You Know You Are Old When

[Alan46]

“ like-Hell I’m not living here!!!!!

 

[masseyrider]

“ like-Hell I’m not living here!!!!!

and then... "were is the pay check?"

 

[2LaneCruzer]

50+ years ago I went to work for a mine out in the middle of Nevada. There was a tiny town there - the mine owned the houses, took care of the utilities for the town, etc. Nearest bank, nearest almost anything was 80 miles away. Payday was Friday morning, every two weeks. No such thing as direct deposit. So every Friday the miners (or their wives) would be lined up at the Payroll window at the Admin building, picking up their paychecks. The mine was located up on the side of a mountain, from which it was possible to see about 30 miles of the highway and on payday a steady stream of cars could be seen heading for that town 80 miles away, where they cashed their paychecks and bought groceries, etc. for the next two weeks.

I went to work there because their starting wage was $4.98 an hour - at a time when any place around civilization was paying no more than $1.25 an hour. But that's what they had to pay to get people to live in such a remote place. Even at that, it was difficult to keep workers. All too many times a guy would hire on - then he'd bring his wife out and she'd look around and realize that any store or bank or whatever was an 80 mile drive and tell her man "like hell" - I'm not living here.

You reminded me of an old story. Back in the early 80's, I worked for a petroleum company as an environmental engineer. They sent me to Grants New Mexico to their uranium mine, to do an inspection, and also as an orientation/familiarization visit. I decided right off, that the miners would never have to worry about me taking their jobs.

But the reason for my post. I noticed a long line of cars on the road back to town that evening, at a small drive in. Turns out it was a drive in tavern, and you could get cold beer in your car...and it was super busy.

 

[LouNY]

Used to be quite common, in Texas even after they decided the driver couldn't have a beer the passengers still could for several years. But, sadly they finally succumbed to the federal blackmail and went with no open containers.

 

[masseyrider]

Used to be quite common, in Texas even after they decided the driver couldn't have a beer the passengers still could for several years. But, sadly they finally succumbed to the federal blackmail and went with no open containers.

Although illegal to drink and drive it was common for us to drive around with a traveller between the legs. This was long before every vehicle has 73 different cup holders.
If you had someone in the back seat it was their responsibility to hand the driver and front passenger fresh beers.
The front passenger could have some fun throwing the empty bottles at mailboxes and signs or whatever.
I nailed a dog that used to chase me on my bike just a couple years earlier. A little revenge I guess.
He was OK. I saw him running around the yard the next day.

 

[Oaktree]

I remember waiting in line to cash paychecks, and the silly mad scramble to get in line early enough to reach the teller's desk on a Friday, before they closed. Crazy short opening hours that were completely impractacle for anyone with a regular job, but they had us by the short and curlies, back then.

That might have varied by region. By the early-ish 70s where I lived at the time (southern N.H.) banks were beginning to have longer hours, and many branches were open Saturday mornings. Spent a couple years on the west coast in the mid-70s and was surprised that "banker's hours" still prevailed out there.
Nowadays, with online banking it seems Saturday hours are a thing of the past, though most seem to be open M-F 9-5.

 

[Oaktree]

But the reason for my post. I noticed a long line of cars on the road back to town that evening, at a small drive in. Turns out it was a drive in tavern, and you could get cold beer in your car...and it was super busy.

Back in the 70s/early 80s when I was a field service tech, I remember seeing a drive-thru liquor store in Ohio. Thought it was really weird, and took a picture of it because I figured no one at home would believe it.
Turns out, it was (maybe even still is) fairly common in the midwest.

Liquor laws in general are weird.

 

[WinterDeere]

That might have varied by region. By the early-ish 70s where I lived at the time (southern N.H.) banks were beginning to have longer hours, and many branches were open Saturday mornings. Spent a couple years on the west coast in the mid-70s and was surprised that "banker's hours" still prevailed out there.
Nowadays, with online banking it seems Saturday hours are a thing of the past, though most seem to be open M-F 9-5

I seem to remember ours all closing the teller's windows at 4pm during the week, maybe even 3:30pm on Fridays. The bank stayed open until 5pm for loan officers and other services, but the tellers closed at 4pm to do their counting and cataloging.

They were open Saturday mornings, but the hours were real short, like 8 - 11am for the teller's windows. This was the case here until at least the mid-1990's, when everyone went to electronic direct deposit.

 

[WinterDeere]

YKYO when you remember your mother saying, "walk it off" after every injury, rather than coddling you like today's helicopter parents.

No joke, I dislocated my shoulder, and tore some ligaments and tendons... and mom's response was to tell me to "walk it off". I spent a full day or two putting up with it, in excruciating pain while hoping it'd feel better, before dad finally ran me to the emergency room to have it checked. I'd never felt so vindicated, in my 12 years of life up to that time, as when I came home with an arm sling and doctor's note from the hospital.

In mom's defense, each of us kids probably suffered some minor injury several times per week. She'd have been making 60 trips per month to the hospital, if she took every one of our claims of personal injury at self-assessed value.

 

[BravoXray]