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In the queue at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
You might want to share this with another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
Remember: Don't make old People mad.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to **** us off.
In the queue at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
You might want to share this with another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
Remember: Don't make old People mad.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to **** us off.
You got it soooooo right. I did my own diapers for all my kids, as did my mother for hers. By choice I never used a dryer unless it rained for days on end--and my mother raised a large family without owning one. If the washer broke down the man in the house fixed it there were only two moving parts. We had one family car and my dad took the bus downtown to work, as did all the working folks of the middle class in our n'hood. ALL kids walked or bused to work. We didn't use plastic trash bags, everything went into a barrel in paper bags. You have to really look these days for a reusable razor, and everywhere you see plastic bottles strewn about. Styrofoam, when I was a kid, was just being invented for the use of "cold chests." You had soda in a glass at the drugstore fountain, I don't even remember carry-outs in plastic and styro. The green movement is, in some respects, too little too late. But it's better than nothing.
The two companies I work/worked for in the past 10 years both provide plastic silverware and styrofoam plates for employees during lunch. Many of those go into trash each day. When occasionally I forget to bring my real fork, I'd wash my plastic one to re-use and often are asked why I would wash something disposable.
I remember everything you cited, but how did you think of so many examples? I was 14 before our family even owned a clothes dryer. A lot of young people probably think that means we lived in poverty, but not so. My dad was cheap so we came to the clothes dryer a few years later than many people (1958), but in the 1940's very few people had them. I wonder when the clothes dryer first became comercially available?
I remember everything you cited, but how did you think of so many examples? I was 14 before our family even owned a clothes dryer. A lot of young people probably think that means we lived in poverty, but not so. My dad was cheap so we came to the clothes dryer a few years later than many people (1958), but in the 1940's very few people had them. I wonder when the clothes dryer first became comercially available?
LOL! Author unknown, although I could come up with those as well as other examples from my youth. I know that in the early 50s we had an electric washing machine with a wringer and Mom hung out the clothes to dry. I don't remember a dryer until 1958 either. I was 12.
It appears that the first electric dryer came out in 1915. Can't imagine what that would have been like.
You got it soooooo right. I did my own diapers for all my kids, as did my mother for hers. By choice I never used a dryer unless it rained for days on end--and my mother raised a large family without owning one. If the washer broke down the man in the house fixed it there were only two moving parts. We had one family car and my dad took the bus downtown to work, as did all the working folks of the middle class in our n'hood. ALL kids walked or bused to work. We didn't use plastic trash bags, everything went into a barrel in paper bags. You have to really look these days for a reusable razor, and everywhere you see plastic bottles strewn about. Styrofoam, when I was a kid, was just being invented for the use of "cold chests." You had soda in a glass at the drugstore fountain, I don't even remember carry-outs in plastic and styro. The green movement is, in some respects, too little too late. But it's better than nothing.
We didn't do our own diapers because we didn't have a washer and dryer to waste water and energy. So we had to use a diaper service.
LOL! Author unknown, although I could come up with those as well as other examples from my youth. I know that in the early 50s we had an electric washing machine with a wringer and Mom hung out the clothes to dry. I don't remember a dryer until 1958 either. I was 12.
It appears that the first electric dryer came out in 1915. Can't imagine what that would have been like.
Do you remember when Queen for a Day gave out washers and dryers to contestents?
My mother owned a small dairy/grocery store. As a child I lugged glass bottles behind the cooler for return, glass pop bottles were ran down the stairs to the basement, also for return. Purchases were put in paper bags, no plastic, no green things, and, most customers brought the paper bags back to us for reuse.
Thank you for this post, you made my day!
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We had one family car and my dad took the bus downtown to work, as did all the working folks of the middle class in our n'hood. ALL kids walked or bused to work. We didn't use plastic trash bags, everything went into a barrel in paper bags. You have to really look these days for a reusable razor, and everywhere you see plastic bottles strewn about. Styrofoam, when I was a kid, was just being invented for the use of "cold chests." You had soda in a glass at the drugstore fountain, I don't even remember carry-outs in plastic and styro. The green movement is, in some respects, too little too late. But it's better than nothing.
