Humor, Life, Nonsense, Things I Want to Remember

things i want to remember | part 20

Kari

if you’re here for the first time, welcome! you’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.

1- do you remember holiday inn holidomes?

2- i never had one tick on me as a child, and i spent 80 percent of my childhood in the woods. i’m not bragging, i’m just asking why are they everywhere now?

3- why do doctors’ offices and hospitals have the most uncomfortable chairs?

4- why doesn’t autocorrect work on an apple iphone using all caps?

5- remember when there used to be telephone operators?

6- some of the least warm and fuzzy humans work in jobs where they should be warm and fuzzy.

7- i don’t like it when parents videotape their children after wisdom tooth removal surgery while they are drugged and crying.

8- the majority of my interactions with trader joes employees are pleasant. most of my trader joes customer interactions are the polar opposite.

9- i saw a prompt the other day about what has quietly disappeared over the last few years, and it mentioned the cents symbol. i went to look for it on my computer keyboard, and it wasn’t there.

10- the increasing number of self-storage facilities in our country is unsettling.

11- you know who has the potential to make an amazing grilled cheese but fails miserably? panera bread.

12- i was scared to swallow pills until my late teens or early twenties, so i always took my medicine in liquid form.

i asked you a lot of questions in this post. 😂

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60 thoughts on “things i want to remember | part 20”

  1. Thanks for sending me down a Holidome rabbit hole. Cool concept; too bad they didn’t last. I don’t think I ever saw one in real life, even though my family traveled a lot. I have interacted with telephone operators though.

    No cents symbol on my keyboard either. I can’t remember the last time I saw one. “I’ll give you my $.02 worth” just doesn’t hit as hard…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I also went down a Holidome rabbit hole while responding to Matt’s comment to see where the majority of them used to be (the Midwest). It turns out that there are some old Holidomes still around. It was a very cool concept.

      It definitely doesn’t hit as hard.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. “Alas, poor “cents” symbol! I knew him, Horatio.” – Me

    Shamefully, this is the (very cumbersome) way to type the symbol:

    To insert the cent sign (¢) into a Microsoft Word document follow these instructions:

    Finally, release the [Alt] key to place the cent symbol in your document.

    On the number pad on your keyboard, make sure the NumLock key is on.

    Press and hold down the [Alt] key and then press 0162 on the number pad.

    I don’t recall being consulted on relegating “¢” to a second-rate afterthought.

    But you know what really chafes me? Misuse of the cents symbol. Like this:

    ORANGES

    ¢ 59 each

    THE SYMBOL GOES AFTER THE NUMBERS. UGH.

    Why do doctors’ offices and hospitals have the most uncomfortable chairs? Because regardless of whatever malady brought you in, they want to give you hemorrhoids too.

    Back home in Florida, we were absolutely overrun with self-storage places. Do we all have that much shit? I guess so.

    Trader Joe’s … I will brave the customers so long as I get one of those cheesecakes in the blue box. You know the one…it weighs about nine pounds.

    I don’t like it when parents videotape their children after wisdom tooth removal surgery while they are drugged and crying … or saying the most vile stuff that their parents had no idea they knew about. (OK, I laughed. But I’m a pig.)

    These are all the words I know. For now.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you for the tutorial!

      LOL.

      There are so many self-storage places here as well.

      Cheesecakes in the blue box. Now you’ve made me want to brave the mean people to get one.

      Like

  3. 1. Nope
    2. I am with you on this one
    3. I know right, the only “DR” That has comfy chairs is my therapist. Even the vet chairs are uncomfortable
    4. N/A
    5. Yeah used to use them with a phone card/ or information
    6 . What exactly ?
    7. Sadists !
    8. N/A
    9. Fascinating
    10. Truly
    11. Really, they made a tasy flatbread pizza but got rid of that 😠
    12. I swallowed pills in apple sauce for years
    4.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. 1- It looks like most of them were in the Midwest. Some were also in Florida.
      2- That is very mysterious.
      3- My therapist has a comfortable chair, too!
      6- Nurses, doctors, people who work in the pet care industry, teachers….
      11- Their flatbread was very yummy.
      12- Applesauce! Yes!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I love this series.

    I think the holidomes were an American thing.

    I notice the missing cent symbol myself, recently. It’s pretty annoying. And I hate that about iPhone all-caps.

    I also find those parental videos of drugged and sad kids revolting. Parents put too much of their children online.

