Quote:
Originally Posted by jswinden
If memory serves me correctly, I think in Texas in the early and mid 1970s the law was tobacco could only be sold to 16 and older. But I think most of the store just ignored that law. I never saw any kid get carded or turned down. Perhaps if a small child tried to buy them, but not teenagers.
I turned 18 in 1976. By that year the laws lowering the drinking age were long in place so we could buy alcoholic beverages. So all through HS it was easy to find someone in school who was 18 and could buy it for you. We thought that was so cool back then, but now 4 decades later I see how incredibly stupid that was! I'm glad they raised it back up to 21.
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We were 12 or 13.
Now the law I was glad they changed was working in a bar. For many years even after the drinking age changed in Sept 1986 (one day I was legal the next day I wasn't), women could work the bars (even topless and nude) at 18 they just couldn't drink. 17 if they had the looks and the bar wasn't picky about carding the women. I was relieved when they raised it to 21. Too many of the younger ones believed everything a guy would tell them. I figured that saved a few young women although it did leave some bars a bit short of dancers because the older women didn't like the pay scale. (No pay and the bar gets a percentage of your tips or at one time $25, whichever was higher.) One club tried to recruit me with that deal except mine would have only been $10 a night. They didn't like my counter offer. I was working at a bar that paid hourly+drink money+tips.
Note I had a secondary bar that I could work free in from midnight to 2 as long as I brought in customers. They would give me my drink money.
One business I was glad to leave. The work wasn't bad, most customers weren't bad, the other dancers were sometimes good, sometimes bad but do you realize how much one can drink when they are getting paid $2 a drink (note this was in 1990).
It took a few years to recover from the side effects.