Things from your childhood that would baffle younger people of today (relations, travel)

[canudigit]

bar soap for handwashing and bathing. I remember we always had the dark gold colored Dial soap for our baths, and soapdishes that looked like this, even in restaurants and other public places that had restrooms:



Followed by drying your hands with one of these, you just rotated the cloth towel to find a clean spot:



Very hygienic!

Also colored toilet paper:



and hairdryers like this. We actually had this model in pink, an added feature was that the slits in the top blew air to dry your nails:



Platform shoes for men:

[StrawberrySoup]

High beam buttons.

[canudigit]

Cars and minivans with faux wood panels on the sides...why would you want your car to look like wood?

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Cars and minivans with faux wood panels on the sides...why would you want your car to look like wood?

To imitate the cars that had real wood on the sides, Woodies. I never cared. I don't care much about cars.

How about going into a real department store and getting waited on. Women taking a few dresses into the dressing room and a sales lady coming in and asking you how you liked them. Sales lady going out and getting a few more dresses for you to try on, coming back and checking with you. Maybe there are some high end stores that still do this, but it used to be that was the only way to buy clothes. These sales ladies were professional about it too and took their jobs seriously.

And there are very few shoe stores now that have you sit down while they measure your foot, then they go and get some shoes for you to try on. They sit on one of those funny shaped stools and put the shoe onto your foot and have you stand up and walk to see how it feels.

Now it's mostly self service everywhere. And how often do you see a department store? One with cosmetics and general clothing on the first floor, "better" clothing on the second floor, hair salon, "intimates" and handbags on the third floor, shoes on the 5th floor, very expensive shoes on the 6th floor, "gifts" and luxury items on the 7th floor, and so on for maybe ten floors. And a restaurant on the top floor. All with shiny escalators and sparkling fancy decor.

[canudigit]

Earth shoes

Pet rocks

My neighbors who had relatives in Florida visited them one year and came back with the corniest souvenir, literally a sealed empty can about the size of a soup can that said "genuine canned Florida sunshine" on it. Would most people today find that even mildly amusing or cute?

Trapper keepers. They were a big vinyl encased notebook for school made by Mead Paper, I think, that were all the rage in the late '70s. I remember coming back from summer break one year and anyone who was anyone had a new Trapper Keeper. Do kids today even carry notebooks anymore? Everything is on their computer.

Wacky Packages. Bubble gum cards with illustrations that were spoofs on real life products. They featured things like "Poopsi Cola", 'Minute Lice" and "Skimpy" peanut butter. I can't see kids today being entertained by them.

[Serious Conversation]

Bar soap is nasty. I use body wash and one of those luffa things. I change the luffa out monthly.

Here are a few more honorable mentions.

[TFW46]

Gas stations where, as soon as you drove up to the pump, an attendant would hurry out to ask how much gas you wanted. Then, while your tank was being filled, he'd wash your windows, check the air in your tires, adding air if necessary, and check your fluids, advising if any were low.

And remember when car batteries were located underneath the back bench seat? You'd life up the seat to add water to the battery cells.

[biscuitmom]

An outside 'well house' where you washed clothes using a scrub board and heated water with a fire under a tub.
Then a few years later, laundromats equipped with wringer washers. Wow, that was progress.

Hunting for poke salat with your grandmother who wore a bonnet and carried a bucket.
Fried squirrel with biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
Burying potatoes in the ground and building a fire on top of them to roast them.
Tent Revivals.
A cow in the backyard, in a city.
Wringing chickens by the neck. The smell when you scalded it and then plucked the feathers.
Ding Dong School with Miss Francis.
Roy Rogers.
Stretchers for hang drying jeans.

[Serious Conversation]

Not only a "tent revival," but the "sawdust trail." No one alive is old enough to remember much of it.

[biscuitmom]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Not only a "tent revival," but the "sawdust trail." No one alive is old enough to remember much of it.

No idea what the sawdust trail is? But I have memories of tent revivals well into my teens.