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Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. They are the first generation to grow up with personal computers to some extent, thus defining what we now consider tech-savviness.
But in order to find out what it really means to be a Gen Xer, you have to ask those who know it better than others, the Xers themselves. “What is THE most Gen X thing?” someone asked on Ask Reddit and the responses started rolling in, revealing why and how this particular generation is unique.
From traits like quiet quitting to being the last ones to remember life before the internet, these are the surprising things characteristic to Generation X, according to people who gave it a good thought.
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#1
Being the last unreachable generation. There were hours where no one knew where we were and our parents has zero way to contact us.
Danielle 2 years ago
I miss this. People get upset with me now for being unreachable for a bit. I’m not a receptionist.
ItsJess 2 years ago
I miss this as well. My husband is a millennial and he freaks when I come in the house and put my phone down by my keys. "Don't you need this?". No, I don't always need or want my phone. I'm actually bothered by the idea that people should be able to reach me instantly anytime they feel like it.
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2x4b523p 2 years ago (edited)
We were not totally unreachable. If my mom needed me she grabbed any kid she saw outside and tasked him/her to find me and send me home. It almost always worked.
Bill Evs 2 years ago
Ha ha, definitely this. "You're parents want you" always had equal amounts of fear and curiosity.
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Luci D. 2 years ago
Don't know why you got downvoted, here take my upvote.
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Ozymandias73 2 years ago
"Come home when the street lights come on." I did that one time like I always do. I was probably about 10-12yrs old. Out riding my bike going who knows where. It was oddly still bright outside. I'm just a playing to my heart's content.I finally get tired and head home. Lights still not on due to it still being light outside. My mom was having a fit when I walked inside. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?" Nope, I didn't have a clue. It was about 10pm. I told her "but the lights weren't on yet." Fortunately, I didn't get into any trouble.
Let’s Be Kind 2 years ago
This whole post is awesome! Gen X, the latch key generation! We rock, btw 😊
Aisling Raye 2 years ago
Yup. We essentially raised ourselves and turned out (mostly) fine. Now if your kid walks home from school alone someone will inevitably call CPS.
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Angel 2 years ago
That's how we got away with just about everything. If parents only knew... I feel sorry for kids nowadays. No privacy
Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
Parents are always reading every text their kids are sending their friends. We didn't have our parents standing over us listening to every conversation. We need to give them a little more room.
Load More Replies... Let’s Be Kind 2 years ago
Yes! Safe and not a moment’s thought about it. And no bad encounters either!
Load More Replies...To find out more about generational differences and what’s unique about Generation X, we spoke with Lauren McMenemy, a professional writer, journalist, and marketer with a burning desire to tell stories, to shine a light on society, to advocate for better mental health and self-care, who was happy to share some insights into the topic. Lauren is also a writing mentor and coach who runs workshops and training to help people get their words down right.
“I've never really been a believer in strict generational differences - we're all different in different ways! - but I do believe there is something to it when it comes to technology,” Lauren explained.
RELATED:
#2
Being old enough to remember (and appreciate) life before the Internet and cellphones but being young enough to transition into that world without a hitch.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
OK yoomer. Sorry, just kidding, I really felt the desire to do it 🤣🤣🤣 Please, accept some advocados for the sake of peace.
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Claudia Schmid 2 years ago
I really appreciate that about being Gen X. Plus we had to teach ourselves all the computer stuff. I often feel we know more about IT that gen Z - they just know how to swipe on their phones.
DuchessDegu 2 years ago
Me as well, we have to figure out things by ourselves a lot, it was frustrating at times, but mostly fun
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LapCat 2 years ago (edited)
That is an ultimate hallmark of the “xennial” generation it seems… sometimes called the “Oregon trail generation” lol. I was born in 1982
Load More Replies... Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
Hearing phone conversations through the modem was part of this transition.
Michelle C 2 years ago
I remember being about 7-9 years old and thinking that was weird! I think my family and I used the Internet outside of my parents’ work consistently starting when I was about 7-9 years old. I don’t remember too much about the Internet from those days and I am grateful I don’t. Let kids be kids, ya know?
Load More Replies... IDGAFabtUrFeelings 2 years ago
That isn't quite true. The oldest of Gen X have had a very difficult time transitioning to the internet and cell phones because it wasn't a necessary nor typical part of life. Cellphones were expensive as were personal computers.
Paula Olds 2 years ago
As one of the oldest Gen Xers (born 1965) I agree on the cell phone, but I had to get familiar with computers and the internet real fast because I was an assistant to a Boomer College professor who refused to touch the things so I did all of his computer work for him.
Load More Replies... Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
My dad bought a Texas instrument right when it came out with the tape recorder backup for saving game progress. What a dinosaur. Our next one was the Commodore 64. Much more advanced.
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Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
That was our second computer. We had a Texas instrument before that one. Tunnels of Doom. Will never forget the music that told you you died and had to start all over again because the cassette tape didn't save your progress.
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David Brown 2 years ago
Yep! When aol came along we all thought we had hit the jackpot. Especially considering they would send a disc ever month with extended trial periods. We didn't have to pay for internet until the Internet became what we know today.
#3
I'm just on that border between Gen X and the oldest Millennials but my sister is 8 years older than me. We would call the local rock station to request a song then sit there with a tape at the ready to hit record as soon as they played our song. Repeat that about 10x and you've got a nice mixtape.
Untamed Snark 2 years ago
And somehow the DJ would always talk through the beginning of the song
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Rheb 2 years ago
A Xennial is what it’s called. The micro-generation between Gen X and Millennials. I’m a xennial and feel a bit young to be Gen X and too old to be a millennial.
Dudeman 612 2 years ago
Same here, Rheb. Growing up in the late 80s into the 90s was a magical time to be a kid.
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Id row 2 years ago
I won a radio call in contest on a rotary phone. I'm still very proud of that.
Bob La Capra 2 years ago
I did this too and then screamed at the DJ while he talked over the instrumental intro of the song. A few years later, when I became a DJ, I learned that was just how it was done. "Talking up the ramp" was an art and pity the jock who "stepped on it" (still talking when the vocal started).
Molly Whuppie 2 years ago
this! and holding it up to the TV too when a music video show was on, and having to rush to hit pause before the advert came on lol
Baali Venomax 2 years ago
I remember doing that. My Mom had that cassette radio player. Its about somewhere but I dont think it works anymore. She'd use it to have music in the kitchen so she didnt get bored and forget what she was doing.
