Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

MariantheLibrarian

Familiar Face
Messages
90
Location
Northern Virginia
Rue, did you have one of the flat ones or one of those big wheel ones? I used to play with my grandmother's wheel Rolodex. That and her adding machine. There's another thing I haven't seen in a dog's age.
 

MariantheLibrarian

Familiar Face
Messages
90
Location
Northern Virginia
It's funny you mention the adding machine... my mom still has the one she's used since the 70s that you have to plug in.

I have fond memories of my grandmother balancing her checkbook on hers, and it making that wonderful "k-chaka-chaka-vrrrr" noise. The only better mechanical noise, imho, is a Teletype machine :)
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,699
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
I have fond memories of my grandmother balancing her checkbook on hers, and it making that wonderful "k-chaka-chaka-vrrrr" noise. The only better mechanical noise, imho, is a Teletype machine :)

I used to work with the very last vintage UPI Teletype machine in Maine, or so the tech guy said when he came to the radio station to disconnect it in 1985. I never warmed up to the dot matrix printers that replaced them, even though I never had to untangle a mess of fouled type bars, purple ribbon, and mangled paper at 5 am on one.
 

Danny Ocean

A-List Customer
Messages
488
Location
The Portobello Club
~Televisions you actually had to get up off the couch to turn (unless you had kids to do it for you).
~8-track tapes and cassette tapes
~Vinyl records 45s & LPs
~Rotary phones
~Full service at the gas station that really was full service - wash you windows? check your oil? thank you for your business.
~The old steel type cash registers that you had to punch the button on to ring up your purchases (a friend had one of these when I was a kid and I loved playing with it)
~Customer service provided by people who cared about doing a good job rather than texting their friends and acting like you're annoying them because you actually expect them to help you
~Lunch counters located inside the stores like Newberry's and Woolworth's
~Five & Dime stores
~People dressing up to go shopping
~The fashion rule of not wearing white before Easter or after Labor Day
~Children being taught manners and respect rather than that the whole world revolves around them
~Good manners in general
~Referring to elders or people we really didn't know well as Mr., Mrs., or Miss whatever their last name was rather than calling them by their first name as soon as we're introduced
~Women wearing hats and gloves when they went out
~Civility in politics and politicians
~Men opening doors for women
~Gentlemen and ladies not cursing in public

TimeWarpWife,

That's a great list you've put together there! There are more than a couple that, unfortunately, really should never have disappeared; civility, good manners, cursing in public, and I whole-heartedly agree with you, on children being taught manners and respect. Respect is something that is sadly lacking in today's society.

Does anyone remember Telex machines?

Danny O
 
Last edited:

Wally_Hood

One Too Many
Messages
1,772
Location
Screwy, bally hooey Hollywood
There has been a change in the waiting room of your doctor, vis a vis, the nurse calls for you by your first name, not Mrs. Jones, or Mr. Brown. I don't know you, Ma'am, and I would address you as Nurse as a sign of respect for you and for the office you hold.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,699
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The virtue of *punctuality.*

There was a time when, if you said you were going be somewhere at a particular time, or were expected and required to be there at a certain time, you *were there.* No excuses were accepted, and if you sauntered in the door ten minutes or half an hour late, you'd get the rough end of it.

Now, nobody seems to live by the clock anymore. If you show up at all, we're expected to be grateful. (I'm waiting right now at work for someone who had an appointment to be here 45 minutes ago, and has made no effort to check in. I will *not* be grateful when and if they finally arrive.)
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
This is so true. I always make a point to be early. I am always a half hour early to work, and it never went un-noticed by management no matter where I've worked.

The virtue of *punctuality.*

There was a time when, if you said you were going be somewhere at a particular time, or were expected and required to be there at a certain time, you *were there.* No excuses were accepted, and if you sauntered in the door ten minutes or half an hour late, you'd get the rough end of it.

Now, nobody seems to live by the clock anymore. If you show up at all, we're expected to be grateful. (I'm waiting right now at work for someone who had an appointment to be here 45 minutes ago, and has made no effort to check in. I will *not* be grateful when and if they finally arrive.)
 
Messages
13,458
Location
Orange County, CA
I used to work with the very last vintage UPI Teletype machine in Maine, or so the tech guy said when he came to the radio station to disconnect it in 1985. I never warmed up to the dot matrix printers that replaced them, even though I never had to untangle a mess of fouled type bars, purple ribbon, and mangled paper at 5 am on one.

I remember when the news broadcasts always started with the sound of the whirring teletype machines in the background.
 

ortega76

Practically Family
Messages
804
Location
South Suburbs, Chicago
The virtue of *punctuality.*

There was a time when, if you said you were going be somewhere at a particular time, or were expected and required to be there at a certain time, you *were there.* No excuses were accepted, and if you sauntered in the door ten minutes or half an hour late, you'd get the rough end of it.

Now, nobody seems to live by the clock anymore. If you show up at all, we're expected to be grateful. (I'm waiting right now at work for someone who had an appointment to be here 45 minutes ago, and has made no effort to check in. I will *not* be grateful when and if they finally arrive.)

Try to hold someone accountable for their tardiness by not seeing them or canceling their appointment, and they get huffy. Like how dare you make them reschedule. Today, my kid's pediatrician refused to see someone who was in for something non-critical (a school physical based on the screaming) and was over 30 minutes late for their appointment. You would have thought the doc refused to treat bullet wounds. But others are on time for their appointments, so why make others late for your inability to get it together?
 

Effingham

A-List Customer
Messages
415
Location
Indiana
Today, my kid's pediatrician refused to see someone who was in for something non-critical (a school physical based on the screaming) and was over 30 minutes late for their appointment. You would have thought the doc refused to treat bullet wounds.

The irony here is the number of times *I* waited in a doctor's waiting room -- half an hour, 45 minutes, more -- beyond the time I'd scheduled an appointment with the doctor.... ;)

Tony
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
At the regular doctor's office i come a little early but 4 out of 5 times I will be taken in 10-20-30 or more minutes later than my appointment. I don't begrudge them the time as the office handles a lot of people and they try to be both efficient and thorough. I have had where I have spent the night and or woken up really sick or mom was ill where we needed to show up when they opened and they would squeeze you in. Last time we squeezed in mom the doctor spent about 8 minutes and then called ahead to the emergency room to get mom in for a battery of tests. (Brain tumor)
 

Effingham

A-List Customer
Messages
415
Location
Indiana
Eep! Hope mom is doing okay!

Have you ever heard of anyone billing a doctor's office for wasted time? I hear jokes about it from time to time, but I don't think I actually know of any instances where it's actually been done.
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
Unfortunately mom did pass away sometime ago. She was going to survive and recover well from the surgery but during the recovery she wound up getting some dreaded hospital based infections that eventually lead to her death. Hospitals do kill people.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,008
Messages
3,072,529
Members
54,037
Latest member
GloriaJama
Top