ROOM AND BOARD

My mother's sister, my aunt Genie, when I turned 14 got me hired on to work at the department store catalog office where she worked as a manager.  This was done at my mother's request.  They must have lied on the job application because I was only 14 and you had to be 16 to work at the time.  Every Saturday I went to the Sears catalog store and worked all day on the phones and customer order desk.  When I came home with a paycheck every two weeks my mother took half the money as "room and board".

Secretly I wished or fantasized that my mother was saving up this money and later would present it to me for my college fund.  No such thing ever happened.  In reality she supplied herself with booze and cigarettes.  As far as I know my mother was never able to collect "room and board" from any of my siblings when they worked part time as students and still lived at home.  Siblings, correct me if I am wrong.

This was just another form of abuse, an adult benefiting from child labor.

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