#4
Being able to entertain ourselves for hours. This came from being latchkey kids. I didn’t mind the covid lockdowns too much at all.
May light defeat the darkness 2 years ago (edited)
I LOVE the lockdown. No mandatory social events to attend to.
Mabelbabel 2 years ago
Lockdown was heavenly. I know some people found it isolating and lonely, but for me it was just great.
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A P 2 years ago
Same. Drives my wife nuts how comfortable I am being alone and entertaining myself (she's 10 years younger, and I'm right on the edge of the end of gen x)
ItsJess 2 years ago
I feel you my brother (I was born in 77, my husband was born in 90)
Load More Replies... David Brown 2 years ago
We had imagination back then. Leave a kid alone without any digital devices or tv and they'll go into a full blown mental breakdown.
Lucas Jackson 2 years ago
A lot of this stuff is true even for us millennials (especially the older lot) as the jump with technology was so fast and towards the end of the 90s to 00s. Like just think 1987 Nokia releases one of the first mobile phones for personal use….. 1997 you could just about send a text and make a phone call on most phones….2007 out come the iPhone and changed the world.
diamondgirl 2 years ago
Why do Millenials always have to insert themselves to Gen X posts..
Load More Replies...“Gen X may not have grown up with the internet, but we did grow up with ever-advancing technology. The '80s were all about video games and the welcoming of computers into our homes, and it seemed every year there was a new version of Nintendo to covet. To me, that makes us adaptable and flexible - especially in terms of technology, but in general, too,” Lauren explained.
Lauren added that “we also had to amuse ourselves much more often - we were the 'latch-key' generation, with parents working full-time - so are less reliant on screens and can think through challenges with logic and precision,” she explained.
#5
Remembering phone numbers.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
I still remember a few phone numbers... including my grandma's, dead on 1989.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Carrying a little address book with all your friends’ addresses and telephone numbers in it. AKA the “little black book”, though they came in all different colors (I had a green one).
Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
Yes and then in the late 90's I transitioned to a digital address book that eventually was replaced by my Nokia phone in about 1999/2000.
Load More Replies... Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago
I still remember my grandmother's, best friends x2, parents and first girlfriends. I haven't dialed any of those in 30 years.
Bob La Capra 2 years ago
I used the phone number I had up to age 10 as a computer password for many years because in those days the first two numbers were letters. Jenny's phone number might've been Underhill 7- 5309 / UN 7-5309
Runs with scissors 2 years ago
I waited for the Casey Kasem top 40 radio show on Saturday and spent several hours every few weeks to make my mixtapes.I banned my sister from our shared bedroom and sat by the radio to catch my favorite songs. It seemed like she always needed in and made noise when my most favorite song was playing. Infuriating!
#6
Calling your girlfriend's house and hoping that her dad does not pick up. Kids will never know this fear.
ItsJess 2 years ago
My dad had a rule that he wouldn't put me on the phone after a certain time- instead he'd just say, "she's asleep" or "she can't come to the phone" and hang up on the person
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HangryHangryHippo 2 years ago (edited)
When my boyfriend called he would let it ring just once and then hang up. That was my cue to wait next to the phone for the actual call 😁
Mabelbabel 2 years ago
I'm 55 (does that make me gen x?). My parents deliberately put the telephone in the living room, so in the evening, if boyfriends called, you had to speak with your parents listening to every word. And after about 3 minutes, the coughing would start, then they'd start tapping their watches and at 4 minutes, it would be 'get off the phone, someone else might be trying to get through.' To my parents, a phone wasn't for conversation and interaction, it was for emergencies and organisation only.
Let’s Be Kind 2 years ago
Yep! (And Gen X’ers were born about 1965 to about 1980).
Load More Replies... ItsJess 2 years ago
Slamming that receiver (in the photo) down when someone on the other end makes you mad.
JR_4755826 2 years ago
Yes! Having to get through the parents and then sitting on the phone while the search for the kid was happening in the background.
#7
Massive CD collections neatly stored in binders for easy access.
Firstname Lastname 2 years ago
With another box hidden off somewhere with all the cases, because you still need them, but it's better than playing cd case Jenga.
Diana Pahule 2 years ago
I have a whole bunch of stuff in storage. My box of CD cases being one of them.
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Lsai Aeon 2 years ago
I still have mine in my closet. I also have several hard cases of cassette tapes. Does anyone have a boom box that still works?
Lee Banks 2 years ago
There are currently two within ten feet of eachother. One can even play most of the songs.
Load More Replies... David Brown 2 years ago
My friends and I went through the whole have to have a massive stereo in your car to be cool faze. We all got together one night at a pretty nice restaurant and some broke into all our cars and stole our cd binders and CD players. I still remember the heartbreak coming out to find my window smashed.
Ozymandias73 2 years ago
I had cassettes. 6 of those 3 drawer storage cases. FULL. CDs I started collecting late. I didn't like the transition from tape to CD at first. Same with VHS to DVD.
JR_4755826 2 years ago
So proud of the curated collection and it was fun to go through others. Sometimes there were hidden guilty pleasures behind cooler CD's, such as Wilson Philips behind Metallica or the like.
Moreover, Lauren sees the Gen Xers as a bridge of sorts; “we can take the millennials' ideas and translate them for older generations, and can help smooth communication and ideological differences between them.”
“We're also the forgotten generation, as the two generations on either side of us are such huge cohorts, which very much plays into the ‘slacker’ mentality of Gen X - we can get passionate, for sure, but it takes a lot to rile us up,” Lauren explained.
She also believes that Gen Xers are also used to be overlooked and making their own way, or being stuck in the middle. “As parents, I think Gen Xers are less ‘helicopter’ parents, more willing to let their kids make their own mistakes (but I say that as a non-parent!),” the writer and essayist concluded.
#8
The fact that our generation was kind if passed over. When I started my career, they wanted us to be deferential to older more experienced co-workers, “pay your dues and wait your turn!” As soon as we became more seasoned, they were like, look at all these amazing millennials and their great ideas! We’re like the Jan Brady of generations.
2 years ago
Then the owners saw the work ethics of those hyped millennials and went back to those reliant X's.
Matthew Polley 2 years ago
Diminished pay value = diminished returns. The rep Millenials get is uncalled for. All those that kick at Millenial attitudes and struggles just show out of touch they are.
