David Murdock Column: On the road ahead and the road behind
Lately, I’ve started too many conversations with “When I was your age …” ― something that I never, ever thought I’d be saying. It’s a by-product of spending the majority of my time with people in their late teens and early 20s.
The reason that the phrase comes out of my mouth so often, I suppose, is that I’ve also been spending a lot of my time lately remembering the road behind me ― all the places I’ve been, all the places I’ve seen. That sort of thing. I’ve been getting downright nostalgic.
The problem with nostalgia is that it’s positive. We don’t remember the negatives, generally. For example, yes, I do recall gas selling for as low as $1.15 per gallon (even less during a “price war”) … but the minimum wage then was about $3.35. A gallon of gas did cost less, but we made a lot less. As of yesterday, the price of a gallon of gas as a percentage of minimum wage was higher … but there were no lines at a gas station.
That’s a memory that sticks in my mind. Lines at gas stations in the 1970s. I’ve only seen lines for gas a few times in my life, and never like those lines. Granted, I was a kid, so I wasn’t the one buying the gas, but those lines stuck in my memory. What I do remember clearly are the “supply chain shortages” caused by the COVID pandemic.
I wonder if, 50-odd years in the future, the kids will remember these recent shortages. The one that I will never forget is toilet paper. Honestly, of all things! People standing in line to buy toilet paper! The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Nostalgia is always tinged with sadness — that’s almost part of the definition of the word. Nostalgia always has, underneath it, a desire to return to those halcyon days. Not for me, really. My life is measurably better now than it was back then, and life was pretty good back then. Maybe it’s because I tend to see life in positive terms.
Every once in a while, though, life gets to me a little bit; I’ll freely admit that one. It’s always over the little things, too. Something that caught my attention recently is the most ubiquitous thing: fast-food.
Due to unusual circumstances, I’ve eaten more fast-food lately than is usual for me. All of a sudden, I noticed the prices I was paying, compared to what I paid for roughly the same thing when I was … well, the age of all those people to whom I say, “When I was your age.” It shocked me. The other phrases I’ve been using a lot lately with young people are “How much?” and “You’re kidding me, right?”
To make it worse, the serving sizes aren’t as large these days, either.
Shrinkflation strikes again. What really makes me laugh is how politicians and reporters have suddenly “discovered” shrinkflation. I could have told ‘em all about it back in the day. It’s nothing new; we just have that catchy name for it now, so it shows up everywhere.
It’s somewhat common for people my age to complain about another trait of younger people: Younger folks cannot seem to calculate simple math in their heads. More than a few times lately, I’ve handed cash to a young cashier, and those cashiers have to wait for the register to tell how much change to give me. Sometimes I get frustrated and tell them how much change I’m owed.
I can’t much blame the younger people though ― they expect me to use a debit card. That’s simply their way, what they know. I wonder if they’re thinking, “Oh, great! Another old guy who insists on paying with cash.”
But I’ve never gotten out of the habit of paying everyday expenses with cash. The problem is that I only carry enough cash to pay everyday expenses … if it were 1984. That’s why the prices of fast-food often surprises me. Sometimes, I barely have enough to make it through a day.
Of course, this trend is something that I’ve noticed before ― I wrote a similar column a few years ago, complaining about much the same. What’s changed is that I’m far more sympathetic to younger people manning cash registers than I was back even just that short time ago.
In fact, what prompts me to write this one today is that I heard myself saying “Back when I was your age …” last week and … apologized to the teenager taking my money for saying it. My “road” is mostly behind me now. Hers is mostly ahead of her.
Suddenly, I heard her saying, “Back when I was your age …” to a teenager in 2064! I was suddenly incredibly sympathetic.
She smiled and then laughed. So did I. I think she may have heard herself saying the same thing.
I pulled out of the drive-thru into the road ahead of me, hoping that I had cash enough on me to buy enough gas to make it to the end.
David Murdock is an English instructor at Gadsden State Community College. He can be contacted at murdockcolumn@yahoo.com. The opinions expressed are his own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: David Murdock on the road ahead and the road behind
