When I worked for USPS as a carrier, my LLV (the mail truck) was older than I was by a year. I could also put the key in the ignition, start it, and then completely remove the key and the truck would keep running.
That kinda shit cracks me up, hahaha
It was my grandmother’s, and I was the 5th owner after she passed away. Manual windows, manual locks, and a fully-metal body. By the time I got it, it was so quirky, I loved everything about it.
Was a beautiful, green, Kia Sephia, and I miss that car more than some family members. My second car had another favorite quirk: the driver’s window motor died, so the window wouldn’t roll up or down. So, being the high school chucklefuck that I was, I’d go through drive-thrus in reverse if I had a friend in the passenger seat (also without a rearview mirror, thanks to the aforementioned dog).
All the staff used to come to the window laughing, and one manager gave us real shit for it despite their being no signs or anything indicating we couldn’t.
Sigh my younger days, cars today are just too boring 😂
With the trucks that have the hydraulic arms, this isn’t really true anymore outside of major cities with street parking. I remember growing up you could also just out big bulky items out on trash day (mattresses, toilets, tubs, etc) and they’d take it. Now, at least in my town, you have to schedule bulk pickup, there are limits on how often you can do it (I think my town is no more than like 2 times a month or quarter), and there are restrictions on what can be left for bulk.
Even with the hydraulic arm trucks, they weigh the bin as they pick it up, and will put it back down and leave if its over the weight threshold (meaning you’re throwing away something in your bin you shouldn’t be, and would need to schedule bulk for it).
Oh, the times, they are a-changin’.
Edit: When I lived in Baltimore, it was the old school style system of two guys on the back of the truck running to the curb, grabbing the bin, throwing it in the back, returning it, and hopping back on. Outside of that, I’ve only seen the hydraulic arm ones in suburbia for the last 15+ years.
I’m the opposite: I wear long pants, shoes, and socks year round, only my upper garments change for the seasons (T-shirts in the summer, long sleeves in the spring/fall, hoodies/jackets in the winter).
90°F outside? I’m in jeans. Going to the beach? Socks and sneakers, baby (though I’ll wear bathing trunks). Even when I was a mail carrier walking literally 10 miles a day in 90% humidity, I was wearing long pants. My coworkers/customers thought I was crazy, and maybe I am, but that’s just how it be.
Yeah, I remember one of my teachers (I think my high school biology teacher) chastising us a bit one day because most of the class would come from PE before hers. She was complaining that we smelled like sweat and working out and all that.
But we weren’t allowed (or given even close to enough time at the end of the PE class) to use the showers. You basically showed up, had until the second bell (about 5 minutes after the first) to be in the gym ready to go, you’d run/play/workout/whatever for almost an hour straight, and then be given at most 5 minutes to change and go to your next class.
No shit we stank, and when we asked why we couldn’t use the showers, we were told there was no way for us to be monitored in there, so it left too many opportunities for misdeeds and shit.
My dad’s trade school had this rule back in the 70s/80s. If you showed up and weren’t clean shaven, you had to pay $0.25 for a disposable razor and small little pouch of shaving cream. If you refused, you were sent home for the day.
He had a teacher that he said was really well liked among the students, former Marine who I think served in Vietnam. The guy had a coconut carved into a monkey’s head on his desk, and he’d tape a cigarette in its mouth. But he had some odd rules and, according to my dad, could be a scary dude at times.
Like, if he caught you yawning, he sent you out of the class because “You aren’t full awake, and therefore didn’t prepare for class properly with a proper night’s sleep.”
If the class got off track, or really pissed him off, he’d either: A. Lift one of those old-school metal drafting tables off all four of its feet and slam it back down, causing a HUGE boom sound that got everybody’s attention, or, B. He’d drop-kick the coconut monkey head down the hallway before returning to the class.
Reminds me of a teacher my dad told me about when he was in trade school (he went to a trade school for high school back in the 70s/80s). He said all the students called the guy Mr. Hitler behind his back.
He would regularly make fun of students, call them stupid for not understanding things, send kids to the principal for the slightest infractions, etc. My dad didn’t grow up with money but started working at like 14, and he said it always bothered him the most that Mr. Hitler would especially pick on poor kids.
“Oh, is that all your family could afford for you, rags and old shoes?” “Really, the same pants two days in a row, what, your family can’t afford to wash them?” Just shit like that, in front of the whole class, absolutely demeaning and stuff that wouldn’t be tolerated today.
Well, apparently Mr. Hitler suffered a stroke at some point during my dad’s high school days, and according to him, not a single student gave a damn to do anything to help him. He had trouble walking/was in a wheelchair, kids would let the door slam behind them despite him trying to get through. If he had several things to carry, students would ignore him requesting help to carry them, pretending like they couldn’t hear him.
I wrote my first AP English thesis in high school on this exact issue: students being assigned too much homework and the detriment it caused them. I don’t remember the source, but an academic paper from around 2010 (I wrote the paper in like 2012) talked about how assigning more than 5-10 math problems per night could cause way more harm than good.
Not only was it incredibly time consuming for people who likely had sports/music/jobs/family obligations/etc, but it reinforced incorrect learning habits. Basically, if you were given 100 math problems, but didn’t understand how to solve them correctly, you’d just be reinforcing your mistake 100 times. Add in the fact I never had a teacher who would spend an entire class going over all 100 of them, and kids were basically learning the wrong way every night. Plus, at least in my experience, the assignments were turned in and then the class moved on to the next lesson, and by the time you were given the graded assignment back, you were already 3+ lessons ahead, still learning everything wrong because the foundation was built on sand, not stone.
