Old enough to remember

[Deleted]

I remember when people thought it was totally normal to receive packages C.O.D.

[Deleted]

I remember when, as a teenager and as a "young adult" living at home, how, I worked, not against my will, but, as a given expectation.
It seems that more and more parents are 'allowing' their live in still "kids" to not have the expectation of earning money, and, worse still, indulge them, whether it be allowing them to sleep all day, listen to music and play video games, buy them concert tickets ,provide them with their very own TV's etc. in their bedrooms and all the other technological gadgets they desire.
I like to think I was privileged in many respects in that, not only was I expected to engage in working after school hours and on weekends, the money it provided me, and the enrichment that knowing I could somehow be self-sufficient and also useful.
I heard recently of a daughter, aged 18 or so, who said she would not communicate and actually "hated" any one who did not have an iPhone.
WTF?

[Deleted]

I remember nice restaurants with good service. Sigh. I don't think we'll ever see anything like them again. Nowadays, "stuffy" has to be avoided at all costs. It meant that napkins were placed in laps, orders were taken with intelligence, food timed to arrive at the table with discretion, wine poured. I even remember being given menus without the prices listed, because women didn't have to worry about such things. Even the black-jacketed waiters leaning in to light my mother's cigarette after dinner (and no, I'm not condoning smoking, everyone did it back then and I'm so glad we don't have to put up with it now). We had spent hours getting dressed for dinner, and not a fleece jacket or baseball cap was to be seen. I'm sooooooo old.

[bixaorellana]

I always found someone putting a napkin in my lap to be overly invasive, but do agree about the loveliness of unobtrusive, well-trained service.

And double ditto about the overly casual dress. It really takes the gloss off the experience for those who wanted to get dressed up and go somewhere nice.

[Deleted]

I remember in front of famous monuments there were always men with Polaroid cameras who would rush up to tourists and take their photo. If they were not immediately shoved away, they would then really take the photograph and charge some ridiculous amount for it. As a child, I remember my grandmother being trapped into buying such a photograph once (where is it now?). Those photographers still lurked at least until the 1980's although there were far fewer of them by then.

[Deleted]

I saw the Danish western "The Salvation" yesterday, and there was a scene where a document was signed and then the official rocked the blotter back and forth over the signature. It made me remember that desk sets still had blotters 100 years later when I was a little boy. But I had never seen one used before.

[Deleted]

I remember when the rate of a local call from a pay phone in Louisiana was set by law at 5 cents while other states were already charging 10 or 20 cents. The rate was not raised until sometime around 1977.

imageshack.com/a/img537/916/3wYQwx.jpg

[Deleted]

I wonder how many young people know what a churchkey is.

[Deleted]

I don't even know, and I'm not young. Heard the word before, but I admit my shame.


Edit: Now that I admitted to it, I've looked it up. We just called those bottle openers.

[Deleted]

Actually, the main function of the churchkey was not the bottle opener end. It was the pointed end to puncture cans and it was how people used to open beer cans and other liquid items before the invention of pull tops. You would make a big puncture on one side and a little puncture opposite the first one, so that air could get in as the liquid poured out.

www.ruraltech.org/video/2012/wfpa/07_historic_artifacts/lgslide_29_68.png

[Deleted]

Yes, I remember now, although by the time I was drinking beer (like above) I only drank out of bottles!

[Deleted]

I remember the days when one would have to wait outside a phone booth and sometime tap on the glass with a coin if the person inside was staying on the phone too long. Younger generations would probably find this situation unbelievable.

[Deleted]

Ah, phone booths. Smelling of piss.

[htmb]

There's a phone booth near the apartment where I'll be staying next next summer. Several homeless use it to store their bedding during the day.

[Deleted]

There were two triple phone booths at my intersection for years, which was already abnormal except for the fact that in an immigrant neighbourhood, phone booths were much more necessary than in wealthier areas. They finally removed the booth in front of my building a few months ago, but the other one across the street is still there. I can't recall the last time I saw anyone actually using the phone. I still think that public phones are necessary, but they need to find a better way to situate them for mostly emergency use.

[bjd]

When we bought our Paris apartment in 1998, there were several phone booths on every block in the area. Now they have nearly all disappeared. Some people, like me, don't travel with a cell phone so phone booths can be useful.

The homeless people sleep in shop doorways in the evenings.

[Deleted]

There was a public telephone a few blocks from us until very recently. It was knocked over and on the ground in pieces.
Either it was hit by a car or vandalized.
It's very unlikely that it will be replaced which makes me feel a bit sad.


I also remember when some of the old phone booths had a little seat in them.

My husband and I did a tour of Mark Twain's house in Connecticut many years ago.
In the foyer there was an old wooden phone booth, seat and all.
We were told that Mr. Twain abhorred telephones but his wife really wanted to have one.
Therefore, the compromise was made.
As long as he didn't have to hear it and it was placed in an out of the way place she could have a telephone.

[Deleted]

I remember when it was really important to find the song lyrics inside the jacket of a vinyl LP because there was no internet to find the lyrics online in 15 seconds.

[breeze]

And when you played that LP, if you walked near the record player you stepped very lightly, because otherwise the record would skip.

One of the big advantages when tapes came in was that you could dance near the tape player with impunity.

[Deleted]

And of course there were all of those records, especially in the early days, that never gave you the lyrics in the first place. How many of us listened to the same song 15 times in a row trying to catch a word or two that we did not understand?

[bjd]

Not sure why but this morning when I woke up, I remembered those wonderful maps in the Paris metro. There was a map with a light for every station, and to find your way from the place you were, you pressed the button for the station you were heading for and the route would light up.

[Deleted]

Those maps are still in place in quite a few stations, but I think they are disconnected at the moment. (Yes, I have pushed a button every now and then to see if anything lights up.) Since they have remained in place even when stations have been completely renovated, I am hoping that they are working on a new version that would still use the little lights. Obviously, they would install a touch screen now instead of wiring 302 buttons to select.

[Deleted]

I remember when so many friends' dwellings smelled of patchouli.

[mickthecactus]

I must be older than you. I don't remember it at all......

[htmb]

Why patchouli?

[Deleted]

"Patchouli is an important ingredient in East Asian incense. Both patchouli oil and incense underwent a surge in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s in the US and Europe, mainly as a result of the hippie movement of those decades."

[htmb]

Oh, Kerouac, were you a real hippie? ;-)

[mickthecactus]

I think you're confusing it with hip replacement.......

[Deleted]

[htmb]

Awwww! When I was little, riding the horse was the highlight of a trip to the grocery store with my mother.