I remember when.....

[LoraJ]

My parents would drop my brother and I off at the movie theater when we were in elementary school to watch kids movies. We'd call them on the pay phone to pick us up when we were done.

 

[EllenFrasier]

Love this thread!

We rode our bikes without helmets and didn't have to worry about getting kidnapped.
We drank out of the garden hose and the water came from the well - no bottled water back then!
The only time we went to McDonald's to eat was when our electricity went off and my mom couldn't cook.
We had to write thank you notes for gifts from relatives, no emails.
We went everywhere without our phones - now we take a phone everywhere with us.
I'm sure there are more...

 

[Pikester]

That was great, thank so much.





I remember those cash registers. I use to add the amounts in head before it came to a total.Now, I wouldn't trust my "Mental Math".
I love it now when I give the cashier to round out change so I don't have alot of pennies or to the dearest dollar, they look at you because they don't know what to give you.

We had a rotary phone in the kitchen when we moved here in 1987 and kept it for long time because it was it wouldn't die. My kids friends never saw one and would look at it and not know how to use it. That in itself was well worth to keep it ... just to see the expressions on their face.

Just realized how many spelling errors I had. Oops!

 

[WDWBarb]

I remember when the cash registers on Main Street at Disney World were the old-fashioned Sweda (or was it Sweeda?) kind where you had to push each button REALLY HARD and you had to add tax manually (by calculating it). I was pretty good at calculating 5 cents tax and then they changed it to 6 cents! We didn't have calculators, either, but they did make up some cheat sheets for us to look up tax. Those registers were so loud and it kept the day's tally only on register tape. I was told that Main Street would ALWAYS have those registers to preserve the old-time theme. Guess that wasn't exactly true!! I couldn't imagine them being able to get parts for those antiques much longer. They were beautiful, if not entirely practical!

 

[golfgal]

My parents would drop my brother and I off at the movie theater when we were in elementary school to watch kids movies. We'd call them on the pay phone to pick us up when we were done.

Heck, we would ride our bikes or WALK to the theater-which was on the other side of town, across the highway. Pizza Hut had a pay a dime/year all you could eat lunch buffet so we would spend $1 or less for lunch and then go to a movie.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If the power went out there was an area on the side that you could attach a hand crank to run the register

I love it now when I give the cashier to round out change so I don't have alot of pennies or to the dearest dollar, they look at you because they don't know what to give you.

Oh, yes!!! Now, the entire retail transaction grinds to a halt - because (a) since the cash registers tell the cashiers how much change to give, they're not ever even trained to 'calculate and count back'; and worse, because you CAN'T hand-crank today's registers!

 

[MissFitt]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned carbon paper!

If you wanted a copy of what you were writing you put a piece of paper, carbon paper then another piece of paper -- and if you were handwriting -- PRESS HARD!

And I have fond memories of waiting on line at Ticketron for hours to get concert tickets (which only cost about 10 bucks!)

 

[manning]

>


TV's without remotes so you had to get your butt off the couch

That must be why we are getting fatter !!!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

A mere child When we were your age, you couldn't simply unscrew that cap. You needed a bottle opener (church key). I'm not talking about screw-top bottles, with 'threading' on both the bottle and the inside of the cap. I mean the small caps like you still find on beer bottled but you can twist off now? Not when I was your age Bottle opener; careful coordination/timing between hand, counter edge, and bottle cap; or VERY careful breaking of bottle neck... no, I'm joking on that last one!

I challenge your age and raise you one. I remember when cans of beer had to be opened with a can opener! (I was a little kid then, but I remember them.) Then they came out with the pop tops that came off and you would step on them and cut your foot. (for younger folks, that is what Jimmy Buffet is singing about in Margaritaville. "I stepped on a pop top. Blew out my flip flop. Cut my heel had to cruise on back home.")

 

[Pikester]

Oh, yes!!! Now, the entire retail transaction grinds to a halt - because (a) since the cash registers tell the cashiers how much change to give, they're not ever even trained to 'calculate and count back'; and worse, because you CAN'T hand-crank today's registers!

I remember that once I got the job I spent a couple of afternoons with my Mom playing store and counting back change to her; and I was 15!

 

[rie'smom]

Watching TV in black & white.... Even if you were well off enough to have a color TV, most shows were still only B&W....

Listening to AM radio - because that was all we had...

No video games, only had board games where you had to have friends to play the game with.... Or playing outside mostly all summer, same reason - friends required....

