I was having lunch the other day at a local eatery. When an elderly gentleman sitting at a nearby table was presented with his check he joked that he “didn’t have money to pay for the meal and would have to wash dishes.” It reminded me of my Dad (R.I.P.) Every time we ate out, he simply couldn’t resist saying couldn’t pay the bill and would have to wash dishes to work it off. I just don’t get the humor; it’s about as funny as joking about shoplifting or driving off without paying for gasoline. The restaurant already has someone to wash dishes. What are they supposed to do, send the regular dishwasher home?

Have you ever heard somebody (mostly from the “Greatest Generation”) say this line? Was it the shtick of some long-forgotten comedian or maybe WWII G.I. barracks humor?

Years before I was born I had a great-uncle by the name of Arizona Pike.He was childhood friends with Clark Gable in Ohio. When the depression hit he figured that as now there was no work it was time to take a vacation.He traveled the country with a match bos (remember them) with a few flies + other bugs. When he was almost finished he would call the waitress + do the loud voice routine that there was vermin in his food + would not pay for it.They were always too happy to get him out the door.He also played the $20.00 in the register game that is portrayed in the movie "Paper Moon". Since he told me this story in the 1950's it far out dates the movie.One had to be much more clever then as today,they might call the cops or just let you walk. Then the best you could hope for was an ass whipping + then thrown in the ally.BTW, I went to see Uncle Arizona on his death bed in the early 60's,one leg gone from previous diabetes,the other just amputated with his one falsie propped against the wall,chain smoking (remember when we could do that anywhere?).This is only a story + memory from my childhood. In answer to your question,probably all of the above but the right thing to do is to pay for what you have purchased,period! No one wants to pay someone elses bills by not accepting their own share; but wait,the democrats are still in office.

There was a certain small airline that took your money on the plane .If they couldn't give you change you got a free ride ! One fellow always 'only had a $ 100 bill ' and got a free ride as they never had the change.
One day the joker pulled the stunt and they were waiting for him .They gave him change and loudly counted out 100 single dollar bills !! He never pulled his stunt again !!

Humor or not, it happened. Stop and think about it.

I am fixing to be 65, and I have never experienced the times my Mother or Dad lived thru.

My Dad was born in 1897 and my Mom in 1916.

Don't know how old you are, but my bet is, you never experienced the same stuff your parents or grand parents experienced.

Also, not being confrontational or meaning to be, but what is the problem some folks seem to be having with the "Greatest Generation"?

I see people on here making that comment and I am curious what the trouble is?

Randall-
Leave it to ol' Crazy to turn a question about humor into an internet pissing match!

For the record, I'm 60; you're the same age as my brother. Dad was born in 1924 so he was a young child during the Depression. He brought me up with the idea that it's never OK to steal (and, by extension, defraud.) Dad said that stealing was the lazy / stupid / evil man's way out. A smart, resourceful and hard-working person can always find a way out of a bad situation without breaking the law. And he was right!

In the restaurant scenario, if I were desperately hungry I'd work out a deal with the manager BEFORE eating the meal! Been there, done that. In my younger years I did odd jobs to pay for my next meal.

When something would go wrong Dad would always say "That's not funny, McGee." Always. I heard him say this for 50 years. After he passed I had to look it up. It turns out that "It's not funny, McGee" was a catch phrase from a popular radio comedy show of the 1930's. (It must have made quite an impression on Dad.)

I wandered if the "wash dishes" gag was the same sort of thing and you turned it into me attacking my parent's generation. You do have a point, though. The younger generations do tend to be a bit too resentful of the Greatest Generation and (especially) Baby Boomers like you and I. But they have a point, too. The Greatest Generation did indeed live through hard times and fought a terrible war. But they also lived through the best times the country every knew, when a man with a high school education (if that) could get a good paying job and enjoy the American dream. Raise a family, buy a house and car or 2, and so on. Many of today's youngsters find themselves saddled with debt incurred earning a worthless college degree. In the job market they compete with millions of illegals on the low end and H1B's on the high end. So they're resentful and even jealous of those who grew up in [what they assume were] better times.

I had a discussion with a 20 something who thought all Baby Boomers lived the "Leave it to Beaver" kind of life. I told him that it wasn't like that. It was no picnick graduating high school in 1974, during a deep recession, competing with 70+ million of your cohorts who were hitting the streets at the same time. (College was for rich kids, jocks and minorities.) Every era / generation has its own unique ups and downs. Dad may have grown up in the Depression and fought in WWII but he also retired - with a full pension - when he was 58 years old. That ain't happening with me!

That's "on the money!" Could not agree more!

Its been years since I've heard the dish washing line. I remember getting my mother to explain the joke in a comic I saw as a kid. I'd bet that its related to the depression era and those that lived through it. Humor is time sensitive.

The "greatest generation" and their spawn lived through some hard times and some great times. They also managed to spend my country into the poorhouse and leave me the bill. Not that mine has made any progress on that, but its not from lack of being taxed to make payments on the debt. Who sells their kids and grandkids into slavery? Who spends money that people who aren't even born yet have to pay back? I don't know if they were selfish or dumb in that regard but either way it wasn't that great.

When the waitress would bring the bill to the table my dad would always say, "I'm sorry miss, we won't be here for the drawing." Just a dumb joke, the waitress always politely smiled and dad always paid the bill.

Bigasanelk,

You have way too much time on your hands!

