70s-child: Misc. Remembrance:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Misc. Remembrance:

I really hate shopping, especially clothes shopping. Even more so when I was a kid and mom would take me clothes shopping for back to school, etc. I couldn't wait to get out of those stores. Basically the conversation would go something like the following:

Mom: "How about this shirt? It'd look great on you."

Me: "Fine. I'll take it. Let's go."

Mom: "And how about these pants??? They'd go great with that shirt."

Me: "Fine. Great. Let's go."

Mom: "Oh and look at these great shoes, they're just perfect for that outfit."

Me: "Okay already. Let's go."

Mom: "Oh and look at this rack over here, I didn't see that before. Here honey, take these 4 shirts into the dressing room and try them all on."

Me: "I like 'em all. Let's go"...

Don't expect much out of me for a quarter:

As a kid, I never got an allowance. That's something my folks weren't into. They were very generous with me, I never lacked anything, and usually when I asked for something they'd get it for me, but an allowance just wasn't going to happen. In '76, just before my folks split up, dad decided to give me a "job". It was sometime in January and the weather was pretty brutal, so he told me he'd pay me a quarter if I'd open the garage door for him when he got home so he wouldn't have to get out of the car and open it himself. We lived in a split level house (a raised-ranch), and the garage was in the lower level. The very first night, I was watching TV and I heard him pull in and stop at the garage door. I didn't want to leave my show, and it was pretty cold down there in the garage, and I was rather warm and cozy and comfortable sitting in front of the tv, so I basically ignored him. He honked. He honked again. And again. And again. Finally I heard him open the car door, open the garage himself, pull into the garage and slam the door shut. The way he slammed the door, I could tell he was angry and that I was in trouble. He came upstairs and just looked at me. Let's just say I lost my job that night, which didn't really bother me. A QUARTER??? I didn't get out of BED for that kind of money...