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Settled for Infamy 2 years ago
I was raised with the "Children are to be seen and not heard" ethos. Waited patiently to be an adult and have a voice, yet as soon as this happened, it was all about youth having a voice and everything is focused on my child. I am suddenly too old to even have most advertising directed at me. Feel like I never mattered (this could be a me thing, but quite a few of my fellow Gen Xers agree, so sorry if it sounds wrong or selfish)
Cynthia Wilkins 2 years ago
I’ve heard that from a lot of Gen X. That’s a pretty crummy situation. I’m grateful that many Gen X parents figured out how damaging that mentality was and committed to doing better with their kids.
Load More Replies... Key Lime 2 years ago
My work had these Baby Boomers who WOULD NOT RETIRE. I worked there for 32 years and only in the last two years was there a chance to move up. I declined because I was going to retire at age 60 ( like a normal person) and said the training should go to the folks behind me.
Aisling Raye 2 years ago
I swear to every god that ever god-ed, if one more person calls me a boomer my head will explode.
Mark Melton 2 years ago
I'm a last year Boomer with Gen X children. I'm with you a for you with everything you do about the toxic American work culture. They literally worked me to death and I have nothing to show for it due to medical costs. I've never voted Repugnicunt.
#9
Video arcade. Before Gen-X, graphics weren’t good enough, and after Gen-X, you’d play the games on your own home console. No other generation claimed them like we did.
2 years ago
Video arcades with pinball machines! Lately they are making a small comeback in our biggest cities. (The Netherlands) We used to have Arcades with 100+ pinballs. (Scheveningen) These times will not come back. Pinballs became far too expensive in purchase and maintenance.
Luna Crow 2 years ago (edited)
There are still quite a few laundromats that accept them. I still put them aside for this. Oh, and pool tables too
Load More Replies... A P 2 years ago
I lived there. My dear departed grandpa saved quarters for my summer visit every year. He had a pony keg full of em. He'd bring them out and say "Let's go to the lake and play some fwucking wideo games!" He was from Ukraine originally and still had the heaviest damn accident even after 30-40 years.
Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago
I blew an entire paycheck in an arcade.., while waiting to go into a crappy theater... Took about 45 minutes.. I am not good at arcade games.
Agnes Jekyll 2 years ago
Yes!! And there was always that guy with the mullet and the change dispenser around his waist.
#10
Swatch Watches.
Ches Yamada 2 years ago (edited)
Aww, I love these. They had such funky designs! They still do, but I miss the one I found when I was little at a local park. No one claimed it so I got it. It was so cool.
Molly Whuppie 2 years ago
yes I loved swatch watches! and they had those coloured rubber bands that went over the face to prevent it from getting scratched too.
Greymom 2 years ago
Swatch Guard😁. I had a white Swatch knockoff with a red Swatch Guard because the real ones were too pricey for our tight budget. Still thought I was the coolest thing in town 😁
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Upstaged75 2 years ago
I still remember my purple Swatch with the pink face-guard. It's wasn't cool enough to just have the watch. You HAD to have a guard too. :)
Daniel Atkins 2 years ago
People would wear two on one wrist (the 80's) I wore two watches together neither of them swatches just because it seemed cool.
Mary Kelly 2 years ago
loved my swatch....why, still boggles me...but there's no denying that i did love it
#11
Always having a pencil in the car for the cassettes.
Alex Frohlich 2 years ago
Born in 96, but still used these and VCR for a while, for old stuff until about 2014ish. I just used my pinky finger lol
naylene hess 2 years ago
I have a vcr still and a ton of VHS movies thankfully my VCR is one that rewinds and i don't need a rewinder
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Historyharlot93 2 years ago
Why, some of you might wonder? Tapes would have an awful way of getting loose on the spools, creating an inch or two of tape hanging out the bottom. You could use either your pinky (painful) or pencil or pen to tighten and wind the tape up again, then put that cool radio mix tape in your Walkman and jam.
Mat Hall 2 years ago
Fun (possible Mandela effect) fact: pencils generally don't work for this because they're too thin. I always used the tip of my pinky if I was just making a couple of turns to take up slack, and the cap of a Bic biro if it needed more.
pico diablo 2 years ago
I'll be first of many in line to disagree. Just angle the pencil and spin.
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Vyxsin (she/her) 2 years ago
When I was your age we had to blow on our video games to make then work!
Shannon Mallory 2 years ago
Also, cassette cases, deconstructed (easy), were useful for scraping frost off your windshield, too.
Cynthia Wilkins 2 years ago
Hang on, we’re we that far behind in Brazil? I know with a lot of things that were normal for my childhood were not normal anymore in the States, but I thought this was still a thing here at least for older to mid Millenials. Guess I was further behind than I thought 😂
#12
Be kind, Rewind.
naylene hess 2 years ago
Lmao we had a few of those growing up my grandpa still has one in his garage somewhere
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 2 years ago
Bought a VHS rewinder just for this reason. And gawd I hated renting a movie and it not be rewound. Damn heathens! LOL
Thomas Jones 2 years ago
House near the lower entrance to our neighborhood has a "be kind" sign in their front yard. EVERY time I drive past, I scream, "REWIND".
Heather Menard 2 years ago
Someone has a big sign that says behind. I always think in my head every time I see it rewind.
W0lfiest W0lfAlive 2 years ago
I was born in ninety nine and used cassettes regularly until maybe 2016
naylene hess 2 years ago
They were still putting stuff on VHS until like the late 2000s to be fair
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Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
They had a rewinding machine, so it wasn't a real issue, actually. I have better memories of the sealed card: 10th movie was for free!!!!!
#13
Hair crimper, riding bikes with no helmets, buying smokes for my dad at the shop. Putting baby oil on and sunbaking (cause we were literally baking ourselves haha) doing whatever I wanted for one to two hours after school by myself cause parents were still working. Being allowed to roam the streets until almost dark. I forgot to add getting your hair permed curly.
Ches Yamada 2 years ago
Ahhhh. I'd crimp my hair and then, for some readon, brush it out so it was all poofy. Lol
Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago
I remember running into convenience stores and buying cigarettes for my dad. They sold them to me,no questions asked.
Kel Gal 2 years ago
I remember when there were cigarette machines. There was also a smoking section at my high school.
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Trentin Quarantino 2 years ago
Sun-In and/or lemon juice to lighten your hair in the sun. I almost destroyed my hair with that.
