Earlier Economy

[CAM]

Just saw this photo on the internet and oh, the memories

This was my lunch when I was in school--one of these four cracker and processed cheese handi-snacks. Didn't get one every day. Most days, I only had

[url]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2280/2129209481_f71f900ed8.jpg[/url]

No beverage--couldn't afford a 15 cent container of juice or a 25 cent soft drink. A beverage other than drinking fountain water was a luxury. The family had to save money for gas--it was nearly a dollar a gallon and then it hit a dollar...

Breakfast? It was a piece of toast, some butter, but no jam, and a glass of milk.

Let's hope that things don't return to the bad old days.

Actually, the economy was bad, but life itself was pretty damned good back then in mid-1970s. And being skinny was in

[Doc Durian]

We got granola bars and a pint of milk.

Loose change was hoarded for the occasional pack of trading cards and a horrible litre of artifically sweetened orange soda which came in a glass bottle and tasted like stewed Japanese beetles for our walk back across the undeveloped fields between the house, highway, and deli.

The soda might have been tainted though. We burnt beetles with looking glasses and mashed them up into buckets of marigold heads then threw the pulp at one another as a game.

[vashti]

Hah! A geezer thread!

Okay, so we didn't ever drink soda either, and it was a REALLY big deal to go to McDonald's for a burger and fries. I used to make lemonade using lemons from a tree in our back yard every morning... I still remember how the lemons burned every little cut in my fingers. I ate peanut butter on a slice of toast for breakfast, and a bologna or valveeta cheese sandwich for lunch. And I was the queen of hand-me-down clothes. I got my first job at 12 years old so I could buy a "cool" outfit. Otherwise, i would have to make do with the ONE new outfit I would get for going back-to-school or for my birthday.

Wow, times have changed. You "poor" people have NO idea.

EDIT: Doc - we used to burn ants with a magnifying glass!

[Doc Durian]

Moth cocoons were prized...

[vashti]

Doc... i am pretty sure you are older than me, and I don't remember granola bars in my childhood. Were your parents hippies?

[Illusional]

how i miss cheap school lunches.

raverboy

[Doc Durian]

A progressive Catholic School lunch program for its day.

We had no subs, perogies, pizza, tator tots, burgers, hot dogs, or anything which made us jizz our checkered little pants (or skirts, respectively), Vashti.

Although we sold plenty of subs door to door for fundraising drives and got to eat the unpaid for orders.

Twice a year, it was bliss.

[Illusional]

it's a good thing that i never went to these sorta schools, i'd be a complete rebel at age 4.

raverboy

[vashti]

My first job was delivering newspapers in my neighborhood without a bicycle. Nowadays, they use cars.

My second job was selling flowers on a corner. Every pervert in the city would come by and try to hit on me. One guy actually grabbed my boob as he reached in for a bunch of flowers.... jackass.... I was 12.

[Doc Durian]

I raked leaves, sold lemonade, sold playing cards, fed pets, hoisted hay bales, shot barn pigeons, mowed lawns, picked asparagus, duped my younger brothers out of their grandmother contributed greeting card savings, and gophered drinks at family shindigs for tips.

I wish some girl would have grabbed my crotch at least once.

[Doc Durian]

it's a good thing that i never went to these sorta schools, i'd be a complete rebel at age 4.

raverboy

They teach you how to become a rebel when you get out of these sorts of prisons.

[vashti]

I wish some girl would have grabbed my crotch at least once.

A girl, yes. A creepy middle aged man? I doubt it would hold the same appeal.

[Doc Durian]

I'd have settled for a middle aged woman crotch grabber.

[vashti]

I'd have settled for a middle aged woman crotch grabber.

Yes, I suppose perspectives differ, depending on gender. lol

[CAM]

My first job was to sweep and mop and six car garage and then sweep, mop, and wax the floors of my dad's showroom in his shop. A three hour job for which I received a quarter. If the floors turned out especially good, I got an extra dime. If the job wasn't satisfactory, I was made to do it until it was right or get no compensation.

A good lesson in hard work.