The Michaels Store in Ruthven Street…

The book mentions a store proprietor named Nayef Michael George, a member of the Lebanese community in Toowoomba. He ran the Michaels store in Ruthven Street, the main street of Toowoomba, in the 1970s. He was known as George Michael. He was generous to the local churches when they made purchases. He was well dressed. And good at business. The authors say he was a “formidable proprietor whose mood could change on an hourly basis. If Mr Michael was in a good mood he would shower customers with gifts of fruit and vegetables. But if he was out of sorts, he would make everyone queue at the counter and then serve a person half-way along the queue.”

The authors write: On more than one occasion, when a shopper explained that she could buy similar linen from Saba’s down the street, he would berate them in front of other customers and even follow them out of the shop shouting at them not to come back.

And: Then there was the time when a woman wanted to buy a pair of new trousers for her husband. They were kept on a high shelf and Mr Michael called out to his assistant, ‘Jack get the ladder, get the trousers down and show the lady what you’ve got!’

But men were also the butt of the shop owner’s jokes. On one occasion a man, whose wife was in hospital, arrived at the shop to buy her some underwear and whispered his request in Mr Michael’s ear. Mr Michael bellowed over the queue, ‘Jack – three pairs of fleecy-lined bloomers for the gentleman’.

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-readersvoice.com