My problem is I lived and worked when times were really good, and I mean REALLY GOOD!
I can remember Cameron Iron Works (now Cooper Cameron) flying me 1st class for a job interview to Houston, TX, back in the 70′s. I can even remember flying 1st class on business trips, after I was hired.
I can remember going for happy hour buffets, after work, where you could get all the cold boiled shrimp and raw oysters you could stuff down your throat for less than $8 [and I always got my monies worth], and all the oil patch parties, where the alcohol, lobster, oysters and craw fish were literally over flowing.
And when you took out a customer for dinner, it was only at the top restaurants in town, and money was never an object.
Those were extravagant times, but they were great times. And even after all that ended [in Texas that is], with the collapse of “big oil” in the early 80′s, I managed to get out [just in the nick of time], to still enjoy the boom going on in the California aerospace industry.
We didn’t get to fly 1st class on business, nor was it quite as extravagant as in the oil patch, but still things were pretty damn good.
There was never any scrutiny over taking customers out [or vendors taking us out], to dinner, ball games, concerts, and whatever else anyone may have wanted.
But I guess that old adage
All good things must come to an end
really does hold true, because it did end, and while I have pretty much adapted to the new world, yesterdays ASM Summer party (a professional organization I belong to), was the biggest let down of all.
This used to be a great golf outing. It wasn’t about the golf at all, it was just about having a good time, and everyone did.
All the vendors in the area participated, by sponsoring foursomes to play, providing great gifts as raffle prizes, and a few other festivities, I won’t bother to mention in mixed company. (If you’ve ever been to one such event, I’m sure you know what I am talking about.) And the party would go on late into the evening.
But this years event was as far removed from previous events as you can get. There were maybe two vendors sponsoring foursomes, and only two representatives from one vendor even showed up, one of whom left immediately after he played.
Total, there were maybe 40 golfers who participated, which is a far cry from previous years.
And at the end there were only about 20 people who stayed for dinner, which was decent, but the raffle prizes were downright pitiful.
Everyone just sat around, seemingly in a daze, waiting for the raffle to end, and the meager prizes to be passed out for golfing, so we could all go home. I at least managed to win a DVD/VCR combo prize, which I was fortunate to sell to someone for $100. [I'm just not sure what he was thinking about, but I wasn't going to turn that down.]
Oh well, such is life! Things are changing all the time, and mostly for the better, but yesterday just left me longing for
the good ole days.
Nuff said! I’m going racing!!