These jobs. Remember? Can we have these back?

Vetwife

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 17, 2012 · 5:00 PM PST

2012/11/17 · 17:00

I was just thinking about a few things and how the republicans have ranted and raved over Food stamp nation. They left out quite a bit in their rant. I am a boomer like many on here and before Food stamps..there was something called......running a tab or ticket.

The Walmart superstores and big supermarket chains put these wonderful folks that I am talking about right out of business and yet so called conservatives wanted their country back, but without these folks, I guess. It was not a wall street money maker so....they really didn't want it all back.

I remember waiting on Saturdays for the Dutch Oven Man to make the delivery to our home and it included chocolate pecan pies, bread, donuts, and various delicious fresh baked items. He came around 9 AM and ran a ticket till Mama and Daddy got paid.
He collected his money on the 1st nd 15th.

The milk man ran very early from Atlanta Daires and there was a gallon of white milk, a quart of chocolate and 2 quarts of orange juice and generally some cheese and butter.
On paydays Mother went to the local butcher and got fresh meat. We had produce stands for fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. We canned in the summer and what we didn't grow, we bought from produce or the farmers market.

The local grocery store carried staple items and when I think back now, that is why there were so few paper bags when groceries were bought. I guess Mama picked up toilet paper, candy, staple items, and everything else was delivered. All of these places except the Farmers market ran tickets. She went to the ten cent store for candles and furniture polish, along with Tide. We got some little trinkets on payday llike little clip on jewlery or whistles, or little paper umbrellas that clearly had , made in Japan.

So the extreme right doesn't remember S & H green stamps and full service gas stations. Gas stations would also run a tab. Now the elite are griping about Food Stamp Nation while they draw the dividends and have fat portfolios from the Made in China and India stamps from items bought for Americans in slave labor camps. Wow. The greed and lack of patriotism just blows my mind. There was no need for food stamps and few went hungry because when someone needed something, there were little problems with obtaining. We made that. All of us. From the milkman, to the breadman, to the farmers and customers because we had an economy that was working. We employed people. We had full service gas stations with "Filler up for ya" to "Let me check your oil" and the air in the tires were checked. We traded our S&H green stamps for pretties in a glass case. This was how it was. There were no Super Walmarts with food items. There was no such thing as Food chains. There was community. There was USDA inspectors. There were strong unions, no problem with catch you Friday and pay for this. There was trust and there was no money or little in elections.

All of this community effort and working class went down the tubes when the superchains and self service /convenience stores and a buck for some air in your tires.
When did all of this change? Why did it change?

Is a convenient store really convenient when all you do is wait behind some guy or gal waiting to buy into their retirement, you know the Mega bucks lottery on Tuesday and three scatch offs? Then you go find the cheapest oil you can on a small aisle and then pay 1 dollar for air in your tires. If you are a dime short on anything including a big slurpee, nobody wants to trust you for twenty minutes, much less payday !!! The changeup of employees at these so called self service stations are so often until you never learn any one's name not even in the smallest of towns.. Today many in urban areas are all caged up behind bars like they themselves commited crimes, rather than warding off a would be thief. Is this really progress? No. These folks are overworked and underpaid and scared to death of losing these jobs and I bet you never hear anyone whistle a song anymore.

I used to hear our breadman whistle some snappy tune while delivering items. I seriously did.

Yes, I do remember when the majority of America was NOT on anything called Foodstamps. I also remember a kinder and more prosperous America with real jobs and real food and real service including the medical field. I remember that the so called takers and moochers Romney talked about are NOT any of the sort but need something to carry them over in hard times or less convenient times to make it till payday. No. They did not want to remember the catch you on the 15th Mrs. Doe America. They didn't remember there were real jobs that we made in this country and that food was grown and inspected here in the states.

Will we ever go back to a time when service ...customer service...the customer is always right policy and people not being so greedy and mistrustful as to actually care about America and that includes that tax scale that was paid in the 60's. There was a time we had only one preacher messing in pollitics and that was Billy Graham and he also had the only mega church. We did not mix politics and religion. I remember.

Want to know why we need big government? It is because we have no community.
It is because we have sold out to the lowest bidder and have kissed off the middle class.
I miss the breadman, the milkman, the general practioner, and the local markets who ran tabs.

I remember when firemen were respected , police were not militarized and war was not waging everywhere. Teachers were respected, children were educated, prison was for real criminals and people were kinder. There were civil rights issues but really, how much bigotry and racism has gone away? We have a long way to go to get rid of the predjudices and racism along with downright mean and people losing on all levels unless you are rich and entitled or want to be. America.....we are better than the evil that existed in the 60's socially but nothing much has changed and maybe it will now that we have a smart and wonderful president who does care about nation building in this country. Maybe we could start with a milkman or USDA inspection up to par, and rid us of the slave labor Walmarts. Maybe that is a start.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Comments are closed on this story.