Rosie Red 2 years ago
Ripping a hole in the ozone layer with our tons of hairspray on our mile high bangs.
Janet Howe 2 years ago
We used to call them "mall bangs" because all the girls who hung out at the mall had them. But don't feel guilty about the ozone layer. It wasn't your fault. We destroyed that with all the hair spray in the 60s. The higher the hair, the closer to God. Lol.
Load More Replies... A P 2 years ago
The good old "be home before the street lights come in", but of course, it's not like they could call and yell at us if we didn't. I remember riding our bikes after school for miles and miles and miles, in and out of the woods. Mostly, everything was fine as long as you remembered to call home from your friends house before full dark bc you guys wound up their and their mom asked if you wanted to stay for dinner.
Charles Whitaker 2 years ago
Head home when the street lights came on. Everyone eating lunch at the nearest friends house.
Betty Lou Johnson 2 years ago
Paying a buck for Marlboro reds down at the c***k store by my HS.
#14
My kid called me a boomer, and when I told him, 'No, I’m Gen X,' he said, 'No one cares.' I couldn’t argue with that.
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
I hated the "okay, boomer" phase my kids went through. I'm kind of proud to be Gen X.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
As a father, I find a lot of opportunities to backfire my children with a good "no one cares".
Poeha 2 years ago
You're a boomer when you're 30 plus and bad with computers, according to my teens.
May light defeat the darkness 2 years ago
Change the wifi’s password right away.
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#15
The Sony Walkman.
Anyone-for-tea? 2 years ago
Surely that should be a photo of the cassette version? I still have mine, and it works!
Christina Landers 2 years ago
It's labeled as a Walkman. I think it was both. But I'm with you when I think Walkman I think cassettes
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Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago (edited)
Discman.. In this instance... Oooh and sh***y headphones, .. That you can see in Stranger Things
JR_4755826 2 years ago
Comedian Gary Gulman has a great stand up re: the discman in all its glory!
David Brown 2 years ago
Still have mine and it still works as well as it did new. Back then Sony and pioneer were the best of the best. A Jensen radio would get you picked on to no end.
LesAnimaux 2 years ago
I had a light blue discman and jacket pockets large enough to fit it, felt so cool while riding my bike but it would skip on every bump in the road
roses are red 2 years ago
Walkman was a Sony trademark name, so their disc players were walkman...as in hey man, you can walk with it
Load More Replies... Historyharlot93 2 years ago
The disc man came out in 1984, but was mind blowing expensive. They became cheaper in 1989, but still a luxury item. I didn’t get one until 1995. Remember how they would skip if you tried to run with them? Or just walk fast holding it in your hand as carefully as a Ming vase?
#16
Never getting mentioned in the news. It always goes from gen z to millennials to boomers.
Id row 2 years ago
I kind of like it. We can sit back and enjoy the chaos without getting dragged into it. Disaster-g...f68a34.jpg 
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Wells that's just plain old not true. They couldn't STFU about us in the 90's.
W.D. Callahan 2 years ago
Exactly... We weren't the "silent generation". We were the "constantly told to be silent generation".
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boone williams 2 years ago
Speak for yourself. Kid me wound up in the hometown newspaper with surprising frequency.
Demosthenes 2 years ago
Because I’m living my life hoping to have my generation mentioned in the news. Right. Again, this one wasn’t written by an Xer, the whine factor is way to high.
Alex S 2 years ago (edited)
You're on a list which is literally just comments about things Gen X's have noticed. If people mentioning things they've noticed about being Gen X is so triggering for you, maybe you better go have a lie down and a cup of tea
Load More Replies... #17
What defined Gen X growing up was living under the constant threat of nuclear war. If you wonder why Gen X is defined as 'whatever,' it's because we believed that at some point in our future, we'd end up living, or dying, in a nuclear winter.
The USSR was the 'evil empire,' and watching the succession of premiers being executed or disappeared confirmed that. So much so, that when Gorbachev actually started the process of Perestroika, I didn't believe it. I thought it was some kind of plot by the Russians to make us let our guard down.
The threat of nuclear war was constant. The continuation of human life on the planet was not a given.
I think there are many similarities between Gen X and the current generation (don't think it's Gen Z, but the kids currently going through elementary school). So, another 'whatever' generation growing up during COVID and the whole climate change crisis.
Ches Yamada 2 years ago
I think for me it wasn't that I believed I'd die, but I was tired of living under a constant threat so: "eh, whatever happens, happens - I can only do so much to change the world". You can't worry all the time.
May light defeat the darkness 2 years ago
We interlapped with those who lived World War Ii. Their stories about the horrors of war desensitized us that whatever happens, happens. I am just happy we are not the trigger happy, violent, angsty generation. We are just okay existing.
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T'Mar of Vulcan 2 years ago
It didn't help that there were a bunch of movies about nuclear war (The Day After, Testament and When the Wind Blows are ones I remember quite well). If those didn't scare the c**p out of you, nothing would.
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
My grade school sent home a letter warning our parents to not let us watch "The Day After". I never saw it until well into my twenties. It wasn't as bad as the hype made it out to be.
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Alex Martin 2 years ago
As a kid it was earthquakes and nuclear wars. Kids today have it so much worse, add in pandemic, climate change, and mass shootings. That's a lot to carry. They are more socially isolated and don't do the get together and listen to music and talk thing we did as kids and teens. Online and text isnt the same. I have so much hope for and so much despair for the Z kids. We are leaving them one hell of a shitshow.
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Tschernobyl happened, when I was a kindergarten kid. We stopped having mushrooms and milk, and avoided the rain.
Historyharlot93 2 years ago
Remember “If The Russians Love Their Children Too” by Sting? Cold War song that gave us chills. This is why Putin threatening to use nukes doesn’t frighten me like it probably should. I have this, “yeah, well bring it on” attitude, also a “kids today don’t know what living in fear of the mushroom cloud really is”. I’m American btw.
Dawn Marie 2 years ago
My father was a university professor. I remember the rations that were kept in the basement bathrooms for just this reason. When I graduated university in 1986, they were still there.
Robert T 2 years ago
This must've been a US thing, as in the UK it really didn't bother us. We just went about our daily lives as normal. About the only things that upset it were Chernobyl, which put paid to sheep grazing the fells (hills), and the Lockerbie bomb (Pan Am Flight 103), which if it had happened 10 minutes sooner, might have landed on my town.
