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The 1980s

#61
MordBass said:
Well the lower cost of living area wouldnt net them the same income, thats my point.
Also, doing better can certainly lead to promotions and raises but it doesnt do it with the consistency that it did in your day. Which is unfortunate to be honest. I really wish that we lived in a world where reward was directly proportionate to work but it just isnt.
Click to expand...

I'm 46. It's STILL "my day". I won't retire for 20 years. I've been promoted twice and gotten three raises in the three years I have been at my job. I work loke my hair is on fire most days.

Plus, I just sited you two other examples.
And that's my point. The system has never changed. You have only been told it has. There is still a "good ole boy" system like there always was. But that doesn't mean you can't get ahead with hard work.

You have been told not to bother trying because the "system is rigged by the one percenterz" or some such other fictional nonsense.

I was a musician and electrical construction worker for almost 20 years. I also worked in musoc stores. (By the way, I outsold their "#1" salesman my first year there because I worked my butt of then too.) When I picked a new life (wife, kids and career rather than a job) I started in "the mail room" equivalent in my job while going to school for electronics. TODAY (when it's not supposed to be possible) I am climbing the ladder to management in my field at my company. And it's because I work circles around those who are convinced they shouldn't bother because "those days are gone". They never even noticed as I went by them that I wasn't doing anything they couldn't have done.

And they'll probably tell me how "lucky" I am when I'm their boss.....

Those days aren't gone. Period. I'm right in the thick of it with you. I'm not retired. Not even close. If I thought my hard work wouldn't pay off at some point I would probably put a bullet in my head. No wonder you young guys are so depressed.
 
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#62
Born in 1970, the 80s were basically my teen years. What do I remember?

Feathered hair. Towards the end of the decade a lot of girls got way too into hairspray and would tease up this sort of crest above their foreheads. It looked horrible. Luckily not all did that. Girls' (and some boys') makeup was colorful and thick. Wearing an earring in one ear was pretty daring, and you had to remember (if you were a boy) which ear meant you were gay and which meant you were straight. I could never remember which was which and passed on the whole piercing thing. No one I knew had a tattoo.

Computers were pretty rare and difficult to use. Knowing how to use one was a prerogative of nerd circles. It generally involved programming in Basic. Printers were dot-matrix and made a high pitched screaming sound when they ran. Actual practical software you could use, like a word processor, only came along late in the decade. I was writing school papers by hand until 1987 or 1988 (wasn't a good typist. Some kids used typewriters).

Arcade games, however, were huge. When I was, say, 12 to 14 the big social thing to do was to go down to Funspot with $5 or $10 in quarters and blow an afternoon playing Pacman, Centipede, Zaxxon and so forth. When you ran out of money you watched other people play.

Fashionable colors were nearly all pastel. I spent 86-88 (last two years of high school) at a prep school and all the preppies had this uniform of khaki slacks, blue or pink button-down shirt, yellow tie and navy blazer. I hated it (it was not an official school uniform, though we did have to wear ties - I avoided the preppy look, wore skinny leather ties and things like that).

Synthesizers were novel and cool and all over pop music. I loved Howard Jones and Tangerine Dream. Most of the music my crowd listened to was New Wave, where standard band members were drums, guitar, bass, singer, and synth. But the music was not generally programmed other than synth arpeggios. You mostly bought your music on vinyl LPs for about $10-12, most of them with some neon cover art. You also bought blank cassette tapes so you could make mixtapes for your friends and a copy for the car, which only had a cassette player. CDs came along at the end of the decade and if you wanted to get into them, that meant paying $16 a pop for an album you already had, an outrageous price increase for music. I couldn't afford it.

There being no internet, when you were going to be a slob and hang around doing nothing you watched TV - way more than I do now. We lived out in the country where there was no cable, so that meant about half a dozen channels. MTV was a treat when we visited friends' houses in town. Otherwise it was Carol Burnett and Love Boat reruns.

