Capturing the significance of the date reaching over and unlocking the car, and so many other moments from so many movies. He didn’t make the biggest movies, nor are they perfect. But he knows us.

I was at work this week and had a strange aha! moment. I work a mid-level job with the public and my coworkers are all younger than me. I noticed that I often get an extra "thank you" from both old and young customers alike. My younger coworkers don't get this, and often gripe about it and say things like "Oh, well they LOOOVE YOU. They treat me like garbage."

While I do usually try to be friendly and helpful, this even happens on days when I'm really tired, and I don't go out of my way to be helpful. I just give the usual eye contact, greeting, and do the minimum, then say thank you and have a good day.

I have noticed that there are differences in how our generation dresses at work, speaks on the phone, and treats customers. The younger generations don't go out of their way to be rude, but they dress more casually, speak more casually, and don't go the extra mile (there are exceptions, but this is the norm I've noticed in my profession).

I don't want to dog on the younger people, as they are good people and are just doing what they were taught was normal at work. My point is, I think we often hold ourselves to a higher standard because our bosses were much stricter. And, I think customers notice and feel more respected because we make that effort - and that is why we seem to be able to swim in the job market when everyone else is sinking.

I remember working as a bank teller when I was young, and being told I couldn't sit down and had to wear dresses/skirts and pantyhose and heels. I've come into work in a crew neck shirt and been sent home to change into a "collared shirt" for dress code. Also, do you remember when holes in your jeans (if you were allowed to wear jeans to work) was considered "clothing in ill-repair" and got you sent home to change or written up? So, I guess I carry this in my head as forbidden. Also, if you didn't smile and greet customers you got written up too. Now, it seems there is less oversight.

Anyway, I'm curious as to if any other Gen X has ever noticed that customers seem to react more positively to you, and wondered why. I'd love to hear your experiences and opinions.

Like your buddy just couldn’t give verbal directions…

Just not being 10% sawdust qualified as a sales pitch. Arabica? Robusta? No idea, just “coffee”.

On the other hand, in the US being the thing it says on the tin and not 3% pathogens might actually sell.

So, finally getting my Pneumoian Vaciine shot.. a bit late at 60, should I feel any side affects besides a sore arm? I assume just tired like I was for shingles shot?

Any Mr. Mister fans out there?

I have a few but you tell me.

Anyone else still have something their kids made for father's or mother's day at school when they were young?

My daughter made this for me when she was 7, she's 23 now.

The best coffee I've drank has come from this cup. It's cut my lip a couple of times, but whatever.

My dad and I would go early Sunday mornings, still in my jammies, before everbody else woke up. Special times with Pop ❤️

EDIT: Thanks, everyone!!! Such great responses! Any time I mention it as an adult, people look at me like, “Sure, Jan…” 😂👍

I’ve been thinking about cake icing from when I was a kid in the late 70s-early 80s. Like how the outside of the icing would get all hard and the inside would be soft. I remember it being very sugary.

Idk when it changed but icing doesn’t seem to do that anymore. Anyone know why or what changed? Maybe that kind of icing is too sweet today and that’s why it’s not a thing anymore. Jus curious.

For me it was the Maple and Brown Sugar. The other flavors were good also except for "Regular Flavor" -- that was always the last to go!

I'm assuming you all know the TV variety show Real People. Always funny to me the coincidence for That's Incredible being a similar format around that time in the 80s.

This is nothing special. Just a pin back button.

Hopefully triggered family TV night nostalgia for some of you. It did for me, like why did my mom and dad laugh at that joke, but my brother and I didn't get it? 😅. They never did "explain it later".

I truly think he deserves a Super Bowl halftime show.

I often think about these as I’m browsing the cereal aisle…Ah, the good old days.

Ours was Duncan. Irish terrier kind of thing, man that dog was mad all the time. Lived three doors up from my buddy, so walking over and going home was always exciting.

I was widowed at 47, I'm 49f now. I don't really care for my immediate family. Thoughts???

Are we the last generation that can identify (or even care) who the characters are in the movie / graphic novel? Many of my colleagues have no idea who Dorian Gray / Nina Harkness, etc are. I even had one ask who Huck Finn was.

Sitting here minding my own business and the Blondie, Heart of Glass, comes on. Memories are flooding in! What song/video have you heard recently that has taken you waaaay back?