    Our global economy is built on the consumption of consumer goods. That’s why there’s such increased fragmentation and specialization of products. You have to keep selling, and what do you do when everyone already has almost everything? Add an ice maker.

    Pills are horrible. Especially when the swallow fails.

    In general, people are horrible to service workers. They treat them as though they’re lowly.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m so glad you love this series. ❤️

      I thought it might be. I’d love for them to bring it back.

      I really hoped someone had an ALL CAPS hack for me. It turns out we’re all pissed off about it. 🤣

      I completely agree with you. Child trafficking is real. But let’s plaster our children all over the internet.

      YESS. But I do enjoy the good ice. (I did not buy the icemaker)

      YESS, part two. The burp up of the pill? GAHHH.

      Yep. As a former retail worker of 12+ years, I know how this feels all too well.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. I HATE when parents share videos of kids in distress! I mean, put down the damn phone and tend to your child. I used to work with someone who regularly shared videos of their kid being angry or upset, and I finally had to unfollow them because it felt so wrong to me. As the kid got older, they even yelled at the parent to stop filming. What bothered me even more was all the encouragement/validation the parent got from friends. Oh, you’ve hit some kind of nerve with this one! I’ll stop now. 

    Also, yes on the storage facilities. There’s something in there just ripe for some kind of dystopian story. (Except dystopian stories now all hit too close to home, so maybe not.) And to add to what Michelle said about service industry workers, my kids have done a great job of shifting my thinking and behavior about those workers. I don’t think I was ever rude, but I was definitely socialized in the “the customer is always right” era. Nope. Sometimes the customer is just a rude a-hole. I try extra hard to be extra nice to them now, everywhere. Gen Z is just nicer than we were, and I love that about them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. RIGHT?? Especially when they are crying or confused. I hate that! I hope that child is okay now. ❤️

      Oh my god, your comment just made me think of something. What if people live in the self-storage units? What if it’s because affordable housing is so scarce and people are sneaking into self-storage facilities to sleep in their units at night?? OR, it’s just capitalism and greed and people numbing themselves with things, which take over their homes and leave them with no more room, forcing them to purchase self-storage units. Wow, that took a turn.

      I worked in retail for 12 years, during the “the customer is always right” era. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to work for the public right now. Everyone is a Karen now, not just women. I love Gen Z. They represent what is right with the world.

      Like

      1. Well, yeah. When I wrote that comment I was thinking of people who are using storage units as  housing. It’s hard to do because they have rules about not doing that and cameras, but I’ve seen that’s a strategy. You get a storage unit and a cheap gym membership (for the showers), and you can get by. I also thought about all the crap we all have and why and the kind of mindset that has you thinking you can never get rid of your stuff and what forces create that mindset. It might be a turn, but at least we aren’t making it alone, right? 

        I actually don’t see too much Karen behavior where I live/shop. I feel fortunate. I see both of my kids being exceedingly polite to everyone they encounter, and their example has made me a better (more patient, more kind) person. It’s one of the things about both of them I’m most proud of. Some good things are coming out of all this turmoil and instability. It’s like they just know that kindness is important and necessary.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Re: people filming their children, I FEEL THE SAME WAY. But I kind of feel that way whenever anyone films their child/ dog and then makes an instagram reel (or, I guess, a tiktok). There is something that really grates on me about it, but particularly about kids who have had dental surgery. I sure hope those “likes” are worth exploiting your child! Great job, people! I had to tell my husband to stop sending me reels of kids doing silly things because all I can envision is behind the scenes a parent trying to get their kid to say “I’m fuck” instead of “I’m stuck” or something like that.

    I have also never had a tick, or lice (is this a flex?) but my older son came home from work – he was putting in a pool liner – with a tick on his leg. There was no foliage/ woods around, so I have no idea how this happened.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I completely agree. It feels like a betrayal. Your parents should have your back. It just feels icky.

      I don’t know how that tick survived without any foliage. Bugs are an enigma. Lice is another story. I never had it growing up, but we had it twice in our home when the girls were little. Awful.

      Like

  8. YES! I went to a Holidome in Richfield, Ohio on a church youth group overnight trip once in HS. It was SO much fun! The hotel rooms were all along the perimeter of the pool. Nothing spells fun like a bunch of horny girls calling boys’ hotel rooms and hanging up!!! LOL!

    I have had multiple ticks on me over the last few years. One on Memorial Day and I was only on my deck! Here, they are from the preponderance of deer that we have roaming the suburbs.

