Young people have no idea …

I sort of understand all of this. If they are 20-somethings, they probably got a check addressed to them that their parents cashed until they turned 18 and/or their parents just bought the gifts from the grandparents and were paid back by the grandparents. My daughter gets checks every year from her grandfathers but obviously never has to sign them. I suspect by the time she's 18, checks won't exist and there'll be no need for her to ever sign her name to anything (which is why I think handwriting is a completely bogus skill on which to waste time, but that's a topic for another time).

 

They never knew the freedom us old farts did as kids. Saying bye to our mom on a summer morning, jumping on our bike and all she knew was we were meeting friends. We’d go swimming, bowling, maybe a movie and she didn’t know where we were and didn’t worry as long as we were home by dark.
With my son, his mom and/or I knew where he was almost every second until he got his drivers license and even then, we had him check in regularly.

 

This may have been mentioned earlier, but collect calls from an out-of-town destination...in my case, usually a concert. Just call home and let Mom & Dad know we got there fine. Now we'd be texting them every five minutes from the road. "Traffic jam LOL."

 

Not knowing how to address an envelope is apparently a thing among the under 25 set. I find that so baffling, but I guess it’s something they’ve rarely had to do, either because they haven’t needed to or because mommy and daddy took care of everything for them.

 

Travel agents

 

Damnit. I hate when you and I agree on stuff! Write something about salaries in baseball!

 

I don't think so, but I definitely have some fond memories of hearing my school's name come up on the list.

 

They still exist, but there is obviously a lot less work for them. My mother was a travel agent, so I heard about how it was changing from her. She was still working part time from home up until she died seven years ago.

 

My mother is in her mid-80s and would have no clue how to use a computer and she books her annual trips to California to see her brother through CAA (the Canuckistani version of AAA). I had no idea they still provided that service. Travel agents used to be everywhere, in the mall, every department store had one. We use one for our corporate travel.

 

In 1976 at the local Putt-Putt (my home away from home), I would call Veterans Stadium to check on the Phillies score. Then I'd give the person at the counter a quarter to pay for the 15-second call.

In 1990 I called that Mark Cuban invention that let you dial into your team's college football broadcast. So I had the joy of paying to hear Tennessee lining up for the winning FG, having the kick blocked and the ball rolling 30 yards the other way . . . which set Alabama up for the winning FG. Fucking 9-6 loss one week after UT beat Florida 45-3.

 

What it was like to be a juvenile delinquent, engage in petty theft and vandalism, and actually get away with it because cameras weren't everywhere, as they are today.

 

Arguing about the correct time and whose watch was correct.

Getting cash from the bank.

Using an ATM.

Never seeing weather radar unless you watched the news.

Radio stations.

Rudolph only came on once a year.

Paper coupons at the grocery store.

Keeping a road map in your car and highlighter marks from past trips.