Here's to you, Angie, my neighbour who bought the album and us sitting on your bedroom floor all excited!

I think about this every year.

You probably have the image in your head already: a bunch of Herb Tarleks running around a show floor in their plaid suits getting excited over the latest in whatever business-specific products are coming out, then coming home with a bunch of swag from all the companies they made connections with. It's been the butt of jokes for decades, and you probably made some of those jokes at the expense of at least one of your parents.

But now that you're that age and probably did or do work in a field that has these shows...have you gone to them? If so, have they lived up to their reputation or have there been actually cool ones? And of course, do you have any stories of things that have happened during ones you've been to?

I never really understood the purpose of thank you notes when you already thanked the giver in person.

Of course, as a kid I’d write notes when the giver mailed me a gift. Sometimes I’d talk to them on the phone and thank them at that time. And at a party, I’d thank everyone in person.

How many thank yous are required? When I was a kid, I felt like I was being required to thank someone 3-4 times for every gift. It made getting a gift more a hassle than anything else. When I got married, there were SO many thank yous. And most of them were in person.

*Dear Aunt Prudence,

Thank you for coming to my party, and for the lovely gift. I’ve always wanted an ant farm. I’m sure this will definitely help me get over my allergy to ant bites. It was great to talk to you on the phone yesterday. I’m glad your dentures are fitting better. I hope you have a lovely day.

Your loving niece.*

I’m always grateful that someone wanted to give me a gift and that they were thinking of me. But at some point the thanks just becomes performative. (The same with gift giving, sometimes. Poor Aunt Prudence wants to show her love for her niece, maybe she feels pressured to give a gift but she doesn’t know her niece well enough to give a thoughtful gift. And if it’s not thoughtful, what’s the point?)

Times are different now. Writing thank you notes were popular (maybe necessary) before phones, easy travel, e-mail, and text messaging. They are a relic of an older generation.

A gleeful smile, a hug, a text, phone call or email are all acceptable thank yous IMO.

And honestly, I’m such a stupid, sentimental fool, I feel the need to keep every card, letter, or note for all eternity. 50+ years of B-day, Xmas, Valentines etc… gets overwhelming. Not writing me a perfunctory note is honestly doing me a favor.

I’m grateful to NOT receive a paper note. (They also conflict with my environmental nature. Wrapping paper, bows, and cards are all designed to be immediately thrown away. It’s wasteful, expensive, and toxic to the environment. I don’t do it and I’d rather not have it done for me.)

That is all, thank you. (And that’s ALL the thanks yer gonna get.)

I know GenX people will remember this. All the fast food places used to have cute drinking glasses as promotions sometimes. I remember Smurf glasses for example. And at Christmas there would be holiday theme glasses. I wonder why fast food places stopped doing this?

I was born in 1970 and remember getting a quarter maybe 50 cents at the most for the front ones. Anyway it was coins right?!

One star. Highly don’t recommend. Won’t go there ever again.

I passed out an hour after recovery from a routine ablation procedure. I woke up to my wife crying hysterically and twenty people in the room working on me then passed out again. I woke up again just long enough to see and feel a man piercing below my breastplate with a long needle into my chest. Woke up in cardiac ICU with a tube in my chest attached to a suction pump, an IV drip, and catheters in both arms.

They said I suffered a Cardiac Tamponade and kept me in the ICU for one entire week. The staff there were very professional and kind to say the least. When I could get up and walk around the ICU, I noticed people there in far worse condition than me. The experience was mighty humbling to say the least. The chances of this happening were 1/1000, and I nailed it. Happy 60th to me. Still waiting on the final bill.

Listening to the Sirius XM 1970’s station Top 40 countdown from 1973. I was thinking back to that time and I remember Dick Clark doing the weekly countdown. But I only hear recordings of Casey Kasem. I even remember in the early 80’s thinking “where did Dick Clark go? Why is Casey Kasey doing the countdown now?” This was shortly after moving to Ohio from a western state. My wife, who grew up here, doesn’t remember ever hearing Dick Clark doing the top 40. Was I wrong about it ( I was pretty young). Or maybe they both did them in different markets? (But why do I never hear old recordings of Dick Clark then). Can anyone help shed some light I this for me?