    My mom was a telephone operator for a major company, back in the late 1950’s/early ’60’s. She once called a limo for Elvis (I never really understood the whole story, but she loved telling it).

    I agree with you on the mean videos of kids AND the Trader Joe interactions. The cashiers are so friendly, but the shoppers are so rude.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. HOW FUN!!

      We get a lot of ticks here, too. We have so many forest preserves and neighborhoods that back onto wetlands. But.. the house where I spent the majority of my childhood backed up to the woods, and I don’t remember seeing any ticks.

      Wow! I love this story! AND, if I hadn’t written this post, I would not have heard about it. I love blogging.

      I’m in love with the TJ bashing. It’s feels very validating. I thought it was only me. I mean, I do have a resting bitch face.

      Like

  9. Yes, I remember the Holiday Inn Holidomes, but I never actually experienced one myself. They were so COOL!

    I’ve definitely gotten ticks, but what I have never gotten was bitten by a mosquito. Apparently, my skin contains some sort of “microbe” that mosquito’s don’t like. LUCKY ME!

    “8- the majority of my interactions with trader joes employees are pleasant. most of my trader joes customer interactions are the polar opposite.”

    Ditto! In fact, I went shopping at Trader Joe’s this morning and got such “negative, nasty attitudes” from several customers. I just thought it was a “Philly Thing” because the majority of people here have no social skills. Sad, but true.

    And not only do I remember telephone operators, I remember rotory phones and phone booths. Whenever I see a phone booth in an old movie, I miss them.

    FUN and FABULOUS post, my friend!

    X

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I went to one in Michigan in the mid-80s and it was a lot of fun!

      WHAT?? That is absolutely amazing! I wish I had that microbe.

      It’s definitely a Trader Joes thing, and I hear it so often that it makes me want to never shop there again. Honestly, the food there isn’t that good for dealing with that type of customer.

      I remember those, too! When I see them, I always take a picture. I miss them too, my friend.

      Thank you! I appreciate you. 😘❤️

      Like

  10. I was just thinking the other day that ticks weren’t really a thing we worried about at all growing up! But I do remember having to have a tick pulled off of me a time or two; but without any diseases to worry about no one really cared.

    I too hate it when parents film their kids after surgery and yet I often wonder what the heck their kids were given. Both of my oldest two have had their wisdom teeth removed and while talking was hard for them they were completely coherent and “normal” for the ride home (if a little bit nauseous and quiet).

    I chewed all pills well into adulthood because I hated swallowing them and often gagged… they tasted awful but I didn’t care. I did make sure all my boys knew how to swallow pills at a pretty young age though (we practiced using mini M&M candies!) since I knew it was hard to get prescriptions for people that don’t like to/can’t swallow them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Maybe we had them all over us and didn’t give it much thought until now. Lyme Disease may not have been a problem as it is now.

      RIGHT?? I had local anesthesia, but I was not completely sedated.

      Mini M&M’s! That is a great way to practice! My girls never had a problem. Ella has been taking medication since she was in first grade and has had no trouble.

      Like

  12. Yes! Telephone operators. And not having private lines. This made me remember being at my cousins when young and picking up the phone to see if their neighbors were off the line before being able to call home.
    Self-storage units. I too recently noticed that they’re multiplying too quickly. Downsize people!
    I hadn’t thought about the cent symbol but am noticing I can’t ever find the Euro symbol!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. the increasing number of self-storage facilities in our country is unsettling. – between all the self-storage facilities and the mattress stores, I’m honestly beginning to think they are money laundering fronts.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Other customers is exactly why I no longer shop at TJ’s.

    Maybe climate change is good for ticks? Dunno.

    Pete Shelley had a great 80s song called Telephone Operator.

    I can swallow a handful of pills all at once w/o any problem. Always could.

    I think it was Bill Cosby, backin the days of comedy albums, had a great bit about people buying more & more stuff, then getting storage units to hold the overflow of more stuff. It’s whay I won’t allow myself to get a storage unit… I could use it to make space for cleaning but I know I’ll forget everything there and just keep paying.

    There is (was?) a storage company in Japan where you box your stuff, then then open to photo/catalog everything, pack individually, store, and put all the info online. You can then request specific items, or have indiv items put up for sale or donated. I looove it!!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. WHY are Panera grilled cheeses so terrible?!?! The bread is never fully toasted, they don’t seem to put any sort of butter on the bread to make it tasty and crispy, and the cheese is never melted through! The best grilled cheese I ever had was at the hospital after I had my daughter. My husband and I had to really cheerlead each other up to leaving our baby in the NICU so we could go to the cafeteria and eat — I have no idea when we’d last eaten, but it had to have been close to 24 hours? — and it was the butteriest, crispiest bread with the meltiest cheese. Amazing.