465H&H

Dogleg,I differ in only this to your opinion;Humor is eternal,comedy is time sensitive. Consider that ALL humor is concetrated on someones pain.As Mel Brooks said "The difference between comedy + drama is that when you fall down a manhole,it is comedy,when I hit my finger with a hammer it is tragedy.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Dogleg,I differ in only this to your opinion;Humor is eternal,comedy is time sensitive. Consider that ALL humor is concetrated on someones pain.As Mel Brooks said "The difference between comedy + drama is that when you fall down a manhole,it is comedy,when I hit my finger with a hammer it is tragedy.

I can tell that you've given this much more thought than I have.

Due to my father's Parkinson and related conditions he was recently admitted to hospital. After explaining to him that he was not going to be out of pocket he seemed calmed. However, the next day the occupational therapist asked him to wash some dishes in order to gauge his suitability of living at home. My brother called him later in the day to ask how he was, he complained that they were making him wash dishes because he wasn't paying for his hospital stay.

tasso

Although I am getting up there in years I have not heard this one. Don't know why.

But one I have heard quite a bit is where people order food and eat about 3/4 of it and then all of a sudden find that there is something wrong with the food, like there is a hair in it, or the meat isn't tender enough, or the taste is terrible, or some other problem that just appeared out of nowhere. So the waiter is called and the complaint is made. the waiter will call a manager who comes to the table to see what they can do to make the patron happy. the patron will then say that they are so damn disgusted with the whole thing that they just want to get out of there. Many many times I have seen the manager say, oh we are so sorry sir, very sorry indeed, if there is nothing else we can do for you we wish you a pleasant evening. and that is it. The people walk out after eating 3/4 of a very nice dinner for free.

I just watched "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" starring John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Andy Devine and Jimmy Stewart last night (it's a black and white movie by the way), and Jimmy (as a new lawyer in town) was washing dishes in it to pay for his meals and room and board. Great movie!

Are you guys serious and have never seen this sort of behavior before?

I witnessed quite a few examples of this stuff back in the 70's and early 80's. In the early 80's I had a job that required me to spend a lot of time at gas stations and garages on the North side of Chicago. I wouldn't say it was a daily or even weekly occurrence to have a homeless guy show up and offer to sweep out the bays or the parking lot or whatever for a couple bucks, but I bet I'd see it happen somewhere at least once a month. Remember how there'd be several small shops on a street? I've seen guys sweep those entry ways too for 50 cents or a dollar. Of course back then you could actually get food, booze, or smokes for that much money too.

I've always heard about washing dishes too, I always believed (and still do) that this was an actual behavior going back at least to the Depression. Of course back then the manager and the owner were probably the same guy and busting his butt and would be grateful for some other person to help get the dishes caught up for him fixing him aplate of food. And then you also have most of that generation who would be eager to wash dishes for a meal, but would rather starve than beg for a meal instead of working for it.

My old man would pay with a check and then say " If its hot, bring it back and I will give you another one" or "You might want to run a little water over it".

I had this one uncle. He would order his meal, wait until the waitress brought it and then she ask if there was anything else she could do. If she was a hottie, he would always tell her yes; that she could come back in about twenty minutes and burp him. You could always tell if you had a really good waitress if she smiled and said yes.
One called his bluff. You never saw a 70+ year old man squirm and get red in the face like that.

Randall:
Your folks were quite old when they had you, huh? My Dad was born in '18, Mom '21, I'm 71 now. Both are gone, Dad made 92/8months Mom was 88.

Back in '97 Dad and I took a weeks trip back where he came from in the dust storms. SE corner of CO. Three places they lived the only sign left now are big humps of dirt that had blown up against the buildings.
He showed me the inside of a one car wood garage he stayed in while working for a neighbor during the worst of the dust. Said he hung blankets over the walls, windows and door then wet 'em down and couldn't see daylight much of the time. When I looked at his face he was crying!!

There was just an article in Sat's Pueblo Chieftain.com about a church in Beulah Co. Toward the end of it, a short story about his family. The four youngest kids and his Grandfather died from the dust, then they moved to Beulah to get out of it. I'd like you guys to check that article out, whether you read it all or not, just read the Dwight family part, titled about Dust.

Trucking for about ten yrs I've heard and seen most of these jokes pulled many times. One of the a/h's I trucked with if there were dirty dishes on the table when we set down, and they weren't cleared in a couple minutes he'd knock 'em off on the floor. First time I thought it was an accident, second time he was left sitting alone after I'd moved to another table. Shit like that gets old mighty fast.

Hang in there and enjoy what life you have.
George

Rich,I have a waitress story. Years ago on our way to the jobsite we would stop at the coffee shop. One old fart kept trying to hit on the waitress. He said the old line,"Boy,that's sweet,what you do,stick your finger in it?" Quick as a whip she comes back,"Sure did,then I stirred your coffee." She got a large tip from me.

Love it Norm!!
No wonder it tasted so good huh?

George

Couple of other tales of this waitress;boy she was a peach,cute of course but really smart + that was the main attraction. She sometimes took the evening shift + we would stop in for a beer or 2 on our way home. One day this self-declaimed Lothario asks her if she wants to go with him so he can slip her 9".She replies (quick as before) "Well I am tempted,but I doubt you could get it up 3 times." Now to her waitressing skills: when we were having a beer in the evening she would watch the sweat lines on the can + knew when we needed another. She got great tips,as she should. Often wonder what became of her. Would make a better woman candidate for the office than some other one we could name.