Could you survive?

[sheeplady]

We know that saying quite well around here. It's usually applied to people who say they're from Maine when they were actually born in Portsmouth. Phonies.

lol

 

[Stray Cat]

He said, "How did you know all that?". I said, "I have a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering."

I'm very familiar with that one.
They come, see a woman in the garden; instantly label us as "peasants".
And they talk to us that way: "Yo, girl!"
:suspicious: Who, me?
"Yeah, you.. come over here!" *finger snaping*
Umm, sir.. I just happen not to be a dog. Nor a waitress. I just happen to be an Engineer fond of growing my own food. lol

They were expensive, and a luxury few people saw the need for when a bowl of ice cubes and an electric fan would do just as well, but they were available if you could afford them.

Very few people could afford them.
I'd say: maybe hotels, some theaters.. but (where I live) definitely not common-people.

 

[wireless man]

i'm sitting here listening to a 1939 GE radio i restored. i think i'd be alright fixing radios and such for folks. i sure would miss the interwebs though. paper manuals.. what a concept!

 

[LizzieMaine]

paper manuals.. what a concept!

Somewhere, John F. Rider is weeping.

 

[wireless man]

Somewhere, John F. Rider is weeping.

i had some of those and know how to use them. i eventually embraced the digital version but i can work off the books just as easily.

it would be quite a trip to see a concept like this turned into a TV show huh? take a bunch of folks born into the digital age and drop them into a 1930's world. simple tasks such as finding the number to a local restaurant would be quite entertaining to watch.

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

I think I'd be ok. I'd be out of a job, since my current employment is in telecommunications. I would probably adjust to something telephone related in the 1930s. It's still just wires and electrical pulses. As much as I enjoy technology, I think I'd very much enjoy living in a simpler time. It seems like it would be so relaxing compared to the chaos of today.

 

[Stray Cat]

I would probably adjust to something telephone related in the 1930s.

That's pretty much depending where you are.
If you were to pop-up in my town, in 1930.. You'd be jobless, sir! :rofl:

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

That's pretty much depending where you are.
If you were to pop-up in my town, in 1930.. You'd be jobless, sir! :rofl:

Haha true enough. Perhaps the big cities were more bearable in the 30s than they are now...

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you could get in with the Bell System, though, you'd be a part of the most dependable, best-run communications organization that has ever existed on Earth. Well worth the effort to get there.

 

[3fingers]

I could get along just fine. Other than my love of coming home to air conditioning at the end of the work day, much of my life is easily transferable. I have previously been a farmer, a mechanic and done commercial/industrial maintenance. My current workplace (a municipal water plant) was originally built in 1912 and electrified in 1927. Surprisingly, that part of the plant is still 90% complete. It was shut down in the late 60's and left as it was. It used water powered hydraulics instead of electricity to control the valves, and in the early days, large gas engines to deliver the water to the town. The technology has changed, but the job is the same. Another interesting municipal service here was steam. The city operated a coal fired power house to provide steam to all of the downtown businesses for heat. The boilers were long gone, but I recall the grates for the piping in front of all the stores when I was a child. I've had experience as a stationary fireman, so that would be a possibility as well. My antique machinery hobby would also help me fit in in an earlier time.

 

[MPicciotto]

That's pretty much depending where you are.
If you were to pop-up in my town, in 1930.. You'd be jobless, sir! :rofl:

I remember reading in a book published in 1945 in Maine about that state's Civil Defense activities during the war that one of the early objectives was to get telephone service to each town. So that at a minimum city hall would be able to be notified/or be able to notify others of an attack. So just fast forward a few years and your telephone skills might be very much in demand.

Matt

 

[LizzieMaine]

Absolutely right. When I was a kid in the '60s and '70s I knew many families who didn't have telephones -- and the street up behind us didn't even have wiring for phone service. There was a very effective message-relay system though -- there were always kids in the street who'd run a message for a quarter, and I myself earned a lot of pocket money that way.

 

[Stray Cat]

-- there were always kids in the street who'd run a message for a quarter, and I myself earned a lot of pocket money that way.

That means there's yet another way to earn money: start a messenger-service.

 

[Shangas]

Given a map, I'm pretty good at finding my way around town. With a bicycle and a satchel, I could be a telegraphic delivery-boy.

But I'd make myself scarce from 1939 onwards. Telegram delivery-boys weren't very popular during the War.

 

[Pompidou]

I've only done two worthwhile things in my life towards leading a successful life: gotten a BA in History from UConn, and opened a coffee shop without a loan. I have to imagine back in the 30s, BA's weren't as useless as they are now, so there's that route to success. If not that, than the latter is particularly relevant considering the similarities in the two economic situations. The only plausible way I wouldn't succeed, is if I were forced into the war. Considering the similarities between myself and pre-experiment Captain America, I just might not have to worry.

 

[wireless man]

WW2 throws an interesting twist into things. i'm a ham radio guy and know how to use tube gear. we were a commodity during WW2. as long as I'm in the rear with the gear, it's all fine with me.

 

[Stray Cat]

The only plausible way I wouldn't succeed, is if I were forced into the war.

It's NOT the time (and Europe is not the place) to be at WWII. hwell:

Considering the similarities between myself and pre-experiment Captain America, I just might not have to worry.

I guess the food industry would be the good place to work (if we get stuck at WWII).. those who make the foods, or sell the foods.. get the eat the foods. (I'll use the words of Scarlett O'Hara: "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!")

 

[scotrace]

I believe Dave Thomas got into the restaurant business (Wendy's) because he had been a dirt poor kid and figured if he worked in kitchens, there would always be food around.

 

[Stray Cat]

if he worked in kitchens, there would always be food around.

Ingénieux! :thumb:

In times of war: [size=+2]keep calm and stay near food[/size]

 

[MPicciotto]

WW2 throws an interesting twist into things. i'm a ham radio guy and know how to use tube gear. we were a commodity during WW2. as long as I'm in the rear with the gear, it's all fine with me.

My grandfather was a HAM and studying commercial radio before the war. His enlistment date is several months before he graduated from his radio school. Best I can figure is men knowledgeable in radio had delayed entry into boot camp if it meant finishing up a class like that. He was in the Signal Corps attached to the AAF in India. A friend of mine's grandfather had a similar experience... except he spent the war in Greenland.

Matt