The VCR and answering machines were just becoming affordable for middle-class families. I think we got our first (of each) around 1983. You could record your favorite TV shows (or MTV from your friends' houses) and hit fast forward to skip ads. That was exciting. The answering machines used cassette tapes. You needed an outgoing message to explain to people calling that they were talking to a machine, not you, and that they should wait for the beep to leave a message.

Us teens were terrified of nuclear war. We were sure we were all going to die in a nuclear winter holocaust. Our parents laughed and asked what we were so worried about. They had lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, this was nothing. Good kids (I was pretty squeaky clean) were also terrified of AIDS and other VD (as we called it at the time), drug addiction (cocaine was the drug of the era), and homelessness (just hitting our radar as a possible outcome of bad decisions).

The whole category of young adult fiction (like Harry Potter) that exists now, didn't then. There were children's books, and when you got too old for them you read adult books. I read about world war II a lot, Tolkien and knockoffs, science fiction by Heinlein, Asimov, and Herbert, also a lot of lower-level sci fi on Del Ray by guys like Alan Dean Foster, and Robert Ludlum thrillers, starting maybe 7th grade or so. Ludlum stories would feature a sex scene like clockwork about the 50th page, which would keep you reading in hopes that there would be another one coming up. That and my dad's stash of Playboys (until he stopped getting them) were my main source of notions about how all that part of life worked.
 
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#63
two fingers said:
I'm 46. It's STILL "my day". I won't retire for 20 years. I've been promoted twice and gotten three raises in the three years I have been at my job. I work loke my hair is on fire most days.

Plus, I just sited you two other examples.
And that's my point. The system has never changed. You have only been told it has. There is still a "good ole boy" system like there always was. But that doesn't mean you can't get ahead with hard work.

You have been told not to bother trying because the "system is rigged by the one percenterz" or some such other fictional nonsense.

I was a musician and electrical construction worker for almost 20 years. I also worked in musoc stores. (By the way, I outsold their "#1" salesman my first year there because I worked my butt of then too.) When I picked a new life (wife, kids and career rather than a job) I started in "the mail room" equivalent in my job while going to school for electronics. TODAY (when it's not supposed to be possible) I am climbing the ladder to management in my field at my company. And it's because I work circles around those who are convinced they shouldn't bother because "those days are gone". They never even noticed as I went by them that I wasn't doing anything they couldn't have done.

And they'll probably tell me how "lucky" I am when I'm their boss.....

Those days aren't gone. Period. I'm right in the thick of it with you. I'm not retired. Not even close. If I thought my hard work wouldn't pay off at some point I would probably put a bullet in my head. No wonder you young guys are so depressed.
Click to expand...

Three raises in three years is par for the course, especially with two promotions. and yes, the system has changed. Try taking an objective look at things and realize that just because you are in a certain situation it doesnt mean thats the reality for everybody else.
Also, I have NEVER been told not to bother trying. Where did you get that idea? When on earth did I say that?
Are you assuming Im a 17 year old millennial that sits on buzzfeed all day? Because youre dead wrong if thats the case.

Also, making a statement about the mental health of young people is really uncalled for. The depression rate and suicide rate today isnt exactly funny, nor should it be made light of by a self admitted blowhard on a music forum. At the end of the day remember this.. you're the one that said you'd eat a gun if you couldnt be given promotions by your boss... so like I said, happiness is relative because you could make $500,000 a week and you still dont sound very successful to me.
Now do me a favor and dont reply to me because I dont waste my time on people that make jokes about mental illness. It wasn't very long ago that a sick individual took a bunch of guns to a hotel and I assure you, nobody is laughing. Especially not the few hundred familys of those injured or killed.
 
#64
hrodbert696 said:
Arcade games, however, were huge. When I was, say, 12 to 14 the big social thing to do was to go down to Funspot with $5 or $10 in quarters and blow an afternoon playing Pacman, Centipede, Zaxxon and so forth. When you ran out of money you watched other people play.
Click to expand...

We had two we went to, the Gold Mine (themed like a gold mine) and the Empire (dark and mysterious like from Star Wars).
I remember you had to place a quarter on the display on the top banner of the cabinet to 'get in line' to play some of the more popular games like Dragons Lair with Dirk the Daring.

