Shoppin' Time! :P

[Mr. Ugly]

I didn't get any allowance when I was a kid though. I worked in my parents' grocery store for $0/hr.

When I was 4 years old, my job was to sweep the floors. When I got older I stocked the shelves, ran the cash register, and watched for shoplifters.

I also had to pick out all the old moldy onions, cabbages, and potatoes from the good produce. Then I had to cut out all the bad parts so the rest could be our dinner, haha.

I used to stare at the little plastic toys that were for sale. Cool stuff like squirt guns and plastic parachutes with little green soldiers. I wasn't allowed to have any. For fun, I got to kill flies with a fly swatter

Actually, the most fun thing was to defrost the broken freezer. I got to scrape all the ice and frost out of it, and afterwords I got to make "snowballs" that I could throw in the street

 

[sfsuphysics]

Norman, that's an Asian thing though, the wife had the same guilt trip laid on her. The whole "you need to help the family" bit, aka "Free labor so you can undercut everyone else"

 

[Euphyllia]

I did a project last year in math on child labor and how it should either be illegal or allowed... Yeah, IDK why we did that in math - it involved no math. We just had to write down our opinions. I said it was bad and webbed off of that... I got an A even though I only wrote a few sentences! :bigsmile:

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Norman, that's an Asian thing though, the wife had the same guilt trip laid on her. The whole "you need to help the family" bit, aka "Free labor so you can undercut everyone else"

Haha... I don't know about undercutting. More like that's what it took to make enough money to support the family.

12 hours a day, Mon-Sat. 8 hours on Sunday. My dad used to lecture me about making something of myself so I wouldn't have to work long hours trying to run my own business. So now I work long hours for someone else, *and* I have to deal with lame coworkers on top of that

When I complained about having to eat "yucky cabbage", my dad would shut me up by telling me the story of "the best food he ever ate". Which was during WWII when he was a starving kid in China and he stole some rotted vegetables from some pigs, haha.

When I got my first "real" job, my coworkers would complain about the job. I would tell them, "What are you talking about? This the first job I had where I *only* had to work 40 hours a week."

Then they'd tell me about how long they've been working, blah blah blah. I'd tell them I was working since I was 4 years old

 

[Mr. Ugly]

One of my bosses had a "when I was a kid" story...

He was 8 years old during the Nazi occupation in Greece. The neighbor kids were like 12, but he was bigger than them and became the leader of their gang.

So he and the rest of the kids would make guerilla attacks on the Nazis and shoot them dead.

 

[Eight]

I didn't get allowance, but I got paid for my report cards.

A's: $20
B's: I owed $10
C's: I owed $50

If I ever got anything below it would probably have been a spanking. Fortunately I was a really good student.

 

[GreshamH]

Norman, that's an Asian thing though, the wife had the same guilt trip laid on her. The whole "you need to help the family" bit

My parents must be honorary Asians then :lol: I had to do a lot of work every week for them (2 - 4 sat, dishes every night, vacuum/sweep weekly, trash, etc, etc), and like Norm, I started working really young. Heck I was a deckhand at like 10 or 11, and while doing a paper route.

 

[GreshamH]

And I worked at my mom's clothing store and dad's construction job sites.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Jason, that's classic

Here's another classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKnloiM-0Ns

Gresham

 

[Radiolunatic]

I think the next generation will almost always have a better living condition anywhere, does not matter in here or Asia or EU. If I have to think what my parents had to go through to make it in live, I feel very lucky. On the same token, my kids are more spoiled than me as well. A simple example, to me, not until Junior High, I get my hand into computer. It was bulky, green screen and ugly by today's standard. Looks what we have now, Iphone, Ipad, etc.
Live standard is getting better on where we are now. Current generation are more savvy in technology, but sadly also, they are not so savvy in facing hardship in live sometimes. They have not really faced with issue such as ... what can I eat today .. tomorrow ... etc.

Suggestion for Matthew, you should not take those thing for granted. You are lucky to have a great parent that can spare their money for your thing. However, remember that live is not gonna be that easy all the time. Money is not always coming from the sky ... you have to work for it.
You should appreciate your parent, not just thinking that your parent owe you anything. I appreciate my parent more when I become a parent.
I know you are still young and difficult to understand all of these, but the least you can do is to appreciate your parent and help them in any shape you can, including housework, etc etc. Later in live, all of these things will start to make sense to you. If you can work part time, do it for your pocket money. If you can work part time, save the money and buy your new nem or anything for your tank, you will feel more proud and love your livestock more than when you just have your Dad buy it for you. Try that if you can.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

A simple example, to me, not until Junior High, I get my hand into computer. It was bulky, green screen and ugly by today's standard. Looks what we have now, Iphone, Ipad, etc.

Your computer had a screen?! My computer only had switches and incandescent bulbs!

Your computer had switches?! My computer had bronze gears that had to be turned by hand!

Actually, I had a coworker(retired now) that still calls computer memory "core". He wired up ferrite cores for making memory for computers way back when.

Matthew, you have a great dad, and you also have a lot of "uncles" here in BAR

 

[fingerwrinkles]

Jason, thanks for that little bit of recollection and I had to send it off to my wife. Hopefully she'll crack up as much as I did over the foresight of your parents with that "reward" structure!

Matt, the last thing a young person usually wants to hear is "wisdom" from an older person, unless that person is really, really old! I can't say that any of us have gotten to that point yet, but as Norm states you are tremendously fortunate to have a great family. Plus, a better set of "uncles" you will never find. Of course if one of the uncles suggests you pull their finger, run quickly the opposite way !