No laptops, cell phones, texting, only land-line phones (if you had one) that was attached to a cord..... Oh, and pay phones (booths)....

Great thread..... I could go on and on...

When I was in the 1st grade-1964- we were the first family in my parents' group of friends to get a color set. They and their families were invited to watch The Wizard of Oz. Everyone ooh and ahhed when Dorothy walked into Munchkinland.

I remember when they came out with the 8 track tape players for cars.

..and how impressed everyone was when you installed one in your car.

My parents gave me a portable 8 track for my 10th birthday with a Herman's Hermits tape! That was one of the coolest presents I ever got.

Has someone mentioned shopping malls? When I was a kid, you had to go all over town to shop or Mom and I would go to Canal St in New Orleans.

GPS? I learned my way around cities by getting lost while trying to find my destination!

It's incredible to think what our kids will be writing to a question like this when they're our ages.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

When I was in elementary school, I left something at home I needed for a field trip that day. The principal, being an awesome person, drove me to my house to pick it up. Well, she had a nice red sports car with a key fob that opened the doors. I remember that so vividly, her opening her car doors while we were still walking towards it. I'd never seen anything like it! I told all the kids in my class about it afterwards, and some of them refused to believe me!

In a similar vein, I remember the year every classroom in our school got a computer. An Apple IIe. When loading programs the screen would say "One moment please..." Obviously we couldn't all play with it at once, but we were all so tickled to actually have a computer to work with that we'd spend our free period sitting on the floor ringing the computer to watch one person play and shouting out "One moment please..." whenever it came on the screen. We thought it was so neat that the computer was "talking" to us.

The remote to our tv had 4 buttons. Volume up and down, channel up and down. You turned it on by holding volume up and off by holding volume down.

My dad had one of the first "car phones" sold in our area. He had it installed in his car for a couple weeks before the towers to handle it even went up. Not only could you not remove it from the car, it required a VCR sized box in the trunk to make it work.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My parents gave me a portable 8 track for my 10th birthday with a Herman's Hermits tape!

Ha! I can 'beat' that! MY parents stayed in the same hotel as Herman's Hermits, on the same floor, the week before the band made their debut on "Ed Sullivan"!!!! My mother said they were, "...nice boys, but she didn't realize they were anybody 'special'"!

 

[rie'smom]

Ha! I can 'beat' that! MY parents stayed in the same hotel as Herman's Hermits, on the same floor, the week before the band made their debut on "Ed Sullivan"!!!! My mother said they were, "...nice boys, but she didn't realize they were anybody 'special'"!

Cool! My dad had just seen them in concert and really liked their music. After hearing I'm Henry the VIII for the thousand millionth time, I don't think he liked them quite as much!

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Metal roller skates that fit over your sneakers. You needed your skate key to tighten them up!

I could go on & on! Thanks for the memories!

You're welcome. I'm glad your enjoying the thread. These memories really do brighten my day!

I remember the metal roller skates. I think I almost killed myself on those things every time I used them too. Those were dangerous but oh so fun!

drinking cold coffee (before microwaves)

I didn't even think about that. I laugh at my mom because she can drink her coffee hot or cold as long as she has coffee she is a happy woman...Now I realize this is probably why!

Riding in the back of my Dad's pickup that had a cap on it with a bunch of friends to the amusement park.


Jellie shoes and banana clips.

Checked black and purple shirt with collar flipped up and a sweater vest over it to go with my black leggings and two pairs of socks and hi-top Reebocks. Feathered back hair that was pulled back with a clip on one side of my head and earrings that hung down to my shoulders.

Denim Jacket with pins all over the front.

Good times, Good times.

I remember a camping trip with the whole family, and all the kids were piled into the bed of my uncle's truck. We would walk around it, sit in the middle or on the tailgate. No one cared. If the driver took a sharp turn, everyone would skid to the other side of the truck and squish everyone else.

I loved the 80's fashion...You didn't have to worry about matching your outfits, as long as you had on every stitch of clothing you owned, you were pretty much golden!

Love this thread!

We rode our bikes without helmets and didn't have to worry about getting kidnapped.
We drank out of the garden hose and the water came from the well - no bottled water back then!

And we rode our bikes everywhere and anywhere to boot! I remember riding my bike all over the neighborhood from dusk till dawn, and no one ever worrying about what would happen to me!

On a hot summer day, there was no way you would go inside to get a glass of water for fear mom would put you to work on chores! Therefore, all our water came from the hose while we played outside!

