Remember when

My favorite memory from elementary school was an assembly we had. This old guy came in and basicly gave an old guy rant. He complained about all kinds of things. His best gripe was, you used to be able to have a beer with lunch and nobody would complain about it.

 

Here's one for you..... Dunkin' Donuts. (they too closed at noon on Sunday)

A long string of swivel stools along a counter that snaked through the store. Stools looking out the window onto the parking lot on the other side of the aisle too and booths in the back. Coffee was a quarter and you could sit there all night (and did!) while a waitress dressed in a pink jumper would walk around and refill your cup with a smile and a word for as long as you sat there.

Of course you would leave a tip based on service, a pretty smile and a firm set of pegs helped too ! The women earned their money, There was no cup on the counter that you felt obligated to put your change because "Thumbaleena" wanted to go to school In fact, no teenagers worked there that I recall.

Baker's Dozen anyone ? 13 donuts instead of 12. Last one was on the house !

 

Remember when things said "Made in West Germany"

Remember when you ordered things through catalogs that came in the mail.

Remember when movie theatres didn't have stadium seating and tickets were $3.

Remember when you had to rewind the VHS cassette before returning it to the video store (before blockbuster was around).

Remember when all Powertools had a cord... no batteries.

Remember when you had to pump the gas pedal before starting your car... ahh carburetors.

 

HA ! Yeah.... right out of our garden !
One of my chores was to dump the coffee grounds from the percolator on the tomatoes at night before it got washed.
We composted our table scraps too after the pig farmer started to charge $$ to pick up our "swill". Before that he would come around just for the scraps to feed his pigs for free.

 

I just turned 32
I remember gas under a dollar. My family would drive around between a couple stations to see which one was cheaper by a couple cents and would complain if it was $1.05

Don’t remember the price but a girl handed my dad a dollar bill to buy a bottle of coke and I just couldn’t believe she gave him that much for just a coke. Then I remember giving the clerk a dollar for a coke one time and got a nickel back. My dad about had a heart attack that I cost so much.

I remember dail up internet

I remember 8 track tapes and vinyl records

 

Spanking in school was normal.
The news only came on a couple of times a day.

 

Excellent ! I had one of those gas pedals too !
Our guy at Texaco would have you "pull around" and check the air in the tires too when I was with my mother.
We were never surprised by this service and attention though like the girl in the video, it was just part of fillin' 'er up !

Providing that service was what I was taught to do when I started working at a gas station.
I did a real good job and was damn proud of myself and my uniform as well as the $1.65 / hr I was getting paid !

 

"They're for my mother" was our line.

 

I remember when you knew how to not land on your head when you fell of your bike. Helmets weren't required.

 

I remember waiting all year for the Sears Christmas catalog to come out so we could see all the cool new toys. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, the sale adds would start showing up in the newspapers (remember newspapers) We would start making or list to send to "Santa".....

 

When I was a kid, if you would have shown up on the neighborhood streets with a helmet and knee pads, you would have got hurt....All the other kids would have beat you up for looking so stupid....

 

Montgomery Ward.
The Wards catalog.

 

Haha oh yeah ... our phone lines were horrible and it wouldn’t connect half the time and when it did it would drop out randomly

 

You want to buy a bottle of water , it’s only $1.00. Coke-Cola was a 10oz.bottle, cost.25cents,came in a worn green glass bottle and you got.02 cents back when it was empty. When recycling was patriotic for the war efforts, and you carpooled to the grocery store to save the gas coupons.

 

Yep.... and if you had a Saving Account at the same bank during those years they would give you 13% interest on your money each month.
Even if I didn't make a deposit, my mother would tell me to drop by the bank on occasion to have them update the interest accrued in my book to avert any mistake down the line. Same people worked in our bank my whole growing up life and then some. Everyone knew each other by name.

 

No-one bought water when I was growing up. It was like a God given right !
One store or another always had a "bubbler" in the back corner and we knew where they all were !

There wasn't many cans or bottles around, cause everyone had an eye out and would pick them up for the return !
"Pennies Make Dollars" my old man would say....

 

"Monkey Ward"

 

When Levi’s had two more belt loops.