Position: Stock Clerk (historically called “Stockboy”)
Location: Forbes Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Employment: June 1994 – August 1994 (dates historically approximate as reconstructed later)
Rate: $4.25/hr part-time

Primary Responsibilities

• Stocked shelves, organized merchandise, and maintained inventory records
• Received deliveries, unpacked “repack” containers, and staged stock
• Operated freight elevator to move inventory and equipment between floors
• Assisted store management with secure daily bank deposits
• Performed floor maintenance and general store support tasks

Core Skills & Experience Gained

• Inventory control and organization
• Responsibility handling store revenue
• Working in a fast-paced retail environment
• Equipment safety / elevator operation
• Attention to detail and presentation standards

Memories, Moments, and Reflections

The Interview

Before any of the work, there was the first day I walked into Revco to apply. I remember meeting a very tall, older gentleman—the one who interviewed me and owned the store. He had large hands and an imposing presence, but he carried himself calmly and professionally. We shook hands, and I remember feeling both intimidated and hopeful.

There was even a short test in the hiring process, something I had completely forgotten until I discovered an old cartoon in a journal years later. In one of the panels, I drew his big hands and the handshake, the test, and that whole moment of “officially becoming” a Revco employee. It reminded me that this wasn’t just a random job I stumbled into; I had to earn it, sit for an assessment, and step into adulthood a little more that day.

The Time Clock

This was my first experience using an old manual time clock instead of a digital punch system like McDonald’s had. Training was brief—insert paper, “kah-chunk,” done. What wasn’t explained: alignment mattered. Looking back, showing examples and explaining how to position the paper would have helped tremendously. It was my first lesson in how assumptions in training create confusion.

“Repacks”

Most stock arrived in plastic tubs called Repacks—hinged-lid crates far better than cardboard boxes because they stacked when empty and didn’t need breaking down. I’ve never heard the term since, but it was daily vocabulary then.

The Basement & Freight Elevator

The store had a large basement full of inventory and accessible only by a freight elevator. It felt raw and industrial: open walls, exposed mechanics, and a lever I controlled to align level to each floor. The basement always felt dim, even when lit.

Mornings meant listening to trucks rumble above, metal sidewalk doors opening, and boxes sliding down roller ramps—sounds that still live in my memory.

Oversensitive to Smells

As a kid, strong smells overwhelmed me, especially medicines, soaps, and shampoos. Revco was full of them. Stocking those aisles meant pushing through nausea some days. Even now, though I don’t smell it the same way, the memory of the scent remains vivid.

The Alarm

Electronic door sensors were still relatively new. Occasionally, they’d sound. One day, I watched a couple walk out as the alarm chirped and instinctively followed them—without training, without procedure, just uncertainty. They said nothing was taken and walked on. A cashier later casually explained sticker residue could trigger it. Looking back, basic loss prevention training would have helped. There was no “asset protection” like big stores have today.

Walking to the Bank

One day, a manager handed me a thick envelope, told me to keep it under my jacket, and walk with him to the bank. Only afterward did he reveal it held over $10,000. That was a surreal responsibility for a part-time college kid making a little over $4 an hour.

The Fight

That moment stuck with me. I felt shock, anger, betrayal, embarrassment, and a deep sense of disorientation all at once. After that incident, I never returned to Revco. I simply couldn’t bring myself to walk back in — part anger toward him, part shame, and part not knowing how to face anyone there again.

Appearing in a Class Assignment

One early school assignment asked me to draw scenes from my life. I created three comic-style pages:
arriving in Pittsburgh · connecting to the internet · work · school · a robbery · classes · a drug bust · music · homework.

That assignment later became a breadcrumb trail that helped me reconstruct my timeline. I’d even forgotten I’d taken a job-skills test to get hired—until I saw it in those cartoon panels again.

Reconstructing the Timeline

Piecing together dates became detective work:

• Comic assignment page 4 labeled July 19–21, 1994
• Student ID shows Art Institute of Pittsburgh start date: July 1994
• High School Graduation: May 24, 1994
• Family letter postmarked July 6, 1994
• Memory anchors:
  • Baywod Street
    • Renting/buying Outpost Mars Station Simulator Game
    • Clinical Trial – 3 weekends in July/August 1994
    • Coworker/Roommate fight
  • Virgila Place
    • Natural Born Killers (August 26, 1994 – I saw it in theaters)
    • Lightning Crashes Music Video excitement from roommates (Early 1995)
    • Started Subway on Daylight Saving Time. (April 2, 1995 – late to work)
    • First Christmas (December 1994)

Given everything, the most credible window appears:
Revco: June 1994 – sometime between July/August 1994
with a period of unemployment and paid clinical trials afterward before eventually landing at Subway in April 1995.

Even with evidence, some parts remain uncertain. Memory is funny like that.