What began as a part-time job quickly became something more. McRobbie said the store environment of the 1970s was close-knit, with colleagues forming friendships that extended well beyond work hours.
“There was no weekend work back then and everyone was like family,” she said. “We had a social club and all became friends.”
Supermarket work in the 70s and 80s was labour-intensive by today’s standards. Prices were stamped on products using hand-held ink guns and checkout operators manually punched each item’s cost into the till.
“When customers brought items to us, the price had to be punched into the cash registers,” McRobbie said.
Learning prices was a job requirement. Each week, checkout staff were given a list of about 250 grocery items to memorise, particularly the specials.
“We had to take them home over the weekend and learn them by heart,” she said. “On a Monday we were tested and if you got more than three wrong you had to resit the test before being allowed on the tills.”
Cash registers did not calculate change, making mental arithmetic essential. Power cuts added another challenge.
“When the power went out, we had to get the hand crank,” McRobbie said. “You could still ring up sales and open the drawer by turning it.”
In 1991, she moved to the newly opened Big Fresh supermarket on Anglesea and Liverpool Sts, a Woolworths-owned store later known as Big Fresh Franklins, then Countdown, and now Woolworths again. McRobbie has remained there ever since.
Over the years, she has worn countless uniforms and worked under about 40 store managers.
“Each would come in with new ideas of how things should work,” she said. “I’d think, ‘been there, done that’.”
Her roles have ranged across the store, with one of her favourites being promotion manager.
“When it was Big Fresh I went around schools and radio stations promoting the store,” McRobbie said. “I also organised Christmas parades.”
Customers have come and gone too, though some are unforgettable.
“One elderly man used to come in with a suitcase he used as a lunch box,” she said.
Now working four days a week as an online supervisor, McRobbie oversees a service that did not exist when she started.
“I’ve seen online orders grow from five to more than 300 a week,” she said.
McRobbie is one of Woolworths NZ’s longest-serving team members, with only three others nationwide having worked for the company for more than 50 years. Retirement, however, is not on her radar.
“People ask me about it, but I think I’d get too bored,” she said. “I still have my health and I still enjoy working.”
Tom Eley is a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. He previously worked for the Weekend Sun and Sunlive.