Paula Olds 2 years ago
I think you are right about it being a US thing, mostly because of the cold war with the Soviet Union. I had a 2nd grade teacher (class level for 7-8 yr olds) who used to scare the c**p out of us with warnings about how we were all going to starve when the nuclear winter came.
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Darlene Molina 2 years ago
I can recall being in 5th grade and a friend let me cut in line with her at the cafeteria. Got caught and a teacher sent me to the back of the line scolding me for my error in judgement and I muttered under my breath, "What's the difference? We're all going to die in a nuclear war anyday anyhow." So yes, this post is extremely accurate.
#18
Telephone conversations. Like, calling up your friend and chatting for hours.
featherytoad 2 years ago
Yep, we would see each other all day at school and then come home and talk on the phone for hours. My parents couldn't understand it.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
And calling the girl you liked, talking with her mom/dad, then talking for 1-2 hours... about nothing, of course. And then, being so happy... so genuinely happy.
Den Ver 2 years ago (edited)
How did you do that with one Rotary phone in the house ... that had a cord ... that you tried not to tangle? (80's Decade)
Kayjunmoon 2 years ago
Especially when the phone was in a draughty hallway.
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K. G. 2 years ago
Party lines! You shared your conversation with any of you neighbors on that same line. Your neighbors were always listening, telling you to get off the phone, and relationship fixes.
Teresa Spanics 2 years ago
I remember our Mom telling us about the time her older sister phoned and they both switched from English to Hungarian and both heard a click and remarked that someone was listening in.
Load More Replies... similarly 2 years ago
When I was in junior high, local calls cost money, so we weren't allowed to use the phone.
Dudeman 612 2 years ago
I saw other comments that said their local calls weren't free. What year was this for you? I'm a Xillenial, so local calls were always free (no additional cost per minutes used or day vs night calls).
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Brooke Davis 2 years ago
Switching from phone to modem to get onto the Web and hearing that weird buzzing w/tone as it turned on to connect. Then getting yelled at by all the others wanting to make a call, or expecting one from somebody. And always the thrill when the speed of modems increased... but downloading anything took forever. And the big online service - AOL. They were ALWAYS giving out free floppies/CD to get more folks to get online. And who could forget "Ask Jeeves," one of the very first Web browsers.
Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
We always used those AOL discs in the garden to ward off birds and animals. They were great for that and they sent so many of them.
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naylene hess 2 years ago
It was different because you didnt have cameras you could barely hear each other sometimes and you were tethered to one spot (unless you had a long phone line hooked up) and you were charged ALOT for certain types of calls
Load More Replies... David Brown 2 years ago
Even back then I'd tell mom and dad to tell whoever called I was busy. I never was a phone talker.
Daaaaaaaaaaa 2 years ago
My friend and I would be in class together all day then go home and call each other on the phone for 2 hours.
#19
Mixtapes. Actual cassette tapes recorded on a boom box from songs on the radio. Bonus for Ramones tunes as part of the mix.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
The Ramones were a perfect choice when you still had 30 min remaining in your 90 min TDK cassette.
Synsepalum 2 years ago
Ok, cassettes are still a thing in the metal community. Just so y'all know.
ColorEd 2 years ago
What metal community? Yours, perhaps. There is no one metal community and I as a metalhead, don't see any point in using talked these days.
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TrippyBanana 2 years ago
The talent needed to limit the amount of time gaps between songs otherwise you lost precious song time!
Loolie 2 years ago
Listening to the music charts every Sunday to record all the newest songs you liked. Uk charts.
Shelby Minchew 2 years ago
And sometimes not getting there until mid-song so the mixtape would only have half the song! But, still, how sweet it was.
David Bolender 2 years ago
Radio Shack Metal cassettes (NOT the chromium ones, although they were pretty good) hooked directly in an equalizer from a CD player. Punching out the two corners so they couldn't be recorded over. They were better than anything sold.
Bruce Ferrell 2 years ago (edited)
We do play lists now instead and send those to people we like
#20
Blockbuster on a friday night.
Leah Norris 2 years ago
Blockbuster, Round Table, and some Baskin-Robbins to take home for dessert.
Britches are for everyone 2 years ago
Had two friends who worked at Hollywood (video store like Blockbuster), and the rest of us worked at the movie theaters. By the time high school was over (late '90s) I had seen probably over six hundred movies in the theater or together with friends at someone's house. I don't remember ever watching a movie alone and now everyone just streams what they personally like on their phones.
C .Hunger 2 years ago
I also worked at Blockbuster - and my biggest memory of that time was hearing, "You Get What You Give," by the New Radicals once an hour. And, to give them credit, for some strange reason, they had 5 copies of "Texas Chainsaw: The Next Generation". They musta had the inside scoop on Zellweger and McConaughey.....
Michelle C 2 years ago
My dad did this whenever my sister and I would visit him every other weekend and we loved going to Blockbuster!
#21
Pong, space invaders, being the last generation to have to walk across the room to change the tv channel, being able to fix the tv by pounding on it the right way, getting the brown box for the tv and there only being 3 stations.
Also being totally forgotten about by the other two generations. Like door mice.
Christmas love 2 years ago
Yes! At 2 am you’d hear the national anthem and then the dreaded static…..
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Ozymandias73 2 years ago
Don't forget the RF switch changing it from TV to GAME and back again. And usually having to have it on channel 3 when you wanted to play your video games.
Sharni Benson 2 years ago
Positioning the antennae juuuuust right, and sometimes being used as an antenna
Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
Once in a while if the atmosphere was just right you would get a few stations from hundreds of miles away. Also remember when we had a remote for the vcr that had a wire connecting it to the vcr.
Darlene Molina 2 years ago
Don't forget the stations only available on UHF via the small round antenna!!!
Walter Brameld 2 years ago (edited)
The channel selector was a knöb that only went to 13. (Really, BP? I can't say k**b?)
Eliza May 2 years ago (edited)
Or you got the TV with TWO knobs - a 2nd for the VHF when it came out. Or turning channels with an adjustable wrench cause you'd stripped the k**b!
Load More Replies... Aisling Raye 2 years ago
At this point I've come to realize that anyone who remembers how amazing having a "clicker" was is my kind of people
#22
Reality Bites and Singles. Record stores.
Sunlight on a Broken Column 2 years ago
Gen X. My first job was at Sam Goody Music... at the MALL.