Was in an AP English class, and we were given a book on AP format for writing essays and such (think proper way to cite sources, alphabetize authors, other grammatical and formatting rules, etc). The class was given an example handout and told to group up into fours and go over the handout, finding mistakes and such based on the book previously mentioned.
When we went over it as a class, every group found basically every mistake except one. Every group missed this one mistake, and none of us flagged it because the book we were supposed to base all of this off of stated that it, in fact, was not a mistake. Since it was a graded assignment, we started debating with the teacher that since everyone didn’t flag it, and the book we were given said it was actually correct, we shouldn’t be penalized for it.
The teacher, however, refused, stating that it was incorrect based on AP formatting standards. Students even showed her, in the book we were given, where it said that the “mistake” was in fact correct. She refused to budge, and arguing continued.
The discussion ended when she (the teacher) finally said, “I’m the only one in this room with a Master’s degree in English, you got it wrong, I’m not hearing further debate on this,” and took the points off from all of us.
Same thing happened with a math teacher (who was an absolute piece of shit, literally everyone including the staff hated him, but that’s for another time). Everyone got a problem wrong, and when he went over it, several students pointed out the answer we all got was correct based on how we were initially shown how to solve the problem. He pulled the same “I’m the only one here with a degree in mathematics, so none of you are getting the points for it because you’re just wrong.”
Several students went to other math teachers and showed it to them, who in turn went to the piece of shit and not only pointed out that he was wrong, but the head of the math department was basically demanding either the points be restored or the question thrown out. The next class he went on a long spiel about how “after conversing with several of my other academic colleagues, it was brought to my attention it was a poorly designed question, and thus I will be removing it from all of the tests.”
Just fucking admit when you’re wrong, all you’re teaching us with your fancy degrees is that you’re a prick and to resent authority figures.
Currently, I’m a cabinet maker, and I was referred to my current employer by my state’s department of labor representatives. I’ve done damn near everything though: been a dishwasher, a chef (my longest held position at about 10 years), worked retail, was a pharmacy tech, delivery driver, the list goes on.
I interview well, always go in willing to admit what I don’t know but highlight what I do know, have a good attitude, and a decent sense of humor helps a lot (at least in my experience).
The thing that’s helped me find work the most has been my status as a veteran. Checking that box has opened more doors for me than anything else in my life because, to employers, it shows I’m more “mature” than those around my age, I’m dependable, learn quickly, don’t argue, and will get the work done if it needs to be done. It’s not surefire, by any means, but it has usually at least gotten me an interview with most places I’ve applied. Veteran employers like to see it because it’s something we can both relate to, and civilian employers like it because they know you learn a lot of soft skills through the military, and the maturity thing.
As an example, I was hired as a cook for a local brewery, but during the interview, the guy kept mentioning my time in the military and how he’d like me to start pushing their kitchen in a more professional direction than it currently was, despite the fact I had about 5-10 years less experience than their current supervisor and my military experience wasn’t related to cooking at all.
Not everyone has that on their resume, but it’s definitely helped me since I separated almost 10 years ago now.
Yep, I/my car was involved in 3 accidents over the course of 2 years almost a decade ago. First I was rear-ended, second someone turned into me cause they were in the wrong lane, and the final one I wasn’t even in the car, it was parked in the city I lived in and was one of 7 cars that were hit during a police pursuit.
That last accident, I had the same insurance company as the guy who was evading police. When I called to file a claim, the woman told me, “Well… We’re not sure we’ll be able to offer compensation, as your vehicle is one of seven involved, and the driver’s insurance only covers XYZ amount, so we may need to put it under your policy.” I told them absolutely not, it was not my problem that they willfully insured a criminal, and that I had been a customer for 5+ years, never missed a payment, and did absolutely nothing wrong in this situation. She still pushed, and I told her if that was the route they wanted to go, she could cancel my policy that minute, and suddenly it turned into “Well, let’s see what we can do.”
Fuck insurance companies, all of them, literally all of them. They also initially refused to give me my check for that last accident, as the guy at the counter told me, “Well, you have a lien on the vehicle, so we should really be sending this to your bank so they can tell you when/where they want the repairs made.” I responded, “Well, that sounds like a conversation I need to have with my bank, and since the loan is between myself and them, I don’t really understand what business it is of yours, now I’ll take my check please.”
They recently upped my rates because I moved 1.7 miles away from my old address, which was in a different zip code, and just thinking about all this makes me want to look into leaving them for another company.
God I hate insurance companies.
Could be, I’ve honestly never given it much thought, it’s just what I tend to be most comfortable wearing. I wore shorts growing up and through my time in the military, but after that, I kinda just… Stopped? I am definitely a creature of habit, so probably subconsciously it’s a consistency thing for me.
I’m also pretty skinny, so I get cold easily and prefer the warmth that long pants provide regardless of weather, and the protection they offer from nature and the elements (hence why I wore them year round at the Post Office). But fabric doesn’t matter to me, or brand or any of that, just that they’re the proper length.
For shoes, I just don’t like having my feet out in the world, and don’t like how loose sandals/flip flops feel while wearing them. I also don’t like how the interior of shoes feel against bare feet, hence why socks and shoes go hand in hand (no boat shoes for me). Now that I’m typing that out, I just don’t like my bare feet touching anything, really, like, I’m one of those people who wears socks in their own home constantly except when I’m sleeping.
It does simplify dressing myself, since I know it’s always gonna be socks+jeans/pants+T-shirt/long sleeve/hoodie. I’ve also had to wear long pants at every job I’ve ever had (minus the Post Office), so at some point it may have just set in that it’s easier to just wear pants regardless of what I’m doing. 🤷♀️