You Know You Are Old When

[scootr]

When I was young I worked mowing lawns and shoveling snow for quarters not many dollars ... did both for free at home so I thought I was cutting a fat hog. lol
In Jr High School I got my first taxed job at 14 yrs. Lied on the application saying I was 16 and started washing dishes in the basement kitchen of a retirement home. $1.50 an hour in 1968. I washed the cooking pots, pan, utensils, and 3 dishes each for 400 residents after school each day. What a mess those old people made of their dinner plates but I netted nearly $40-45.00 a week! Which was great fun money in those days... allowing me to have have a jingle in my pocket for the girls.
From there I went to a private French restaurant where I got angrily fired for eating the beef stroganoff and pudding.
Finally to a clean sales job later and then to an auto mechanic school and pumping gas... ah the good ole days. Eventually settle on a construction job where I stayed in the trades for 35 yrs. Then self employed with an internet store to this day.

 

[MossRoad]

One of my first jobs was working at Dairy Queen around 1977. No grill back then. Just hot dogs and a crock pot for BBQ sandwiches, and a bun steamer. Girls waited the walk-up window and guys made the sandwiches and kept the place stocked and clean and made frozen stuff like dilly and buster bars. Somehow they were legally able to pay less than minimum wage. I think maybe something to do with small business. Anyhow, I started at $1.65 an hour. I quit in the summer to be a lifeguard.

Made a lot of good friends at DQ that we're still in touch with today. Met my future wife working there. She continued to work there odd shifts even after we were married in the mid 80's. We stayed friends with the owners until they both passed away just within the last 10 years.

 

[Jstpssng]

When you're talking to a woman young enough to be your granddaughter, and she starts showing pictures of her grandkids.
Then again, when I was younger than her I met several women who had their first kid at 16. One was a grandmother at 34.

 

[MossRoad]

When you're talking to a woman young enough to be your granddaughter, and she starts showing pictures of her grandkids.
Then again, when I was younger than her I met several women who had their first kid at 16. One was a grandmother at 34.

I just bumped into a woman last week that I worked with 30 years ago. She had her first child at age 16. That child had her first child at age 16, so grandma at 32. A year later, the lady had her 2nd child at age 33. Then TWINS! at age 35.

She said that while having a baby at age 16 was not the wisest decision, she got married to the father, they got their act together, made a great life for themselves and got to the point where they could have more children and be able to support them properly. All has worked out well for all of them.

 

[JethroB]

One of my first jobs was working at Dairy Queen around 1977. No grill back then. Just hot dogs and a crock pot for BBQ sandwiches, and a bun steamer. Girls waited the walk-up window and guys made the sandwiches and kept the place stocked and clean and made frozen stuff like dilly and buster bars. Somehow they were legally able to pay less than minimum wage. I think maybe something to do with small business. Anyhow, I started at $1.65 an hour. I quit in the summer to be a lifeguard.

Made a lot of good friends at DQ that we're still in touch with today. Met my future wife working there. She continued to work there odd shifts even after we were married in the mid 80's. We stayed friends with the owners until they both passed away just within the last 10 years.

We have fond memories of the original Dairy Queen/Brazier nearby. Walk-up windows then sit on your car until your number was called. The Deluxe burger .

Then it was replaced in the mid 70’s by the corporate type store nearby. The food was never the same. The flavor is still there but Poor quality meat?

 

[MossRoad]

A not so fond memory of that Dairy Queen was being held at gunpoint in the parking lot.

Fortunately, I talked my way out of it. I was 16. Yikes!

 

[MoKelly]

A not so fond memory of that Dairy Queen was being held at gunpoint in the parking lot.

Fortunately, I talked my way out of it. I was 16. Yikes!

When I was 16, I worked at a place called Pope’s Cafeteria in a large mall.

I worked Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and 6-3 on Saturdays.

One Sunday, 4 thugs entered thru the back bay at 6am (door was unlocked as that is how employees entered) and shot to death 4 of the employees and robbed the safe.

It could have easily been a Saturday v Sunday.

I think about that almost everyday for over 40 years now.

The restaurant closed shortly thereafter.

The thugs were caught, convicted and all 4 died in jail.

 

[ultrarunner]

When I was 16, I worked at a place called Pope’s Cafeteria in a large mall.

I worked Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and 6-3 on Saturdays.

One Sunday, 4 thugs entered thru the back bay at 6am (door was unlocked as that is how employees entered) and shot to death 4 of the employees and robbed the safe.

It could have easily been a Saturday v Sunday.

I think about that almost everyday for over 40 years now.

The restaurant closed shortly thereafter.

The thugs were caught, convicted and all 4 died in jail.

Several of my family have stared at the barrel of a gun and had close range shots fired… brother was all night cashier and the glass held…

Dad not so lucky but was able to deflect the hand so the shots missed him…

 

[otlski]

When I was young I worked mowing lawns and shoveling snow for quarters not many dollars ... did both for free at home so I thought I was cutting a fat hog. lol
In Jr High School I got my first taxed job at 14 yrs. Lied on the application saying I was 16 and started washing dishes in the basement kitchen of a retirement home. $1.50 an hour in 1968. I washed the cooking pots, pan, utensils, and 3 dishes each for 400 residents after school each day. What a mess those old people made of their dinner plates but I netted nearly $40-45.00 a week! Which was great fun money in those days... allowing me to have have a jingle in my pocket for the girls.
From there I went to a private French restaurant where I got angrily fired for eating the beef stroganoff and pudding.
Finally to a clean sales job later and then to an auto mechanic school and pumping gas... ah the good ole days. Eventually settle on a construction job where I stayed in the trades for 35 yrs. Then self employed with an internet store to this day.

