Jump to content

Young blaming the old for world environment issues


Recommended Posts

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on toexplain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Just saying!

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 2
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great story Mark,  a good "one liner " for the yooff of to-day --- what-ever we old'uns did  " back in the day " before yesterday YOU will be paying for as we will probably have died.

Same as this lock-down crisis -- it's the young & their children who will be paying for all the present government hand-outs' cause the government has no money other than that collected in taxes from ----- YOU the workers, present & future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all for progression and advancement but nobody mends anything any more. You used to be able to take your broken electrical items to a shop to get it mended but not today. Years ago people were driving rusty old cars until they literally fell to pieces but now it's gone the other way. We cut up cars at the fire station for drills and there seems to be nothing wrong with many of them, they are just old. If your engine or gearbox failed when I was younger you mended or changed it ,you didn't just scrap the car and buy another. It's only recently that it became impossible to walk thirty yards without clutching a plastic bottle of water,  we still have a thing at home called a tap. Granted it hasn't come out of a himalayan mountain and trickled over a yaks back but it still does the same job. Much of the waste has happened in the last few years so although I take some blame  I am not responsible for a lot of the waste left by the snowflakes and millenials 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not that old but am a great believer in fixing rather than replacing. Henry Hoover was fixed with new motor. Some places wanted to charge me £90 for the part plus postage (brand new Henry is about £120) but managed to find the part for £26 and all fixed.

Problem is a lot of the time is is not economically possible to fix which has been created by the manufacturers making the parts ridiculously expensive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, keith kelly said:

Problem is a lot of the time is is not economically possible to fix which has been created by the manufacturers making the parts ridiculously expensive.

Or making it in such a way that it can't be repaired, few weeks ago the washing machine bearing started to really squeal, we hadn't really noticed it getting louder until one day we were sat 2 rooms away & could still hear it. It wasn't a cheap washer  years ago, so started to strip it down, took me about 3 hours to get the bearings out, then another hour or so to track down the parts, 1 of them had to come from Spain via the UK supplier. Then another 2 hours to put it all back together, cost £60 in parts, but you could have added at least another £100 for labour if somebody had come to do it. When you can get a new washer of £250 if I hadn't been able to do it would it have been worth it?

Also found out that they are now making washers that you cannot split the drum to get the bearing out, so once the bearing goes that's it, the washer is scrap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get my replacement washing machine bearings from Bearingman / BML/ Hayley. They generally have them on the shelf and rather than £60 they charge you £10. Most bearings are standard items like a 6202RS, that’s fairly common on washer drums. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Mrbarry said:

I get my replacement washing machine bearings from Bearingman / BML/ Hayley. They generally have them on the shelf and rather than £60 they charge you £10. Most bearings are standard items like a 6202RS, that’s fairly common on washer drums. 

It was the rubber seal which was £20 plus delivery, I could have got the bearings cheaper but then had to pay for delivery on them, so it worked out a little more expensive but they guaranteed that I had ordered all the right parts 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...