a weenie roast. It was so nice! All the kids behaved so nice. No beer. No nothing like that. No sex. No nothing. We went just to have a good time. We'd make a big bonfire and we'd sing around the fire.

After that I worked in the Longfellow Inn but that didn't last, as a waitress. That was one of the worst jobs I ever had. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't wait on people. I was too clumsy. I couldn't take orders because the kind of language they used to order.

Then I got a job, the one I liked the best, at the PD Hospital in the kitchen. We fixed trays and used the dishwasher. We made salads. We just put them in the cart outside and then the girls who worked on the floor, they come and get the carts and deliver the meals to the patients. When the school ended and the girls go look for jobs that was the first place where they went, the hospital or the PD Store. There was a lot of Mexican girls working in the PD Store. They didn't hire in the productions. There was a lot of women during the war.

One day your mother [my sister Nati] went to a dinner that Carol, my cousin, made for Chilo [our cousin] and this boy that got burned in the service. Chilo started making fun of your mom. He said, "Look, Nati's holding hands." It was a guy they used to call him a funny name. It was a Ponce, a brother to Aurora my friend. He said, "They're holding hands underneath the table." You know what your mother done? She burst out crying! (laughs) No, it wasn't true. Chilo was a teaser. Oh, we loved Chilo! He was my favorite cousin.

[The best thing about my work] was going home!" (laughs) The worst thing was when we had to sell horsemeat. That's what that Tony told us because there was a shortage of meat. He'd tell us, "There's gonna be a load of meat coming today but don't tell no one, it's horsemeat." The people didn't know they were buying horsemeat. That's what he told us, but I don't know because he was a liar too. I remember I took some steaks home and my mother says, "I think this is horsemeat." It had manteca (lard) about that thick and it was yellowish. It tasted like meat. We ate it.

I had to go to work because I quit school. Oh, I hated school. I would always be daydreaming. I would be daydreaming I was gonna be something. (laughs) It never happened. You know how you daydream. I think I was having some kind of a seizure [instead]. (laughs) [I thought] that I would get some money, but I never saved any. [My only job in the store was] just the meat market and I could have [been advanced] because the lady that was a cashier, it was my turn, but I told them I didn't want it. Because I didn't want to handle the money. I would get the same salary so this girl took it over.

[When we came home from work] we'd just go to the movies. That was Little Elvie and Big Elvie [my friends], and Josie and Carol [my cousins], and myself, and sometimes your mother [my sister Nati] would go to the movies with us too. Jessie de Leon [our friend] was one too, but she left for California. She would go with us when your mother wasn't married. We used to call ourselves the "wallflowers." (laughs)