I love a good history lesson. It always amazes me to know what things were like back in the old days. Of course, when people use it to complain about something that’s sufficient, like this man… that’s another story.
I used to get the old people all the time who seemed to think they were still living in 1935. “What do you mean 25 cents for an ear of corn? That’s outrageous! I used to be able to buy enough seed to raise four acres of corn for that price!”
Yeah no kidding. I get those kind of people every now and then during the winter months. I live down in southern arizona so the “snow birds” come down to escape winter. There is never a winter that goes by where an old person complains about the concession stand prices. I often get told that back in their day popcorn was a quarter and the candy was a nickel. >.> yeah well this isn’t back in your da, gramps, and prices have inflated since then
okay, I am an “old timer”. I was a grocery store cashier in the olden days before scanners, and before the little code stickers on the produce. Periodically we were tested to remember the differences between all the varieties of apples.
we still do. Difference is, instead of having to memorize prices every week, we have codes.
and mystery shoppers who try to steal to test us to make sure we’re doing our job properly.
How many types of apples did the store sell then? Nowdays there’s Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala, Joannasburg, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, and 3-4 others I can’t remember…at this time of year. Other times its different. The sheer amount of different types of apples and pears baffles me!
Almost the same varieties as today… Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Rome, MacIntosh, and Winesap. I wasn’t aware that my store had mystery shoppers but we had a regional director that would come in an give us a test. She would have a cart of items we had to ring up. She would switch prices are high tag items with low tags to see if we would catch them… Like a can of asparagus and a can of green beans or T-bone steak and Hamburger. She would also hide things inside of another, a pair of socks in a thermos or bag zucchini and cucumbers in the same produce bag.
our secret shopper isn’t quite that sneaky, think hiding something inside a thermos is a little over the top. However, they will switch out bin codes for bulk foods, remove a upc to ensure a proper price check, put something inside a rubbermaid bin, and usually leave something of high price, (300+) on the bottom of the buggy, and will hold a magazine. our policy is BOB, (Bottom Of Buggy), MITCH, (Merchandise In The Customers Hand).. or head. or feet, wearing something out of the store. and LISA, (Look InSide Always)
Red delicious, golden delicious, granny smith, macintosh, spartan, honey crisp, fuji, gala, pink lady, just for the common ones. Then theres the seasonal “bin” apples that come direct from local orchards and are cheaper so different codes. and the organic ones that have similar codes but are more expensive.
ahh i remember those days, the days of pricetags and no scanners. my buddy would peel a price sticker off a cheap item and stick it on a more expensive item and he always got it for the cheaper price. you can’t do that anymore.
Older people complain about prices because unless they were very lucky with their investments, they’re living on a fixed income, which usually isn’t very much. And doesn’t increase to meet inflation, so that thirty-dollar pair of shoes represents a big portion of his monthly income.
So what? I’m pretty sure the salesman is also living on a fixed income. And retail isn’t exactly known for paying oodles of money. In fact, with a few rare exceptions, everybody’s living on a fixed income.
And no one’s getting paid extra money to hear someone’s complaints about how things were done back in THEIR day. Fine, gramps. Write a damn book about it to get it all out of your system, but i’m not going to remove a $40 price sticker from a pair of shoes and charge you only $3 for them just BECAUSE that’s how much they cost back in 1935.
Retail isn’t exactly “fixed” like Social Security; unless your store has a “get out of here five minutes early so we don’t have to pay you overtime,” there’s a few dollars tacked on due to said overtime. Also, if you’re paid even a nickel for every CC app that’s approved / opened, that’s a little extra in your paycheck.
SS doesn’t have any of that.
And it isn’t rare to live on other incomes, rather than fixed. Try sales outside retail, or freelance commercial writing, or owning your own business (or farm), or any of a number of other businesses. Even the higher ups in retail get bonuses, so their income isn’t fixed either. I’d say between fixed working incomes and non-fixed working incomes are about the same.
Or the fact that a lot of people are making the same wages they made the last 3+ years.
The ‘best’ was when they would put two different kinds of apples in one bag and then get mad at you when you take them out to weigh them seperately. “DON’T TOUCH MY APPLES!”
Uh, sorry, but one kind is a dollar more a pound than the other, and I’m willing to bet my hands are cleaner than the produce guy’s anyway.
I love a good history lesson. It always amazes me to know what things were like back in the old days. Of course, when people use it to complain about something that’s sufficient, like this man… that’s another story.
