Whistling: A Three Women ‘Melodrama’

Do you whistle?

The back room storage area of the downtown haberdashery was dimly lit and the old floor squeaked as I danced the long handle broom across the narrow hardwood boards, sweeping away the light dust to the rhythm of my high pitched whistling.

A ‘clean-up’ boy in a men’s clothier shop, owned and operated by a ‘quirky’ old couple who rode home in separate busses to assure the survival of at least one partner in the unlikely event of a fatal accident. You never forget your first job and the people who hired you.

It was a men’s speciality store. With neatly arranged merchandise under glass counters or on shelving behind those counters, to be presented by a salesperson, not self served, expertly dressed mannequins in window displays, and crank out awnings to protect those windows from harsh sunlight, this was an iconic men’s wear store in downtown Worcester, before the exodus of retailers to suburban shopping malls.

Not surprisingly, whistling while working was frowned upon, it detracted from the aura, the ambiance, the atmosphere of a high quality clothier.

I should have known better. I should have been more respectful. However, I was 16 and only working because my ‘old school’ father suggested that I was old enough to get a job, albeit a part time job.

More often than not, the best lessons learned are the harshest. Being dressed down by the owner wife, one half of the probable survivors, was a deserved embarrassment. It was the first time, but not the last, that I would be on the receiving end of a woman’s wrath.

I’ve enjoyed whistling since boyhood. I find it fun, relaxing and wildly entertaining. Wildly might be an exaggeration, but the elderly lady on the front porch swing of a house I passed on my daily route to high school found it so. “Young man, your whistling lifts my spirits”, she shouted from her post. I think she waited for my passing each day and I happily obliged her with a harmonious whistle.

My singing is terrible, so I’ve been told. And my whistling is shrill, as I’ve been reminded by the third woman in this story, the one I whistled at more than fifty years ago. She must have liked it then, because we’re still together. However, now I limit my singing and whistling to when I’m alone and can belt it out without contrarian commentary.

Yes, I find myself wildly entertaining during those times.

Let’s hear your best whistle.

Steve (102023)

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srbottch

Retired in 2013 after 5 years as an elementary school teacher and 40 years as a sales representative to begin anew as a school crossing guard. SMy essays/stories are a way to communicate through the telling of personal experiences. One reader said about my blog stories, "...these are like a cold sip during a marathon run, simple, real life events". Another offered about my blog, “it brings some sense of normalcy not easily found in the modern world.”

18 thoughts on “Whistling: A Three Women ‘Melodrama’”

  2. Interesting that whistling was looked down upon, at least in that context. I always think that anyone who is whistling is usually in a positive mood. I’d rather get that than some joyless straight-faced person.

    One of my cousins and his wife always used to fly in separate planes for the same reason you gave.

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    1. Thanks, Pete. It wasn’t so much the whistling as to doing it in a nice store. It was not the appropriate behavior. I still whistle away, especially when I hear a catchy tune. And, yes, I’ve heard of couples taking separate modes of transportation for that very reason.

      Have a great day, Peter.

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    1. Jim, I’m glad you saw the humor. It was fun to write and really brought back some memories of ‘growing up’. I know one ‘bird’ who doesn’t enjoy either my singing or whistling. But, I think there’ve been a few times where I’ve actually communicated with the feathered ones. Then, again, in my own mind, I think I’ve done lots of things😂…

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    1. Liz, I sometimes find myself thinking, ‘I must meet the Liz standard’ for a scene I’m trying to develop. I spent more than two weeks, off and on, trying to get the store correct. I think I did it as the memories of the store came back. Thank you for commenting about it. I was tongue lashed by the owner wife, deserved it but learned from it. They actually were good employers and gave me additional responsibilities: boxing/tying sold merchandise, ringing out a customer and my favorite, cranking the window awnings. Every skill learned us important 😂. Thank you, Liz.

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  6. Hi Steve, your posts are so entertaining. I have never been good at whistling no matter how hard I tried. I also never mastered the yoyo, it never did what I wanted it to do. Maybe I didn’t want either badly enough. My mom has a fantastic whistle.

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    1. Robbie, thank you for your nice comment. You motivate me to keep at it. Now, yo-yo, that gives me an idea. I might get one and try to ‘walk the dog’ 😂. Tell your mom about my story. I think she laugh and whistle 😂

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      1. I’ll tell her. She has taken up drawing and is amazingly good. Latent talents. Let me know if you manage to walk the dog. I can hardly get the yo-yo to climb back up the string again 😝

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  7. I always envied boys who could whistle with two fingers in their mouth as I could not whistle at all. My father and uncle picked up a unique four note whistle from a parrot when they were boys. Dad used it to summon we children when we were out and I have never heard anyone else use it.

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    1. That is so cool. I love it when one of my stories evokes a happy memory. Thanks for your wonderful comment. By the way, I can’t whistle the two finger method, either. I’ve tried but to no avail. Happy Thanksgiving!

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