When 15-year-old Margaret Willett got her first job as a retail assistant at Cox’s Grocery Store, Coffs Harbour, she never dreamed it would be half a century before she signed off.
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And Margaret, a household name in Dorrigo, has just checked out her final customer.
After six years working at the coast Margaret returned home and has been the smiling face of (what is now) Dorrigo IGA for the last 44 years.
Has it all been worth it? Yes.
Has she enjoyed life at the counter? Yes.
Will she enjoy retirement? Well, it’s a bit strange at the moment!
Margaret’s career in retail has carried her from brown paper, string and ten shilling notes to metric, computer chips and cash cards that squeak as they download invisible money.
It hasn’t all been big smiles and bringing up SALE on the old manual cash registers.
“When I started in Coffs Harbour, Mr Cox encouraged his staff to learn more and take on new responsibilities,” Margaret remembers.
“He put me in charge of fruit and veg. I had to listen to ABC radio to find out prices, order what was needed, check out the quality and deal with local suppliers who brought their produce to the back door.
“I was only 16 then and it was a huge responsibility.
“We used to lift heavy cases of bananas to lay them out for sale.
“An elderly customer would say to me: You’ll regret that when you’re older.”
Margaret returned to Dorrigo in 1972, married husband Ray in June and started work at the IGA Supermarket in September.
She had a month off when daughter, Cathy, was born but spent most of the last 44 years with the store’s three owners:
- Neville Pye, six years
- Billy Goodfellow, 32 years, and
- Current principals, Peter and Kerryn Gibson, six years
“I liked meeting people at the counter, chatting with them, the laughter. That’s what I wanted to do,” Margaret says.
“The Dorrigo store was robbed twice while I worked there.
"The first time the safe was stolen and the last time thieves drove a car through the front door and got away with the Automatic Teller Machine.
“After the second robbery the front of the store was left open and could not be secured.
“Mr Goodfellow slept in his car parked in front of the door until the police arrived.
“I think it was winter and a very cold night.”
Away from the checkout Margaret has been an active member of the Dorrigo community.
In 1994 she received a Community Award recognising her services to Dorrigo and the Plateau.
Her plans for retirement? Relaxation, her hobbies and family and, perhaps, some travel … later on.
Is she likely to come out of retirement?
“I don’t think so. They gave me such a lovely farewell; I couldn’t come back to work!”
And the secret about being successful in retail:
“It’s important to be pleasant, smiling and helpful. Most customers are fine,” she said.
“I have tried, always, to do the best I can and to treat people the way I wish them to treat me.
“It seems to work well.”
