Odd jobs of old

One thing I'm surprised that hasn't changed much is corn detasseling.
I did it as a kid in the mid 70's. I think the minimum age was 12 years old. I did it as a supplement to my paper route when I was 12, 13, and 14 years old. They'd load us all up on a school bus and take us out to the fields to detassel.

I still see adds for kids to detassel corn today.
 
Pinboys also got tips on top of their base pay. The faster they worked the better tips they'd get from bowlers.

It wasn't just speed, there was pin placement too. If the pins are not in the right spots, it can be almost impossible to get a strike. Lots of old sporting things were like that. I pulled skeet at a gun club when I was young. And we had to be spot on with our timing. When they said pull, there was a beat or a rhythm they expected for release of the clay pigeons. And yeah...I worked for tips. Screw up a pull and well...no soda and chips afterwards for me.
 
One thing I'm surprised that hasn't changed much is corn detasseling.
I did it as a kid in the mid 70's. I think the minimum age was 12 years old. I did it as a supplement to my paper route when I was 12, 13, and 14 years old. They'd load us all up on a school bus and take us out to the fields to detassel.

I still see adds for kids to detassel corn today.

There's a big one from kids in the 70's...

1649084848813.png
 
Cupbearer/praegustator
 
Kids delivering newspapers is also a thing of the past.

Adults do it now. They drive by in their car and fling it out the window into the driveway. When I delivered I always made damn sure it was on their porch and I had an agreement with my customers that in inclement weather to put it in a spot where it wouldn't get wet. We didn't have plastic bags back then, just rubber bands.
I always got tips, but at Christmas my tips were often bigger than their monthly bill to the Omaha World Herald. Ka-Ching!!

I stopped getting the newspaper delivered in the 90's because I got tired of digging the bastard out of my snowblower auger or the bag would land just right to where rain water still got in it.
 
This is what put an end to kids delivering newspapers.

"Danny Joe Eberle, 13 years old, disappeared while delivering the Omaha World-Herald newspaper on Sunday, September 18, 1983, in Bellevue, Nebraska.[6] His brother, who also delivered papers, had not seen him, but he did remember being followed by a white man in a tan car on previous days. It was found that Eberle had delivered only three of the 70 newspapers on his route. At the address of his fourth delivery, his bicycle was discovered along with the rest of the newspapers. There appeared to be no sign of a struggle. Joubert would later describe how he had approached Eberle, drawn a knife, and covered the boy's mouth with his hand. He instructed Eberle to follow him to his truck and drove him to a gravel road outside the town."

 
Who got the knocker-uppers out of bed?

Your Mom.















Michael Buble Gotcha GIF by bubly
 
I was going to post something about deodorant inspector or something and it reminded me of this music video

anyone remember this one?

 
Never been on my playlist
I just remember it from MTV back in the day...not sure it was really on anyone's playlist

speaking of "odd jobs of old"

MTV VJs
1649086830545.png
 
This is what put an end to kids delivering newspapers.

"Danny Joe Eberle, 13 years old, disappeared while delivering the Omaha World-Herald newspaper on Sunday, September 18, 1983, in Bellevue, Nebraska.[6] His brother, who also delivered papers, had not seen him, but he did remember being followed by a white man in a tan car on previous days. It was found that Eberle had delivered only three of the 70 newspapers on his route. At the address of his fourth delivery, his bicycle was discovered along with the rest of the newspapers. There appeared to be no sign of a struggle. Joubert would later describe how he had approached Eberle, drawn a knife, and covered the boy's mouth with his hand. He instructed Eberle to follow him to his truck and drove him to a gravel road outside the town."

I had paper routes back in the day. I obviously never got murdered, but I had a couple of memorable on-the-job incidents.

1) I had a mentally handicapped guy attack me and lick my face while I was trying to collect.
2) An old guy turned right on red without looking and plowed me as I was crossing the street. I escaped without major injury, but my bike was mangled. The bastard took off; textbook hit & run. I still had 70% of my route left to deliver. I dragged my mangled bike with me as I limped the remainder of the route.
 
Back
Top