Garth Bock 2 years ago
Now Walmart and Best Buy have started selling record players and LPs.... It's come full circle
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Reddog McGraw 2 years ago
Having to sing the song you were looking for because Google didn't exist.... And it was always in front of a crowd of other people 😂
Sunlight on a Broken Column 2 years ago
🤣A critical part of my job was listening and trying to identify said song, but it was usually, "Hey, do you know that song that just came out that is sung by that guy?"
Load More Replies... Katy McMouse 2 years ago
There was a fantastic record shop in Oakland (Pittsburgh). You had to climb a huge flight of stairs into that magical place. There was also a shop that sold skate wear and the original Doc Martin's- I had to travel from my hometown to Pittsburgh in order to buy my first pair. It was one of the most memorable days of my teenage life.
TrippyBanana 2 years ago
I'm hedging a bet record stores will resurface now that it's cool again to own records and players.
Brian J 2 years ago
I'm not trying to bash today's record stores, but back when everyone had a home stereo, record stores were a very flashy and fun place to go
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Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
A record isn't quite as clear as say an mp3 but there is something about it that is just pleasing to the ears. Music isn't meant to be perfect and on other recorded media it's a little too perfect/polished.
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T Groszart 2 years ago
"Hastings" the first gift-card that was wished for each Christmas and Birthday. Where you could go buy the videos cassettes and collector stuff that your parents would never dream of gifting .
#23
The smoking section in a restaurant.
Tamra 2 years ago
Yeah, I don't miss the smoking sections anywhere. The thought may have been nice, but the reality just meant the entire place smelled like cigarettes.
Michelle C 2 years ago
That was phased out in my generation, and I am so grateful for it because I’m terribly allergic to cigarette smoke!
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Heather Vandegrift 2 years ago
I wish they would make restaurants with "children" and "No children" sections like they had smoking and non smoking sections in restaurants, for those of us who don't want to deal with other people's unruly brats while we try to enjoy our meal
Luna Crow 2 years ago
THIS. I've been saying this for years. I've heard that Germany has some restaurants with a minimum age requirement to enter, and I kind of want to move there now
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DuchessDegu 2 years ago
I really DO NOT miss coming back home from the cinema/restaurant/nightclub reeking of cigarettes, having to wash my hair at 3am so the smoke smell wouldn't ingrain on the pillow and the bedroom in general wasn't fun at all
Hagen Radcliffe 2 years ago
Yup! We had the “senior smoking bathroom”, the “senior smoking patio” and the “senior smoking lounge”. In a small hick town in N.J. ! In 1974, the legal smoking & DRINKING age was 18. Most of us seniors were 18. Sometimes we would run into teachers at the little burger/bar place… at lunchtime! It was quite a different time 😏
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Brenda 2 years ago
As a smoker, smoking sections didn't work unless they had a super duper air filter. Even then, it smelled. I never minded going outside, still don't. This is my bad habit, not anyone else's.
Cynthia Wilkins 2 years ago
Thank you. It is up to you to decide if the risk outweighs the reward for yourself. But no one has the right to push that on someone else. I always appreciate when I learn someone is a self-aware smoker. I’m sure there are many out there that go unnoticed because they are so courteous.
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ItsJess 2 years ago
My mom used to make a joke about it by saying if she started smoking a cig, it would make the food come to our table.
#24
Staying out until the street lights came on, riding your bike with a playing card in the spokes. Staring at that sweet IROC-Z down the street. First-generation CD players. Cordless phones. Skate City. FINISH HIM!
Danielle 2 years ago
My son still plays outside until the streetlights come on, and there’s quite some other kids in the neighbourhood too.
Heather Vandegrift 2 years ago
I'll bet you live in a structured subdivision, rather than just wherever? Kids whose parents have the luxury of being able to own a house and choose to buy in a subdivision have the luxury of reduced vehicle traffic of people who don't live there, ain't with all the Ring doorbell cameras and security systems, so strange vehicles in a neighborhood look suspicious. GenX grew up before subdivisions became the norm and there wasn't the internet spreading scare stories about kids being abducted, and the news was actually reporting the news rather than the same selected sensationalist story over and over to death... So our parents didn't have the that of us being kidnapped and killed constantly shoved down their throats and felt we would be ok playing outside around the neighborhood.
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Thomas Hunt, Jr. 2 years ago
Pff, hahahaha. I grew up in the country. Nearest street light is 20 miles away...in the 80s it was farther. Hahahaha
Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago (edited)
My mom wouldn't let us inside in the summer til dinner.. So she could watch her stories. And have some peace and quiet, aka doing laundry and prepping lunch and dinner.
Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago
Also late night games.. ie. Kick the Can and Ghost in the Graveyard
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David Brown 2 years ago
When I was little the street lights were our alarm clock. Lights come on, get your butt home.
#25
Quiet quitting. We've been doing that since the '90s, but they just called it slacking back then.
W0lfiest W0lfAlive 2 years ago
It's called providing as much as you're paid for and not going the extra mile when nobody gives a s**t.
D. Pitbull 2 years ago
Yep. There's now a big label of "QUIET QUITTING" like it's this biiig new thing... and oooh boundaries... OooooOOoooh - no, it's been **happening** - it's just that attitudes at that time (read... AT THAT TIME) called it 'slacking' to make the person who is literally "just doing their job" feel guilty. We just didn't do posts, articles, podcasts and 'trends' out of it.
Alex S 2 years ago
That's not what quiet quitting is. It's working to the letter of your job description and not doing additional, unpaid work. Slacking is not even doing what you're being paid for.
Dudeman 612 2 years ago
There is no strict guideline or definition as to what exactly is "quiet quitting." By some definitions, slacking is considered quiet quitting.
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Rumple Schleppskin 2 years ago
I worked hard until I got yelled at for screwing up en-minutia.. I quit on the spot, on a holiday weekend because someone told me the gas station (Clark size) was going to fire me for stealing cigarettes and booze.. Of which I did neither.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
What else can you do when you top out. Doesn't matter how long you work for someplace you never make any more money. So you quit and find a job that pays more. It's that simple. I liked my last job a lot, but I couldn't live on $15/hr. So I quit and found a job that's paying $18/hr. And if they want me for a job that employes my degree, that's $20/hr minimum.
Terri Martin 2 years ago
No, we called it getting a bad reference because the next employer wants to know they aren't going to get screwed without notice!
