Like Father, Like Son...Sort Of − 1 August, 1986
My first summer job was as a dishwasher at Ramada Inn in Clemmons, NC. About a year after starting there, my dad heard from one of his buddies at the Post Office, that Allred Mail Services, a private mail processing firm, was looking for part-time help. The pay was better and sorting mail certainly beat scrubbing dishes, so I jumped at the chance.
I imagine the work was not much different than that my dad did as a clerk back in the 60s and 70s. Yeah, it was mind-numbing (8-10 hour days reading zip codes and sticking letters into slots), but it provided me with spending money while in college. The staff was a crazy (and diverse) bunch. I worked there during summer and Christmas breaks from 1983 to 1987.
The firm and the building that housed it are no longer in existence. Mike Allred, the owner (standing in the background wearing a striped golf shirt), now works as the information systems manager for a larger mail sort company which is just down the street from my office.