I'm surprised nobody mentioned carbon paper!

If you wanted a copy of what you were writing you put a piece of paper, carbon paper then another piece of paper -- and if you were handwriting -- PRESS HARD!

Wow! I remember working in the school office when I was in junior high, during a free period and almost all paperwork we had to use a piece of carbon paper to make sure we had a copy. And of course, in order not to waste it, if there were any parts of the carbon still unused, you would cut it out or just move the carbon to where the empty space was so you could use that portion before tossing it!

 

[MissFitt]

going out to the ice cream man with a dollar and being able to buy an ice cream and 3 pieces of candy (usually a Fun Dip for 25 cents and a pack of either baseball cards or Wacky packages and some jawbreakers)

And buying a record for the album art -- Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" still a classic!

 

[dawn1620]

-Floppy disks
-Riding in the back of a pickup truck down the road at 60 mph...sometimes standing up hanging onto the cab.
-When Cokes came in a glass bottle.
-No seat belts as kids...no car seats, either.
-As a kid being able to sleep in the back yard under the stars and not having to worry about being kidnapped or worse.
-Making a slip and slide out of heavy plastic and the garden hose...some vegetable oil would give you the supersonic ride down the plastic.
-Playing outside all day, walking up the creek for miles, riding bikes to the neighbors houses...and my mom would not have any idea where we were at...we just knew to be home by dinner.
-A house with only one bathroom for five people.
-Staying inside as a kid during summer was a punishment worse than death, even on the hottest days.
- Calling friends from home because we did not have cell phones. We communicated without email, Facebook, Twitter or webcams. We did not text, we wrote notes on actual paper.
-We grew up not feeling like we were entitled to have everything handed to us...if we wanted something we hoped like heck it came at Christmas or birthdays and if not we worked for it.
-If the teacher blamed us then we were at fault, not her/him. My life was not micromanaged by mom...I was expected to take care of my own responsibilities.
-We called in to order pizza..putting in an order online or via text was not an option. My mom did not have a debit card..it was either check or cash.

 

[Sneezie]

OMG, I remember party lines!

I also remember when we only had to dial the last 5 digits of a phone number if we were calling within our town. Is that strange or did other people have that also/

We only had to dial the last 4 digits in my home town. I remember being shocked that other people had to dial 5 digits. I can't wait to get home and tell my daughter some of these. But now, back to reading the rest of this thread.

Good one!

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

This is a great thread but, gee whiz, do I ever feel old now. Yikes!

Along with the carbon paper mention, how about:

purple ditto paper & machine to print it.
mimeograph machines.
the small pieces of whateveritwas to slip into a typewriter so you could type your mis-typed letter & it would go away--being filled in with that white stuff (wish I had some because I can't find correcting ribbon for my electric typewriter).
or on that note, typewriters themselves plus the gum-like substance to clean the keys?
keypunch machines. remember the cards that came from those & how some were turned into Christmas wreaths?

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

-A house with only one bathroom for five people.
-Staying inside as a kid during summer was a punishment worse than death, even on the hottest days.

I remember my grandma's house had only one bathroom and for family gatherings, it was the worst because we had like 50 people in one house and only one bathroom. Her house is still like this.

During said family gatherings, at night was the time that us kids would go outside and play because it was cooler. Of course we were outside the whole time mostly but it was never a worry to have the kids outside at night, no one ever worried about being kidnapped. The worst that could happen was you would be scared the ghost of "La Llorona" would come out of the ditch and grab you and take you. Even than didn't stop us!

This is a great thread but, gee whiz, do I ever feel old now. Yikes!

Along with the carbon paper mention, how about:

purple ditto paper & machine to print it.
mimeograph machines.
the small pieces of whateveritwas to slip into a typewriter so you could type your mis-typed letter & it would go away--being filled in with that white stuff (wish I had some because I can't find correcting ribbon for my electric typewriter).
or on that note, typewriters themselves plus the gum-like substance to clean the keys?
keypunch machines. remember the cards that came from those & how some were turned into Christmas wreaths?

I remember the "whateveritwas" that you used to type over mistakes. And you would reuse it until there was nothing left to use.

Now that you mentioned keypunch machines...I was taken back to the days of my first job...I remember not having these handy dandy key card swipers, or computers to tell you when you came into work and when you left. You would actually have to punch the time clock when you came in and when you left so they knew how to pay you.