-Mike
 
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#68
MordBass said:
Three raises in three years is par for the course, especially with two promotions. and yes, the system has changed. Try taking an objective look at things and realize that just because you are in a certain situation it doesnt mean thats the reality for everybody else.
Also, I have NEVER been told not to bother trying. Where did you get that idea? When on earth did I say that?
Are you assuming Im a 17 year old millennial that sits on buzzfeed all day? Because youre dead wrong if thats the case.

Also, making a statement about the mental health of young people is really uncalled for. The depression rate and suicide rate today isnt exactly funny, nor should it be made light of by a self admitted blowhard on a music forum. At the end of the day remember this.. you're the one that said you'd eat a gun if you couldnt be given promotions by your boss... so like I said, happiness is relative because you could make $500,000 a week and you still dont sound very successful to me.
Now do me a favor and dont reply to me because I dont waste my time on people that make jokes about mental illness. It wasn't very long ago that a sick individual took a bunch of guns to a hotel and I assure you, nobody is laughing. Especially not the few hundred familys of those injured or killed.
Click to expand...


OK, lighten up. My apologies. That crossed the line I suppose.

I never said that all youngsters should kill themselves. However, it is sad to see so many who feel as though things are rigged against them or that excelling at one's job won't pay off.

I'm not an old fart. My career is not my only source of income. And "success" is more about happiness than what you pull down per week.

I guess we are seriously misunderstanding each other. The guy who shot up Vegas has no business in this conversation. Going back to the OP, one major difference in those of us who came of age in the 80s and people..... however young you are (and I never figured you for 17 being that you seem to know so much ablut today's work environment..... albeit seriously misguided)..... is that you guys are just way too serious. That was a throw away line, not picking on those with mental illness.

My only point is that if I thouught there was no honest way to get ahead..... that there's no reason to bother trying to outdo my coworkers..... that none of my extra efforts would pay off..... tjat there's no way to make a decent living startimg at 39 without a completed 4 year degree and zero work experience that anyone cared about.... I would be literally and clinically depressed. And that's no joke.

My resume looked like this.....

Musician
Electrician
Electrical sales
Radio sales
Electrician
Musician
Musician
Piano sales
Musician
Electrician
Office machinery sales
Musician
Electrician
Musician

.... when I jumped back into the work force right after the media told me the world was a different place after "The Great Recession".

I measure success by a happy wife and two happy/healthy kids. My portfolio ain't bad either. My hundreds of acres are gaining in value and paying off with logging and farming leases. I think I'm doing fine by any standard. None of it was willed to me. None of it was gifted to me. Most of it was acquired after the crash that everyone said ruined everything.

You deal with it however you like. But know this. Nothing has changed except the PERCEPTION of about half the population that everything has changed. The rest of us are going about our business trying to figure out what the crap you guys are pissing and moaning about. :thumbsup:

:D

I don't hate you man. And I am truly sorry that I offended you with my earlier comments.
 
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#69
Now mind you I wasn’t in my prime in the 80’s. Now in my advanced years I am raising kids again..... So moments ago I took my seven year old girl with me to pick up pizza. While waiting we “bonded” over a pinball machine. She squealed like a girl at a Beatles concert. Never saw her do that with her tablet games..... Granted pinball machines were a little beyond their prime in the 80’s. But that was fun.... Except that I had to feed it dollars instead of quarters.
 
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#70
two fingers said:
OK, lighten up. My apologies. That crossed the line I suppose.

I never said that all youngsters should kill themselves. However, it is sad to see so many who feel as though things are rigged against them or that excelling at one's job won't pay off.

I'm not an old fart. My career is not my only source of income. And "success" is more about happiness than what you pull down per week.

I guess we are seriously misunderstanding each other. The guy who shot up Vegas has no business in this conversation. Going back to the OP, one major difference in those of us who came of age in the 80s and people..... however young you are (and I never figured you for 17 being that you seem to know so much ablut today's work environment..... albeit seriously misguided)..... is that you guys are just way too serious. That was a throw away line, not picking on those with mental illness.

