Can someone please explain what Eilis's job is at the counter?
What instead gold gadget and container she fills with air ??
I'm real curious .. I can't figure out what it is
She was a shop girl. And if I can remember correctly, she's sending down money in the cylinder. Like at the drive-thru bank. Is that what you're referring to?
shareYes thank you .. I wasn't sure what she was doing with that gold cylinder .. and there was a suction sound .. I read somewhere else too that it was like the drive thru at banks.
PS: also, please excuse my mistakes .. autocorrect feature on my iPhone comes up with nonsense words sometimes ..
Yeah that air tube is like the on at the bank. Other than money though, I'd thought that the tube was also used as a pre-tech means of checking to see if someone's particular item was in stock or something too. Now a days the cashier might cross check a item's availability or price check via their computerized cash register, but back then, given how large the department store was, maybe they used the tube for that too? Straight pipeline to the stock room, or someone in department A/B/C?
shareJust do as I do: wave a fist in the air and scream, "Curse you, autocorrect!!!"
shareI remember those from the 50s. The salesgirl's job was to be helpful and charming and to sell stuff; they didn't handle money. She would take your cash with a receipt and send it up. The person at the other end would make change and send it back. I'm not sure, but I think the system was used mostly in big department stores.
shareWe had one in a J C Penny in a small town in Texas. The Tubes went up to a mezzanine where the money was accepted in an office. They sent the tube back down with change and a receipt. There were very few credit card transactions.
In some English cities and maybe other places they even sent mail across the city that way.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else