bringing home the bacon

my mom worked as a waitress at a Cindy's Restaurant when i was young.

in my little girl opinion she had a fun job; serving hot cakes and coffee to early risers, carrying 20 plates at a time, and wearing the coolest uniform in all of Oakdale! 

i thought she was the prettiest when she wore her uniform; a white ruffly blouse, "Belinda" name tag, brown polyester wrap around skirt, nude nylons, waitress shoes, the whole ensemble made complete with her permed hair pulled back in a banana clip.

tips were the highlight of her waitressing job. helping her sort, count, and roll the change that jingled in her brown polyester pockets was a highlight of my younger years.  i believed we were wealthy when we took rolled coins to the bank, then drove off in our baby blue datsun to rent-to-own to make a weekly payment on our washing machine and dryer.

it's obvious why at 10 years old i wanted to be a waitress. with my magnetic personality i was bound to have pockets full of my own jingly change, annnnnddd  i REALLY wanted to wear that cool Cindy's Restaurant uniform.

one hot august day while my mom was at work, i decided it was time i began working at Cindy's Restaurant too.  i didn't call and ask for an interview, i didn't fill out an application, i decided to take action, i planned on walking right in to Cindy's and going directly to the manager's office and asking for a job.  (i've always been the type to take the bull by the horns... maybe this is because i grew up in "the cowboy capitol of the world").

i believed i was old enough because i finally owned my first pair of high heel sandals. adding to my new maturity was the nude nylons i owned to wear with them.   nude nylons and high heels had launched me into adulthood, and would guarantee me a job for sure!

 i grabbed my only white ruffly top and paired it with one of my mom's brown polyester wrap around work skirts. then i pulled my permed-like-mom's-hair up in a banana clip, and finished the ensemble  with some of my mom's hot-pink avon lipstick.  in my 10 year old mind i had grown from 10 to 16 in minuets!

(photo of banana clips for those of you who sadly missed the opportunity to wear them in the 80's)

and then i waited...

waited for the baby blue datsun to pull into the drive way with my mom home from work. i knew she'd be thrilled at my enthusiasm to start bringing home some bacon too. she wouldn't hesitate to drive me down to Cindy's to ask her boss, Manny, for a job of my own.

i was devastated when she walked through the door, thought i was playing dress up, and refused to drive me to Cindy's. i was adamant about having a waitressing job of my own, and begged to walk to the restaurant on my own.  my mom agreed.

Cindy's was easily 10 blocks and 1 highway crossing away.  my mother thought i'd make it two blocks in the august heat and heals,  turn around and return home. however the thought of my own jingling change in my pockets kept me walking.    

i arrived at Cindy's, walked right in, past all the customers, and directly to Manny's office.  there i entertained him with my plea to be hired, and how he wouldn't be disappointed.  Manny was just promising to hire me when i was 16, when my embarrassed mother walked in (she had been driving the streets of Oakdale looking for me).  she grabbed me by one arm, and escorted me out of Cindy's, as i waved a proud goodbye to her paying customers!

by the time i was 16 brown polyester skirts and jingling pockets didn't appeal to me.  my banana clips were retired , as was my childhood dream of becoming a waitress.
Manny should have hired me when he had the chance.  

this post was written for flashback friday. 

to read other flashback friday stories visit 

together for good.

popularity & circumstance

i'll never forget the last time i wore days of the week panties.  it was june, 1987, at my 8th grade graduation.

i was wearing wednesday panties, and it was friday. i hadn't been wearing them since wednesday, they just happened to be clean that friday so i slipped them on.  i was 13, and had no reason to fear that my red and white striped, "wednesday, wednesday, wednesday, wednesday, wednesday..." panties would be seen by anyone other than me.

to be completely honest i wasn't concerned with my panties at all, i was distracted by the excitement of wearing my new graduation outfit from the limited! 

you see in jr. high as all the other girls showcased their wardrobes filled with name brands such as- guess, esprit, outback red, reebox, and keds,  i was wearing the latest no-name-brand clothing, purchased on lay-away, from zody's or mervyns, paired with my payless shoe source pro-wing tennies.

so you can only imagine how thrilled i was when my mom took me to the limited to purchase my 8th grade graduation outfit.   like molly ringwold in "pretty in pink" or john cusack in "say anything" i too longed to be accepted by the cool girls, and knew this outfit would launch me into popularity.

i arrived at graduation with my aqua-net doused head held up high, as i wore my new peach outback red wrap around skirt, and forenza blouse.

i was certain the cool girls were all eyes on me as we lined up boy-girl-boy-girl, and were each given our white see-thru caps and gowns.

with caps and gowns on, we made our way on to the high school football field, cheered on by family members as pomp & circumstance was played by the 7th grade band members.

we took our seats in the warm june sun, and listened to boring speeches made by board members, followed by witty speeches made by the class clowns, and our 8th grade class president.

the time came for us to file into lines, and to make our ascent to the front to receive our diplomas.

i stood up, took a few steps, thinking my skirt felt a little loose, but i didn't worry, and continued to move with the line.

a classmate, who was still seated a few rows behind the moving line shouted to me "hey, your skirts dragging!" i took a closer look. and AGHHHHH!!! my expensive, trendy, gonna-make-me-cool, outback red, wrap around skirt was in fact dragging!

i attempted to fix it.  i desperately called to my friend, wendy, the girl ahead of me, and she graciously attempted to cover me as i tried to rewrap the skirt of my demise around me.  but it was IMPOSSIBLE,  because 1. the line was still moving. 2. we were standing boy-girl-boy-girl.   3. it was friday and i was wearing my wednesday panties!

so i did what any 8th grade girl with her skirt falling off during graduation would do...
i took the skirt off and threw it to the principal, who gave me a puzzled look, and placed it under his chair.

i set a new trend, and became the girl who received her diploma skirtless, wearing a white see-thru gown, AND of course red and white striped wednesday panties on a friday.

turned out i didn't need the skirt to gain popularity after all!

this post is part of flashback friday, usually hosted by jo, at the blog mylestones

 but currently being hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, 

erin, from together for good.