    I have never been scared, per se, of taking pills, but I have SUCH a hard time swallowing them. Yuck.

    Your observation about warm and fuzzy jobs vs. the people who occupy those jobs is so apt! I wonder if those jobs are naturally harder to fill, so the employer just takes anyone who applies? Or if the jobs are so challenging they sap all the warm and fuzzy out of perfectly delightful people?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. YES! That sounds like delicious grilled cheese! The best grilled cheese I’ve ever had (besides my mom’s) was in the cafeteria at school when I was in elementary school. I loved grilled cheese and tomato soup day.

      I don’t have trouble now, but I do get acid reflux from some of my medications after swallowing them. That might be a medication issue.

      I think you nailed it on the head.

      Liked by 1 person

  16. I remember old-school holiday Inns, but we didn’t have the holidomes in Florida that I ever saw.
    I remember operators and I was a temporary operator in. I think it was 1986? My girlfriend and I had a temporary job doing it while the real workers were striking. Let me tell you it was hard!
    I wasn’t afraid to swallow pills when I was younger, I just had a really hard time doing it!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. They were essentially the prequel to indoor waterparks.

      My friend texted me last night that she was an operator! So cool! I bet that was a hard job!

      I was afraid about how hard of a time it would be. This is why I put it off for so long. 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh, ticks! How did I forget to mention the ticks? Gross! I remember finding them on my cell when I was a kid. I know so disgusting… We had dogs and cats and I think they made their way into our house via the pets.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. My husband’s family used to do a holiday reunion at a Holiday Inn. They’d spend all day at the pool and the adults would play cards. I feel like hotel pools are not as good as they were in our childhood.

    I know you don’t want to hear this (and I don’t want to type it), but climate change is responsible for more wood ticks. They prefer warm, humid weather. Someone mentioned it above as a hypothesis and I’m here to confirm it.

    The self-storage phenomenon is a sign of late-stage capitalism. Sometimes it feels like we really are living in WALL-E.

    This comment is so dark! Take a deep breath. Let’s think about walking along a soft sandy beach with a sailboat on the water. Dogs are swimming in the water. A toddler is making a sandcastle. The waves are lapping around your ankles. There. That’s better.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That sounds heavenly. No, the pools are nothing like they used to be. They are TINY now.

      So, after several comments pointed this out, I now see it. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. It’s sad to see such changes over time.

      YES.

      I love your comment so much. 😘🖤

      Like

  18. This was fun to read and think about! I’m flabbergasted by the disappearance of the cents symbol! I hadn’t noticed it was gone, and now I miss it. Ticks are nasty bugs. I had a couple of them in my childhood and it still makes me shiver. One was behind my ear! AAAAAK! I’ve never been to a Trader Joe’s – and you didn’t make me want to go! I wonder why they attract a certain type of customer. I’ve also never eaten at Panera or heard of a Holidome. Where have I been? 🤣

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I hadn’t noticed its disappearance either, Michelle!

      Ella had one on her scalp once!

      You are not missing anything. (Trader Joes)

      You are not missing anything. (Panera)

      You kinda missed something. (Holidome) 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Yah. So many storage units. Where I live, you can identify a flood prone urban area bc it contains a storage unit. See: How to make money off land that should not be commodifiable.

    We have young friends currently trying to break into the housing market. Their stories of crazy prices & your comment above reminded me that in the 1992 novel Snow Crash people live in storage units bc housing is so expensive. Snow Crash foresaw a lotta future things so….

    Omg yes. The seats in med facilities. I wonder if it is related to disease. Like the materials need to withstand disinfectant or be cheap enough to trash. When I volunteered at an animal shelter, disease transmission (and ringworm transmission omg!!!) ruled a lot of decisions.

    The tick thing is wild. I grew up outside roaming woods and fields, with and without horses. Ticks were super rare. But now? Apparently even horses get them? Also horses and pets with allergies?

