Recklinghausen: Elke Pastewski has been selling shoes for 50 years

Then, today - Elke Pastewski (67) is not very different.The Marlerin has been selling shoes on Kunibertistraße in the Klauser shoe store for 50 years."I am an adapted person," she says, "I take life as it is".The prevailing elegance at the beginning of her professional life also had something for himself.But that today it is so much more casual, more convenient and informal on your feet - Elke Pastewski likes to wear this shoe: "I prefer to wear sneakers.The time of the high heels is over."For you personally, but also in general.

At the age of 15, Pastewski ended the elementary school."Back then, girls then became either a hairdresser, seller or nurse," she says.That is why she envied her brother Dirk, who attended the junior high school and later ran the fortunes in the print house of the Bauer media house in Marl.She herself could also imagine something in the creative area for her professional career.Her soft spot for decoration always helped her when it came to changing something in the shoe store and ensuring optical variety.

Initially only reluctantly switched to the men's department

However, the married 67-year-old does not regret her career choice."Selling is a nice job," she says.Particularly great to experience when a child gets his first couple shoes."That is a nice event for the whole family."But the job has changed.In the past, a seller only sold shoes, today there were a number of other tasks.

For two years, the Marler has been working as a pensioner for 40 hours a month in the men's department.After 25 years in the women's department, she had gone to maternity protection for three years.After her return, she reluctantly started her service in the men's department at Klauser."I don't want to go here today," she says.

There are still differences between men and women in terms of shoes.Today the gentlemen also went with fashion and would have shoes for various affairs in the closet.But when it comes to buying, there is still a serious contrast: "Men may try two or three pairs of shoes and decide.When the men are finished, the women only start trying it out."

In the mid-1970s there was still a rock duty for sellers

After completing her training in a shoe store in Marl, Pastewski started as a 17-year-old in a former Klauser branch at the Holzmarkt.In May 1974 she took over the management of the branch - at that time still in skirt. „Wir durften keine Hosen tragen", erinnert sich auch ihre Kollegin Birgit Steinmann, die ihre Lehre im September 1974 im Geschäft am Holzmarkt begann – und von Elke Pastewski eingearbeitet wurde: „Ich habe damals so viel von ihr gelernt, das bringt mir heute noch etwas." Steinmann war es auch, die die RZ auf das 50-jährige Dienstjubiläum ihrer Kollegin, mit der sie seit 47 Jahren zusammenarbeitet, aufmerksam gemacht hat.They would not meet privately.But the employment relationship is so intimate that the photos that Steinmann took over the five decades filled three whole albums.

„Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, ganz zu Hause zu bleiben", sagt Pastewski, die in ihrer Freizeit die Walkingstöcke schwingt."I like to work here at Klauser, and with the money I can support my daughter in studying." Und mit Blick auf ihre Kollegin Steinmann sagt die 67-Jährige: „Und wir brauchen das Schnabbeln."