#26
Grunge music: Working with a handful of Gen-Xers and the only music they can consistently agree on is the Pearl Jam station.
Rachel Parker 2 years ago
Incorrect. Pearl Jam are scientifically proven to be awesome and this is not debatable.
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Synsepalum 2 years ago
Agreed. Louder Than Love is amazing, maybe even flawless. I lived in Seattle when Chris Cornell died. The Space Needle went dark.
Load More Replies... Reddog McGraw 2 years ago
We started Ska Punk, Grunge, and Alternative genres. From Nirvana to The Cranberries to The Cure. ...and a whole new Pop: Belinda Carlisle, the Bangles, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Alanis Morisette, Morrissey and the Smiths Rock Genre like Metallica, Alice n Chains Rockabilly like the Stray Cats, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. ...oh man, so many good bands, too many to name, safe to say, something for everyone and we all had stacks of cds and cassette tapes
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
I was talking to my husband and kids about this recently, for some reason. One thing I mentioned was being proud of the music my generation unleashed on the world.
Load More Replies... Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
I think there are differences between early gen-xers and later ones.
Christine LaRubio 2 years ago
Not every Gen Xer loves Pearl Jam. Some of us are still into punk rock and riot grrrl, thanks.
#27
The Crow... Movie and soundtrack.
Heather Vandegrift 2 years ago
That soundtrack formed the basis for my musical preference to this day!
Genericist 2 years ago
I'm a Millennial and this still is one of my favourite films. I just got introduced to it a little later.
Amy Ferguson-Shannon 2 years ago
So I'm gen x and have never seen this and probably never will.
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vampiresscrow 2 years ago
2nd one, not bad. 3rd, losing it. 4 & 5, meh. The comics have different stories of different characters, the movies make sense. Maybe try watching them. Not promising a lot though.
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#28
Beepers. It felt so important to have one, even cooler if you paid extra for the voicemail service.
pico diablo 2 years ago
Michael Crichton (under the name, John Lange) wrote about this in 'Binary'. The doctor who felt this way soon realized it didn't make him important, instead, it was an electronic leash.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Cellphones are the same, only a more technologically advanced electronic leash.
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David Brown 2 years ago
In highschool everybody called you a pimp if you had the big pager that got messages, weather forecast, and sport scores. And the crown jewel was having a Motorola two-way. God it was easy to impress people back then.
Dudeman 612 2 years ago
If you weren't a doctor or some kind of on call service tech, and especially if you were under 30, and you had a beeper... yeah, you were most likely a drug dealer. That was certainly the case in my hometown in the 90s.
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Robert T 2 years ago
Thankfully never had one, but my dad did briefly, as he was on call for the electricty board. I remember the amazement when he was able to use the radio (similar to a CB) to call a landline, as previously all messages had to be relayed via the control centre. I also remember some kind of weird system where he could call out to radios using a touch-tone keypad that you held to the mouthpiece of the home phone.
Shayne Randlett 2 years ago
I remember my first beeper and how cool I felt when it went off if I was around other people, like it somehow showed everyone how "important" I was. Now I die a little each time my phone makes a noise indicating I have a text, e-mail, appointment reminder or, God forbid, an actual phone call.
#29
Garbage Pail Kids.
Nunya Bidness 2 years ago
My mother recently moved to a smaller place and gave me my collection. Her house was flooded twice by hurricanes. All the family photo albums are long gone, but the Garbage Pail Kids survived.
Pan dulce 2 years ago
An Adam Bomb sold for $25k & a Nasty Nick sold for just under $18k. These cards were super unique for whatever reasons. So you may want to have yours graded/appraised/insured or whatever
Load More Replies... David Brown 2 years ago
I had a ton of these. I think at one point I had all of them. Musclemen and battle beasts were a big deal too.
Dudeman 612 2 years ago
They were a gross out parody of them, and since Cabbage patch dolls were wildly popular, so too were garbage pail kids.
Load More Replies... Dudeman 612 2 years ago
True. You'd have been in high school or graduated when these came out.
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BannedFromABoatShow 2 years ago
Why did we like that?!?! Don’t get me wrong - I saw the movie in the theater - but looking back now, just why?
Baali Venomax 2 years ago
Definitely American. Didnt remember that here. Only reason I knew about it was an issue of MAD Magazine I picked up in the airport coming home from a holiday in Florida as a kid.
#30
Breakdancing.
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
Ooh! Ooh! Ooooh! Breakin' 2 - Electric Boogaloo!
Load More Replies... Historyharlot93 2 years ago
And those parachute pants. My mom wouldn’t get me any because that “swish, swish” sound they made went up and down her spine. Everyone has some sound that goes right threw them I guess.
Edison Michael 2 years ago
For me it was the sound in my ears whem tidying the plastic hoodies in waterproof clothes. The "sliiiiip" of the cord and the plastic rustling near my ears felt sooo creepy to me.
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Upstaged75 2 years ago
I remember kids putting big pieces of cardboard in their yard and attempting to breakdance. :)
Kathy Davis 2 years ago
1983 me trying to learn breakdancing moves. Lol. I planned on moonwalking my way through the apocalypse.
#31
Sun-In for hair. Feathered bangs. Blue eyeliner. Loves Baby Soft. Jellies.
Hiker Chick 2 years ago
Melting your wood pencil eyeliner with a cigarette lighter and lining the lip of your eyelid, but being careful that you don't scratch your eyeball.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
Don’t forget Candies! Took a lot of practice to learn how to walk in them if you weren’t used to heels.
Mari Mar Pinta 2 years ago
Yes, I still have Loves Baby Soft, Exclamation!, Wind Song and Sweet Honesty...
Lacey Freeman 2 years ago
I found Loves baby soft at Walmart when I was Christmas shopping and HADDDDD to buy it for myself!!! I HAD searched for it many times on Amazon and they either had it for super expensive for a small a*s bottle, OR I couldn't even find it! So when I seen a fragrance set that had the spray, shower gel, and lotion, I FREAKED AND HAD to get it!!! I ALSO got another fragrance kit that had 2 different kinds of aeropostale spray and the matching candles for the scents.. 🫶🫶🫶😝😝😝😍😍😍
Agnes Jekyll 2 years ago
yes, where are all the girls in the 80s nostalgia films with orange hair. Another sun-in casualty.
#32
Trapper keepers.
