Page 114 - Purchasing Power Black Kids and American Consumer Culture

Hemmed In and Shut Out . 99

these games to having a dope habit. He is not so dedicated to the profit
he receives, however, that he is willing to jeopardize his standing in the
community. When one boy was stealing money from his mother's purse
to come down to Bob's store to play the games, she called Bob and asked
him to refuse to let her son near the machines. Storekeepers like Bob
have a lot at stake in maintaining the goodwill of residents, and com-
mercial imperatives often take second place to community imperatives,
up to a limit. As a result, children can expect Bob's to be—if not a home
away from home by any means—a place that is in many respects home-
like. Children can occasionally use the phone to call home, and care-
takers call the store to see if their children are there. Bob is often asked
to keep an eye out for certain kids and to tell them to come home when
he spots them. Continuing a tradition that many say was once the norm
in Newhallville and the Southern communities from which many of its
older residents come, Bob, like many local storekeepers, takes a personal
interest in neighborhood children. He knows them by name, he knows
their families, and he often knows a generous amount about anyone
who enters his store.
One summer afternoon a girl came into the store, having been sent to
buy batteries. She was about nine years old, and was also returning a
bag of biscuit mix. After saying he didn't usually allow returns, and that
he would only do it this one time, Bob asked her about the batteries,
saying, "What size?" She didn't know, and so Bob let her use the phone
behind the counter to call home. On the phone for a minute or two, ut-
tering half-finished sentences that were being both misunderstood and
interrupted at the other end, the girl used her most reasonable voice,
saying, "Mom, will you please let me speak to Duane?" She repeated
this entreaty several times. Meanwhile, Bob was both tending to other
customers and directing a steady stream of advice and interrogation to
the girl behind him, "What size do you need? Double A? Let me talk to
your mother!" "Mom, put Duane on the phone, please!" "What size do
you need?" "Mom!" Finally, Duane got onto the other end of the line
and told the girl to get double A batteries. At $2.95 for a package of
two, they were very expensive; Toys-R-Us sells a pack of four for $3.99.
Toys-R-Us, however, can only be reached from the highway and is in the
next town.
Kids can expect Bob to treat them not with the stylized deference that is
characteristic of customer-service interactions downtown, but with a no-
nonsense familiarity they see plenty of at home. This allows certain prick-
ly aspects of Bob's enterprise to be submerged in everyone's experience: