The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd.

[Torgo]

One of my sisters sent this to me today and I thought it was pretty funny as I just turned 33 this past March.

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd
 
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
 
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways... yadda, yadda, yadda
 
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
 
But now that...
 
I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around andnotice the youth of today. You've got it so easy!
I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!
 
1. When I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
 
2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
 
3. There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!  Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!
 
4. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!
 
5. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
 
6. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video gameswith high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids' and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens; it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
 
7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!
 
8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little bookcalled a TV Guide to find out what was on!
 
And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning . Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!
 
9. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up, we hadto use the stove or go build a fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an idiot.
 
10. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual phone.  We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers.   If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what we had to do.....hang up and talk to them later.
 
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.
 
You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!
 
Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

[CheezeFlixz]

I'm over 40 and we had no cable, you had 3 channels that went off the air at midnight and that was it. You young whippersnapper don't even know what a test pattern is.

Atari 2800 - I don't think so, we had Rock'em Sock'em Robots which generally led to Rock'em Sock'em 10 year olds, which you mom standing there coaching you.

When I was kid we had to go out side and play, imagine that no air conditioning in the sun .. what? The Sun it's that big orange thing in the sky.

You wanted a quick meal, there was no delivery there was TV dinners that took freaking 45 minutes to heat and the mash potatoes were still frozen in the middle.

There's more but I'm to old to remember them ...

You, you wouldn't last a minute in 1970.

and ends our broadcast day, have a pleasant evening. (Queue the National Anthem)

 

 

[ghouck]

I had to explain to my kid why they call it "dialing" on a telephone. I'm surprised that question doesn't come up more often.

But, , ,with gas ~$5.00 a gallon, , not everything is better. . .

They didn't even go into the whole computer word-processing/spell checking/I email my homework to my teacher so I don't have to worry about someone stealing my homework situation. .


Also, remember making pipe bombs? You got caught and the cops told your parents. You know what happens these days if you get caught making an explosive device? There's a guy in our prison for making 3 pipebombs and blowing up a, , GASP!, , mound of dirt. We also didn't have to worry about getting shot for wearing the wrong color of shoes (although that seems to be fading away also. .)

[Menard]

I actually feel sorry for kids today.

When I went to school, I never had to walk through a metal detector, wear uniform clothes, or talk to therapists and police just because me and another kid got into a shouting match screaming that we were going to kill each other.

When I was 8, a dollar would buy you a coke, a comic book ,a candy bar, and get you into a movie; and that was much less than minimum wage. Today? A comic book is $4, and I don't even want to think what a movie cost as it has been so long since I have seen one in a theatre.

My first job in high school was $3 an hour. That went a long way in 1979. Triple that today and see how far that will go; not near as far.

The music we listened to was pure trash rock and roll that our parents hated; not bubble gum inspired pop that has parents begging their kids to listen to something with indecent lyrics.

I thought the time I grew up in was pretty cool. I'd hate to be a kid today.

[Patient7]

I have given karma to everyone on this thread, (virtually to Menard).

Torgo- That E-mail made me laugh, and my generation does have it quite easy.  HOWEVER, I happen to LOVE older video games, your cable stations had EVERYTHING, now we have to get Pay-Per-View to watch any big events, and I've made stove-top Jiffy Pop once and I did pretty well if I say so myself.

Cheezee- You just proved over how easy I got it.

ghouck- you're right, GAS PRICES SUCK!  Imagine being 16 and not being able to go anywhere because gas is too costly!  And where I live, pretty much everywhere that there is good times to be had requires a vehicle.  I'm just happy I don't live in Alaska, it's quite a bit there.

Menard-  YES!  YES!  YES!  Crap costs a lot, idiots made the parents go crazy, and I have to listen to Fergie on the radio, as said before, I like socially older things and that includes Rock music, not modern rock not much good comes from that.  Where's my Guns and Roses?

In conclusion, I feel that all kids today need a swift kick in the bum so they stop annoying me.  And bring back some classic pac-man!

[Shadow]

8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little bookcalled a TV Guide to find out what was on!

I'd like to add that back in the 70's and before, there were no VCR's (ok, there were some in the 70's, but they cost too much, weighed a ton and were as big as suitcases so few people had them), let alone DVR's, Tivo and programming on demand. Back then, if you wanted to watch something that aired at two in the morning...you had to wait, stay up and then watch it, commercials and all. If you missed it, you were SOL. You might have to wait months or years before that movie was aired again.

I think this is why so many of us have a strong tolerance for bad movies. As kids we stayed up late and sat through some truly awful stuff, but only because that was the only way to see some of these films. We took our chances with the late night movie. Sometimes it paid off and other times it didn't...but we still had a blast.

[dean]

Pfft.  Atari rocked, and I'm under 30!

Oh, and us 'kids' don't have it easy, we're just better at it... 


Ok so I'm kidding, put your walking canes away you old folks!!!

I'll leave the social commentary off this post, but I really have to ask about the last point, number 10:

People are free from cords on their phones so now they go to the bathroom whilst on the phone at will?  Eww............  That must be a priority for those older folks with weaker bladders...

[RCMerchant]

One thing I DO like about today is vcr tapes and dvd's.
Back when I was a little  bat,we to get to see old monster movies,you had to rely on late night tv and Creature Feature or Shock theater. To see a newer film, (like FROGS or DR.PHIBES or the latest Hammer horror) you had to be lucky enuff to catch it at the theater. Or wait untill it came to TV,chopped up,cut,and loaded with commercials. No boobies,blood,or cussing...that was all cut out! And the reception was iffy. You had to twist the rabbit ears,or hook wires or coat hangers onto the uhf antenna  to pull in channels like 28 from Indiana at 12:30 at night to catch obscure crap like MUTINY in OUTER SPACE or BEAST of MOROCCO on Creature Feature.
 It was a rare treat when Dad would drop us of on Saterday afternoons to catch a double bill of PSYCHIC KILLER and RACE WITH THE DEVIL at the old movie house. Things are more convienet now...but it made the HUNT more exciting. To finally catch an old classic like the SON OF FRANKENSTEIN at last!At last! Or the 5 mile bike ride to grab that last Famous Monsters off the news stand,with money hard earned by picking fruit for farmers or shoveling earcorn outta a bin. It made us appreciate the rewards of work and patience.

 And to relive or keep your memories fresh, you read stuff like Famous Monsters of Filmland, Castle of Frankenstien, and the Monster Times(which was printed on newsprint....like a newspaper. )

Memories,like the blah blah of my mind...misty muddy water meeeeeemories of the way we (HACK! COFF! COFF!) were......!!!!

[Trevor]

"Now listen, children....." [trevor lets go one in the rocking chair, takes out his teeth, licks them clean and puts them back] 

When IIIIIIIIIIIIIII was a young man...........

1. Water came out of the tap, not out of a bottle.

2. You couldn't carry your phone with you, you would get arrested for traffic obstruction carrying a pole and a few million miles of cable if you did that.

3. We had things like seven singles, LPs and cassettes. Headphones were not small, you looked like you had two pans on either side of your head.

4. There were no PC's, only typewriters.

5. THERE WAS NO INTERNET!!! 

6. There was no Google: only a thing called an ency...encyclops, ag, something with one eye anyway.

7. Take away food meant you took it away from the kitchen.

8. No flat screen TVs: the only time you had one of those was when your Dad chucked it out the window.

9. We only had two channnels on TV when I was younger: one was crap and the other worse. Worse still: it was in BLACK and WHITE! 

10. There were no video machines or DVD players back then: you saw a movie at the cinema and that was it.

11. Fast food was the bad meal that you ate quickly and then puked up later. 

[Sister Grace]

Well, I'm almost thirty, my birthday is in November. When I look around at newer generations, some things just amaze me.
For one, we didn't have dishwashers or trash compacters when i was kid (i'm sure some did but not at my house) and as far as chores went, grown ups did not do chores.. as kids household chores were our way  of earning our keep.

Also, if you did something wrong, your parents could smack the crap out of you with their hand or anything they could find and no one said a word. At that time, they were just being parents.

My highschool however did have metal detectors and all the hallways were supervised with cameras.

Also, if you got out and got in trouble and the cops roughed you up a bit, police brutality was never screamed..instead you just shouldn't have been out doing what you were doing.

We played outside alot. If you were in the neighborhood somewhere and your parents needed ahold of you, they came and looked for you, they never called an 8 yr old child on a cell phone.

Also, when you were 16, you got a job... when you were 18, you moved out and were your own responsibility.

[indianasmith]

What can I say?  You guys have covered it all.  

I remember having only 5 channels on TV, and if the President was making a speech . . . you were screwed.  To this day I don't like Richard Nixon because his resignation speech pre-empted DARK SHADOWS . . . and my sister made me watch him give it!!!

[CheezeFlixz]

These kids today ... why I'd like to see one actually have to get up and change the channel or adjust the volume.


Seriously I feel sorry for kids today, so many lack basic skills, basic social skills and do not know how to interact with others. Last fall we went to a get together over turkey day and there was all these kids there and they were all setting not talking with their face crammed into a hand held gaming device.
They have no idea how to use their imagination, to go outside and build a fort or tree house, dam up a creek ... you know the crap those old people like me had to do as a kid.

When was the last time kids today build a box racer, just to discover why you need brakes.
(What a box racer Cheeze?) A box racer, some call it soap box racers is a wooden shipping crate you acquire form a store and put wooden axles on, basic steering, wheels and NO brakes and ride it down a steep hill with no way to stop but crash or bail out. So when you build version 2, after you heal from all the cuts and bruises you get from version 1 you make brakes, which is nothing more than a friction brake on the wheels which don't work that well.

Think of it as Mario Kart of the 1960's and 70's ... when game over had a completely different meaning.

What can I say?  You guys have covered it all.

What, oh come on! They're are tons of things we haven't covered yet! .... oh maybe you're just getting to old to remember.

Ever collect bottles for 3 cents a piece?
Load hay for 2 cents a bale.
Build a club house and have one old ratty Playboy you found in the trash as your only source of juvenile porn.
etc etc

edit typos

[Trevor]

Build a club house and have one old ratty Playboy some from in the trash as your on;y source of juvenile porn.
etc etc

 

I never had that: Playboy was banned where I grew up.....

[CheezeFlixz]

I never had that: Playboy was banned where I grew up.....

Well we started out with National Geographic and pictures of topless African natives with their long flat boobies.

[dean]

These kids today ... why I'd like to see one actually have to get up and change the channel or adjust the volume.

Oh come on, that's unfair.  We know where the 'up' volume button is!