    The tick thing definitely bumped up with milder and shorter winters. A hard, long winter lowers the overwintering pop and means less time to reproduce once the temps rise. Also ticks need high relative humidity. So wet years or high humidity leads to more ticks. And all these factors favor increased pollen production too. *sad face*

    I haven’t seen parents filming like that (bless my algorithm). Wow. Awful. Why would parents do such a thing?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This infuriates me. I just saw a TikTok about how people profit from Section 8 renters by upcharging them for things like AC and garbage disposals bc they are considered “luxuries.” I hate it here.

      I believe that self-storage units could help solve the homeless. I hate even saying that because they deserve windows and natural light. But I’m just annoyed by the idea of people who have too much stuff versus people who have nothing.

      OHHH. This makes sense! Wow. So, climate change.

      I don’t see it as much because I am not on Facebook anymore.

      Like

  20. I have an iPhone and the fact that they won’t autocorrect when I’ve mistakenly left caps lock on drives me crazy. It persistently corrects other stuff I don’t want help with, so whyyyyyy?

    I temped as a switchboard operator in my youth. It was really boring.

    When I worked in a University, the mature students who were most dreaded were the ones signing up to study Counselling & Psychotherapy. There was a significant drop out rate after year 1, which wasn’t entirely surprising but also quite reasssuring.

    I am horrified it’s a thing that parents videotape their children after wisdom tooth removal surgery while they are drugged and crying. I mean, I’ve giggled at my cat weaving around like a drunk after anaesthetic, but I’d never record it (and I did feel mean). Oh & he was feeling absolutely no pain :)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Right?? I thought they’d have this figured out by now!

      YAY! OUR FIRST OPERATOR! You are like a celebrity here. 🖤

      Very reassuring.

      It is a thing, and it is horrible.

      Like

  21. telephone operators . . . I had forgotten all about them. Crazy.

    We used to stay at a holidome in South Bend when visiting my sister in college. We had a blast there.

    I do feel like I hear more about ticks in recent years. I lived outside as a kid . . . and I rarely wore shoes. Ha!

    OMG- I was not afraid to swallow pills per say but I could not do it. I remember carrying liquid penicillin around in high school in a thermos. I finally learned to take a pill without gagging or choking. Then Mini was the same way when she was a kid. Ha.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m not sure why I’d thought of them, but it was a blast from the past.

      I’ve only been to two, but each time it was a lot of fun.

      I was like a feral child in the 70s and 80s. I think most of us were. Always outside, no shoes, tangled hair. (I started out clean!) We had so much fun back then. ❤️

      I remember feeling embarrased when I had to ask for liquid forms of antibiotics.

      Like

  22. mean/rude people at trader joe’s? … not here in my city! (or maybe i just don’t notice). i haven’t noticed more ticks than usual either (and i hike a lot). i think of customer service reps as the new telephone operators (and then there are the auto-operators where you get stuck in the loop forever)– bring back the human operators!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  23. I remember Holiday Inn Holidomes and telephone operators. The former because it was a big deal to stay at one and they reeked of chlorine, but who cared? The later because a college friend worked as one and made decent money.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Ticks…when I lived in KY for a few years as a teen, they were rampant. I think I’ve only had a couple on me while living here in IL over the many years, but thankfully found them before they got under my skin (*shudder*).

    Uncomfortable chairs in dr’s offices…YES! In dentist offices, too. Why?!

    Please don’t hate me, but I love the videos of teens after wisdom teeth surgery; I find them hilarious. No, not the ones of them upset and/or crying, but the ones of them saying hilarious things. It’s interesting how kids are different with anesthesia. Tim was one of those hilarious and upbeat kids after having his wisdom teeth removed; Phil was very upset and crying. It was actually disturbing.

    Spot on about Trader Joe’s. Why oh why do they have the rudest customers (except for us, lol) but the nicest employees?! I actually met my first truly nice fellow customer last time I was in TJ’s. She spoke to me pleasantly about something and then wished me a nice day.

    I’ve never had a grilled cheese at Panera, but then again, I never go there anymore. I used to really like that place for a quick bite to eat when I was out, but they really went downhill after Covid. Their quality is truly lacking and their prices are outrageous.

    Storage facilities: yes! They are all over the place. Why do people have so much crap these days that they have to rent a storage place? I never did get that.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I hate ticks. 🙄

      I KNOW. They have the $$.

      I mean, I can see if they are laughing, which is fine. I think I just don’t like when a parent is taping and posts it on social media. It feels like they are betraying a trust.

      Aww, I love that you had a nice TJ customer experience! That makes me happy for you.

      I don’t like Panera either. I miss St. Louis Bread Factory.

      Like

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