Was the stroganoff good?
yeah, that was my takeaway...

 

[masseyrider]

When I was 16, I worked at a place called Pope’s Cafeteria in a large mall.

I worked Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and 6-3 on Saturdays.

One Sunday, 4 thugs entered thru the back bay at 6am (door was unlocked as that is how employees entered) and shot to death 4 of the employees and robbed the safe.

It could have easily been a Saturday v Sunday.

I think about that almost everyday for over 40 years now.

The restaurant closed shortly thereafter.

The thugs were caught, convicted and all 4 died in jail.

Survivor guilt.
I was supposed to be going up to a cottage with a couple close friends but got called in for an extra shift at work.
We thought nothing of having a few travellers along the way.
Getting close to the destination they went off the road and hit some trees.
Post mortem showed high alcohol levels.
I know I would have been one of them.
Every year I visit their graves have a shot and leave one for them.
For 46 years now there hasn't been a day I don't think of them.

 

[Oaktree]

Survivor guilt.
I was supposed to be going up to a cottage with a couple close friends but got called in for an extra shift at work.
We thought nothing of having a few travellers along the way.
Getting close to the destination they went off the road and hit some trees.
Post mortem showed high alcohol levels.
I know I would have been one of them.
Every year I visit their graves have a shot and leave one for them.
For 46 years now there hasn't been a day I don't think of them.

Not me personally, but in the early 1960s 2 planes collided over NYC. My father was supposed to have been on one of them. He was on a business trip, and last minute something happened at his worksite and he had to stay an extra day.

 

[WinterDeere]

Two small planes collided over my house in 1998, and fell into a field next door. Wild stuff. The occupants of one bailed out half way down.

I was outside pressure washing the deck and painting a garden trellis, and heard it, but did not see as a neighbor's roof line blocked my view. Hearing the sudden stop of the louder of the two plane engines should have been a clue, but busy with my own work, it didn't really register that anything had gone wrong until emergency vehicles started showing up.

 

[orezok]

Back in the early 70’s, I lived about a mile from Montgomery Field in San Diego’s small aircraft airport. My house was just about where small planes entered the downwind.

It was a Saturday and I was outside doing something when I heard one plane go to full throttle and then a bang. I did not see them fall but both landed about a 1/4 mile from my house.

 

[scootr]

A day at the beach turned deadly when a small plane that diving down close to the water in the cove touched a wingtip to the water. The engine went full throttle when it entered the water and rescuers pulled 2 bodies from the water strapped to their seats.

 

[masscity]

Back in the 70's I was working construction, the foreman and I were talking at the end of the street. We were near a small airport, there was an opening in the trees and we heard and saw an airplane landing too quickly. We were wondering what that was about.

The next day in the local paper, they said a bunch of hunters and their dogs were headed to Canada and one of the dogs got loose and jumped on the pilot's lap. Nobody was seriously hurt and the plane was banged up some.

Another time a buddy and I were sitting at a table on a lake beach drinking some cold ones. There was a small float plane doing touch and go's. It did many over and over, then behind some trees we heard something from the plane. We walked over to see and the plane was upside down in the water, but the pilot was alright.

The next day in the local paper we found out the pilot was drunk and lost his pilot's license.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My Grandfather had a Cessna and he took me flying when I was little. In 1956 he was flying over a farm in Brookneal, Va waving to friends he knew by flying low using plane's wings, then flew up into 10kV power lines and crashed. The current went through his left shoulder and out his right foot.
When he crashed the plane caught fire. A young boy, Charles, jumped a 6 ft fence, snapped Grandfather's safety harness dragging him to safety.
My Grandad was in traction in the hospital when two guys from the power company handed him a bill for $75 the next day!
Years later Charles asked my Grandfather for land to build a house on which he gave him.
Charles wanted the land so he could live near the airport since he was a pilot for Piedmont!
When Charles retired he and his wife lived back at the Brookneal family farm where they raised Angus cattle and his hobby was collecting restored John Deere tractors.
Charles passed a few years ago, his wife shortly after of a broken heart.

 

[MoKelly]

Lots of plane stories. Reminds me back when I was working I had our company’s flight operations as one of my areas of responsibility. 6 jets, 2 helicopters and an FBO to house them all.

This was before anyone ever heard of ZOOM calls. Business was done face-to-face.

The CEO was a very astute pilot. His mandate was the head pilot in the plane - and only the head pilot in the plane - made the decision to fly. If the pilot said it was unsafe, the plane did not take off.

One afternoon I get a call from a high level executive. All mad. Tells me to tell the ?x!?xx pilot to take off - he MUST get home this evening!!! He takes full responsibility!!

I say OK, let me speak to the pilot. I did. Pilot says there is lightning in the area, gusty winds up to 50mph and in his opinion is high on the possible danger scale. 7 of 10.

But, the commercial flights are taking off. Few, if any, private aircraft is moving.

I tell him to stay put and when he thinks it’s safe to leave, go ahead and fly. It’s 100% his call and the company has his back.

Executive there was furious.

They ended up spending the night.

I heard nothing about the situation for about 2 weeks. The pilot told me it went fine on the flight home the next day —- no grief.

Then, it was announced that this high level executive was leaving “to pursue another opportunity”.

Either you just talk about safety or you walk the talk.

 

[WinterDeere]

Lots of plane stories.

Reminds me of things I read about Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, and how he used to fly himself around the country in a Cessna to meet with his various store managers before they computerized everything.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My curiosity is, and hopefully others can relate, I was 3-4 years old and yet walking through the airport hangers every time Grandad had to drag me away from watching mechanics working on engines. I was mesmerized and always loved wrenching on anything mechanical or electrical. That must be something you're born with (?).
My brother is the exact opposite.

 

[seville009]