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
I had one, once - my dad wouldn't pay out for a Trapper Keeper (I bought my own). To this day, I still wonder how I graduated primary school without it...
#33
Watching mtv headbangers ball Saturday morning, ready to rec on the vhs when my favourite bands came on.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Watching MTV when they actually had music videos. Or VH1 for more classic rock.
#34
MapQuest printouts for road trips.
Ban-One 2 years ago (edited)
For me it was actually real physical maps. Bought at the bookstore or probably at the gas station. Unfold them to their true huge-a$$ size.
Shreeky 2 years ago
My ex husband used to make me go online and print out damn MapQuest maps for when we went to concerts back in the early 2000s lol.... Growing up tho my dad would keep maps in the car including an atlas map he had... I used to get one of the maps out when we head to my grandparents house... I would try to pin point where a huge old tree was at based on the map to see if I would actually pick the right spot on the way to my grandparents house... When I saw the tree I always knew that we were almost there finally
#35
Using a payphonett to make a collect call with the intent of the call being declined. It's a messaging system that notifies your ride that you're ready to be picked up from the movies where you watched back to the future. Or from the arcade where you just blew a roll of quarters on super Mario bros.
Erwin Romadan 2 years ago
In my place, we would make a hole or just using tape with a string on a coin, so just to make a phone call on a payphone. It will become unlimited time, since the coin never get swallowed
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
I lived in a city, no one would pick us up. If you can go, you can come back.
#36
Blowing inside Nintendo cartridges.
Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago
And it was like everyone discovered this on their own. It was almost like an instinct.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
I see you Nintendo cartridges and raise you rewinding a cassette tape for Spectrum 48K
#37
Oregon Trail.
#38
Columbia house collect notices.
Mari Mar Pinta 2 years ago
They still coming for us lol... I know I began my Mariah Carey collection through them lol...
#39
Valley Girl culture and talk.
Mother Of Giants 2 years ago
Gag me with a spoon! Like totally! (I actually was a "Valley Girl." Grew up in the San Fernando Valley from '75-'00)
Mari Mar Pinta 2 years ago
When we moved from Chicago to Massachusetts in 1990, all I heard was "wicked awesome!" "Ohhh my God soo wicked good!"... What? Lol... I was never more confused!
#40
Bartles & Jaymes. The original White Claw.
What do you think ?
Jessica Bertram 2 years ago (edited)
latchkey kid here. played alone or with my brother on afternoons. Another thing i think defined our generation: we were the first to really acknowledge our mental health, as a nomal thing to work on. Gen X also wasn't *nearly* as progressive as we made ourselves out to be. i suppose all generations are more progressive than their predecessors. it makes sense.
similarly 2 years ago
I can remember us kids, the oldest being 10, left alone literally all day.
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Malditos Bares 2 years ago
Being an individual and not an insectional box-ticker in order to define yourself and your identity.
similarly 2 years ago
Nobody mentioned parachute pants. I'm so disappointed. I had a windbreaker in junior high that I thought was the coolest jacket. Black with a white stripe down each sleeve. I'd give just about anything to get one like it.
debster 2 years ago
I was high end of poor. I had parachute pants and I loved them. I’m sure they were knock offs. Made sounds while I walked in them. So many pockets!!!!
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My O My 2 years ago
Same here. But I think I'm on the verge so that may be the reason.
Load More Replies... Bill Evs 2 years ago
For me as a Gen X-er the best part is the whole not caring thing. Yes I'm generalising and yes it does come across at times like lack of ambition or passion and can potentially be detrimental. However we did/do have a way of looking at and/ or coping with the world with a kind of stoicism that creates a solid foundation for dealing with times when the sh*t properly hits the fan.
Frankthetank 2 years ago
Babysitting kids for hours or all night at 11 years old! Babysitter's club books!! Oh yeah, my favorite: never getting in trouble with cops- they would just pour it out and make us "go home"
Katherine Dobias 2 years ago
Eating free food samples at costco like nanaimo bars. Never bought them. We only ever ate them there for free. Back when Sears existed, my brother and I would sit on the couch and watch tv at the store while my parents spent all day shopping or rather examining each item and learning from the salesman how to use them so they wouldn't have to read the instructions manual. When my parents couldn't find us, we'd get paged by annoyed cashierists. And when we got there, the cashierists would have to page our parents cause they didn't stick around long enough for us to come.
Jessica Bertram 2 years ago (edited)
latchkey kid here. played alone or with my brother on afternoons. Another thing i think defined our generation: we were the first to really acknowledge our mental health, as a nomal thing to work on. Gen X also wasn't *nearly* as progressive as we made ourselves out to be. i suppose all generations are more progressive than their predecessors. it makes sense.
similarly 2 years ago
I can remember us kids, the oldest being 10, left alone literally all day.
Load More Replies... Malditos Bares 2 years ago
Being an individual and not an insectional box-ticker in order to define yourself and your identity.
similarly 2 years ago
Nobody mentioned parachute pants. I'm so disappointed. I had a windbreaker in junior high that I thought was the coolest jacket. Black with a white stripe down each sleeve. I'd give just about anything to get one like it.
debster 2 years ago
I was high end of poor. I had parachute pants and I loved them. I’m sure they were knock offs. Made sounds while I walked in them. So many pockets!!!!
Load More Replies... My O My 2 years ago
Same here. But I think I'm on the verge so that may be the reason.
Load More Replies... Bill Evs 2 years ago
For me as a Gen X-er the best part is the whole not caring thing. Yes I'm generalising and yes it does come across at times like lack of ambition or passion and can potentially be detrimental. However we did/do have a way of looking at and/ or coping with the world with a kind of stoicism that creates a solid foundation for dealing with times when the sh*t properly hits the fan.
Frankthetank 2 years ago
Babysitting kids for hours or all night at 11 years old! Babysitter's club books!! Oh yeah, my favorite: never getting in trouble with cops- they would just pour it out and make us "go home"
Katherine Dobias 2 years ago
Eating free food samples at costco like nanaimo bars. Never bought them. We only ever ate them there for free. Back when Sears existed, my brother and I would sit on the couch and watch tv at the store while my parents spent all day shopping or rather examining each item and learning from the salesman how to use them so they wouldn't have to read the instructions manual. When my parents couldn't find us, we'd get paged by annoyed cashierists. And when we got there, the cashierists would have to page our parents cause they didn't stick around long enough for us to come.
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