I used to get the old people all the time who seemed to think they were still living in 1935. “What do you mean 25 cents for an ear of corn? That’s outrageous! I used to be able to buy enough seed to raise four acres of corn for that price!”
Yeah no kidding. I get those kind of people every now and then during the winter months. I live down in southern arizona so the “snow birds” come down to escape winter. There is never a winter that goes by where an old person complains about the concession stand prices. I often get told that back in their day popcorn was a quarter and the candy was a nickel. >.> yeah well this isn’t back in your da, gramps, and prices have inflated since then
What they neglect to remember is that fifty cents was also their weekly wage. :p
okay, I am an “old timer”. I was a grocery store cashier in the olden days before scanners, and before the little code stickers on the produce. Periodically we were tested to remember the differences between all the varieties of apples.
we still do. Difference is, instead of having to memorize prices every week, we have codes.
and mystery shoppers who try to steal to test us to make sure we’re doing our job properly.
How many types of apples did the store sell then? Nowdays there’s Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala, Joannasburg, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, and 3-4 others I can’t remember…at this time of year. Other times its different. The sheer amount of different types of apples and pears baffles me!
Almost the same varieties as today… Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Rome, MacIntosh, and Winesap. I wasn’t aware that my store had mystery shoppers but we had a regional director that would come in an give us a test. She would have a cart of items we had to ring up. She would switch prices are high tag items with low tags to see if we would catch them… Like a can of asparagus and a can of green beans or T-bone steak and Hamburger. She would also hide things inside of another, a pair of socks in a thermos or bag zucchini and cucumbers in the same produce bag.
our secret shopper isn’t quite that sneaky, think hiding something inside a thermos is a little over the top. However, they will switch out bin codes for bulk foods, remove a upc to ensure a proper price check, put something inside a rubbermaid bin, and usually leave something of high price, (300+) on the bottom of the buggy, and will hold a magazine. our policy is BOB, (Bottom Of Buggy), MITCH, (Merchandise In The Customers Hand).. or head. or feet, wearing something out of the store. and LISA, (Look InSide Always)
Red delicious, golden delicious, granny smith, macintosh, spartan, honey crisp, fuji, gala, pink lady, just for the common ones. Then theres the seasonal “bin” apples that come direct from local orchards and are cheaper so different codes. and the organic ones that have similar codes but are more expensive.
ahh i remember those days, the days of pricetags and no scanners. my buddy would peel a price sticker off a cheap item and stick it on a more expensive item and he always got it for the cheaper price. you can’t do that anymore.
Alan makes his reappearance since…..2009?
I was wondering if he was still at Grumbel’s
Remember to always reverse your shoes.
4 out of 5 doctors prefer Camel cigarettes over any other brand.
Salesmen would walk uphill both ways in three feet of snow to get me my shoes back in the day dadgummit.
Older people complain about prices because unless they were very lucky with their investments, they’re living on a fixed income, which usually isn’t very much. And doesn’t increase to meet inflation, so that thirty-dollar pair of shoes represents a big portion of his monthly income.
So what? I’m pretty sure the salesman is also living on a fixed income. And retail isn’t exactly known for paying oodles of money. In fact, with a few rare exceptions, everybody’s living on a fixed income.
And no one’s getting paid extra money to hear someone’s complaints about how things were done back in THEIR day. Fine, gramps. Write a damn book about it to get it all out of your system, but i’m not going to remove a $40 price sticker from a pair of shoes and charge you only $3 for them just BECAUSE that’s how much they cost back in 1935.
Retail isn’t exactly “fixed” like Social Security; unless your store has a “get out of here five minutes early so we don’t have to pay you overtime,” there’s a few dollars tacked on due to said overtime. Also, if you’re paid even a nickel for every CC app that’s approved / opened, that’s a little extra in your paycheck.
SS doesn’t have any of that.
And it isn’t rare to live on other incomes, rather than fixed. Try sales outside retail, or freelance commercial writing, or owning your own business (or farm), or any of a number of other businesses. Even the higher ups in retail get bonuses, so their income isn’t fixed either. I’d say between fixed working incomes and non-fixed working incomes are about the same.
SS doesn’t have any of that, either.
True, but retail has, “we’re gonna cut your hours down to practically nothing this week” and SS doesn’t.
Or the fact that a lot of people are making the same wages they made the last 3+ years.
The ‘best’ was when they would put two different kinds of apples in one bag and then get mad at you when you take them out to weigh them seperately. “DON’T TOUCH MY APPLES!”
Uh, sorry, but one kind is a dollar more a pound than the other, and I’m willing to bet my hands are cleaner than the produce guy’s anyway.