BACK when postage stamps cost 22 cents, Karen Tannock started what became a 30-year career with Coles at Capalaba Park shopping centre.
Karen’s first role was in the gardening department, caring for plants and flowers. After working for eight years in groceries, she moved to the registers where she has spent the past 22 years.
Ms Tannock said the best part of the job was the people she had come to know over 30 years. “I just had a month off and as soon as I came back, people were saying ‘where have you been’,’’ she said.
Ms Tannock said she could not think of a bad side to the job and she had become accustomed to long hours on her feet. “You just have to get used to things like that,’’ she said.
She said she often had to handle people who arrived at the till only to find they had no money or that credit cards did not work. It happened virtually daily but most people were good about it.
Many told her about their lives, funny things that happened and even rotten husbands as she totted up their groceries.
“Once we have a woman who reckoned people were throwing zucchinis at her,’’ she said. “That was pretty strange.
“I’ve known some customers for 20-odd years and have listened to their ups and downs.’’
She has passed on the Coles genes to her children who also worked their during their school years, as well as her grandson who works at Coles, Carindale, while studying at university.
