My senior year of high school I was a part-time cashier at Son's Grocery Store in Cordova, Alabama. Sadly, it no longer exists. That was back in the day before the cool laser scanners, and we had conveyor belts operated by a switch or foot pedal that had to be cleaned every so many customers and we had to manually punch in each item, as well as weigh the produce. Yeah, I'm that old. :)
There were many things on that first job that surprised my naive 18-year-old self. One of them was the various "pockets" women used. I had always heard older women call purses "pocketbooks" and I never really thought a whole lot about it. Until the day I had a lady in a dress tell me, "Hang on, hun'. I gotta get my stamps outta my pocket." (Stamps here being food stamps. They were paper money in booklet form back in the day, as opposed to today's debit card format.) I'm thinking she has a purse in the buggy (how many dresses have pockets in them?), and imagine my surprise when she sticks her hand down her dress and pulls her pouch OUT OF HER BRA!!!) It was all I could do to keep from gasping out loud.
Later I learned to appreciate the ladies who actually used tiny wallets or money pouches to hold their money in their "pocket". I had two customers, both well endowed, who simply stuck their stamps or bills, not covered, into their "pocket". Now, you know how hot it gets in the south during the summer. All us southern gals know how sweaty undergarments can be (oh, excuse my impropriety...how much our undergarments can "glisten"). Do you know how absolutely disgusting it is to be handed a wad of bills or stamps WET with sweat from someone's bosom?!? Makes a small shudder shimmy through my mind just typing that!
So yesterday I'm in downtown Raleigh finishing up some training for the upcoming election, and a fellow precinct coordinator needed to get her cell phone, and she pulls it out of her BRA!!! Thankfully everyone in the group was a woman, and we all laughed, to which she responded. "I gotta carry it somehow." (And for the record, she did have it in pouch.)
Now, I know there are most likely historical reasons for the term "pocketbooks" that go back to the 1800s and the big dresses that I won't go into here. But really, ladies, your underwear is NOT a pocket!!!
There were many things on that first job that surprised my naive 18-year-old self. One of them was the various "pockets" women used. I had always heard older women call purses "pocketbooks" and I never really thought a whole lot about it. Until the day I had a lady in a dress tell me, "Hang on, hun'. I gotta get my stamps outta my pocket." (Stamps here being food stamps. They were paper money in booklet form back in the day, as opposed to today's debit card format.) I'm thinking she has a purse in the buggy (how many dresses have pockets in them?), and imagine my surprise when she sticks her hand down her dress and pulls her pouch OUT OF HER BRA!!!) It was all I could do to keep from gasping out loud.
Later I learned to appreciate the ladies who actually used tiny wallets or money pouches to hold their money in their "pocket". I had two customers, both well endowed, who simply stuck their stamps or bills, not covered, into their "pocket". Now, you know how hot it gets in the south during the summer. All us southern gals know how sweaty undergarments can be (oh, excuse my impropriety...how much our undergarments can "glisten"). Do you know how absolutely disgusting it is to be handed a wad of bills or stamps WET with sweat from someone's bosom?!? Makes a small shudder shimmy through my mind just typing that!
So yesterday I'm in downtown Raleigh finishing up some training for the upcoming election, and a fellow precinct coordinator needed to get her cell phone, and she pulls it out of her BRA!!! Thankfully everyone in the group was a woman, and we all laughed, to which she responded. "I gotta carry it somehow." (And for the record, she did have it in pouch.)
Now, I know there are most likely historical reasons for the term "pocketbooks" that go back to the 1800s and the big dresses that I won't go into here. But really, ladies, your underwear is NOT a pocket!!!
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