I was doing a little nostalgic discussion with an old girlfriend Sunday. One of our common friends died unexpectedly and we were just reminiscing about the good old days. We were talking about how we used to have to drive 40-something miles to go to a movie and dinner because our town was so small we just didn't have anything else to do.
That got me thinking. My first job paid $3.15 an hour. I almost cried when my boss boosted me to $3.85. I was working 25-30 hours a week, bringing down a whopping $60 a week! That raise boosted me by $12 a week.
We were laughing about how I'd have $20 in my pocket and it was more than enough for us. I thought she was remembering wrong. But then I replayed it in my head. Yep. A $20 was more than enough.
1 - I'd spend $2.25 on gas. At 85 cents a gallon, that would get me almost three gallons. My Mustang got about 15 mpg, so unless I was completely empty I'd have enough to get there and back.
2 - Movie tickets were $2.50. So I'm at $7.25 at this point. I've still got $12.75 left for dinner.
3 - Red Lobster! A dozen oysters $1.55. Fried shrimp platter for her: $2.35. Sirloin or seafood platter for me: $2.45. Total bill right at $7.50 even with tip. Big spender.
We're headed back, I've still got a whole $5 or so for anything else we might want to do.
I miss those days! Things were so much better. But that's when I first started hearing the "we got to raise the minimum wage" arguments. And here we are.
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