My only point is that if I thouught there was no honest way to get ahead..... that there's no reason to bother trying to outdo my coworkers..... that none of my extra efforts would pay off..... tjat there's no way to make a decent living startimg at 39 without a completed 4 year degree and zero work experience that anyone cared about.... I would be literally and clinically depressed. And that's no joke.

My resume looked like this.....

Musician
Electrician
Electrical sales
Radio sales
Electrician
Musician
Musician
Piano sales
Musician
Electrician
Office machinery sales
Musician
Electrician
Musician

.... when I jumped back into the work force right after the media told me the world was a different place after "The Great Recession".

I measure success by a happy wife and two happy/healthy kids. My portfolio ain't bad either. My hundreds of acres are gaining in value and paying off with logging and farming leases. I think I'm doing fine by any standard. None of it was willed to me. None of it was gifted to me. Most of it was acquired after the crash that everyone said ruined everything.

You deal with it however you like. But know this. Nothing has changed except the PERCEPTION of about half the population that everything has changed. The rest of us are going about our business trying to figure out what the crap you guys are pissing and moaning about. :thumbsup:

:D

I don't hate you man. And I am truly sorry that I offended you with my earlier comments.
Click to expand...
Not even reading it... sorry but no participation trophies for crossing simple lines of common decency because you get flustered easily. Next time try being as professional and adept as you claim to be at your jobs.
 
#71
MordBass said:
Not even reading it... sorry but no participation trophies for crossing simple lines of common decency because you get flustered easily. Next time try being as professional and adept as you claim to be at your jobs.
Click to expand...


:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

I'm not flustered. Not in the least. I haven't been at any point. ;) People having different opinions from mine has never made me angry.

But if it helps you sleep at night.... :roflmao:
 
#72
hrodbert696 said:
Arcade games, however, were huge. When I was, say, 12 to 14 the big social thing to do was to go down to Funspot with $5 or $10 in quarters and blow an afternoon playing Pacman, Centipede, Zaxxon and so forth. When you ran out of money you watched other people play.
Click to expand...

I've been to Funspot a bunch of times in the 90s, it was indeed a very fun spot! My second favorite place in NH after here Hart's Turkey Farm Home Page
 
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#75
Luciferiad said:
I never wore a bicycle helmet and I didn't die.

To my knowledge, no one was allergic to peanuts.

I seem to be much taller.

However, junior high girls apparently dress exactly the same.
Click to expand...
Hell. I never wore a helmet when I rode a bike.
And I was hit head on by a Studebaker once.
Oh wait! That may explain some things. ;)

Helmets cause peanut allergies.:smug:
 
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#76
MordBass said:
Three raises in three years is par for the course, especially with two promotions. and yes, the system has changed. Try taking an objective look at things and realize that just because you are in a certain situation it doesnt mean thats the reality for everybody else.
Also, I have NEVER been told not to bother trying. Where did you get that idea? When on earth did I say that?
Are you assuming Im a 17 year old millennial that sits on buzzfeed all day? Because youre dead wrong if thats the case.

Also, making a statement about the mental health of young people is really uncalled for. The depression rate and suicide rate today isnt exactly funny, nor should it be made light of by a self admitted blowhard on a music forum. At the end of the day remember this.. you're the one that said you'd eat a gun if you couldnt be given promotions by your boss... so like I said, happiness is relative because you could make $500,000 a week and you still dont sound very successful to me.
Now do me a favor and dont reply to me because I dont waste my time on people that make jokes about mental illness. It wasn't very long ago that a sick individual took a bunch of guns to a hotel and I assure you, nobody is laughing. Especially not the few hundred familys of those injured or killed.
Click to expand...
17 year old Millenials?? You mean they're more of them coming along? Ah crap! I thought I just got all of mine trained, uh I mean conditioned. :laugh:
 
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#78
A little something for everyone who joined in on this thread.
image.png


As for me...
image.png


Now you all get your Mulehennyall, Generation Why, Poke a man chasing butts off my lawn.
 
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