On a little bit of a cheerier note, any of you remember the small green 6-1/2 oz. returnable Coke bottles that had the city and state of the bottler on the bottom? I grew up in Atlanta where Coca-Cola had its headquarters. We used to have contests of who could collect Coke bottles from the farthest away. I had a pretty enviable collection of them. Wish I still had them. I could probably sell it for enough now to equip a brand new shop with all new CNC equipment.
There was a department store in downtown Atlanta that had a Coke machine in the warehouse on the top floor. Many Coke machines back then were chest-type: you drop in your coin, open the lid, and pull out your Coke. Got no idea how he did it, but one of our gang managed to get up there, and he discovered the machine dispensed Coke for only a nickel. It was supposed to be employees only, but we'd go up there about once a week and get a Coke. We finally got kicked out. Managers finally discovered the reason they'd regularly be short several of those returnable bottles every week. Hey, those things were worth a penny or two at the corner grocery store.
We also would take the bottle caps and put them in the spokes of bicycles, and use a clothes pin to attach a playing card to the forks so that it would 'flap' when riding. That was the epitome of 'cool'. And, of course, you'd have your pomade or butch wax or Brylcreem glopped all over your head in the process.
I still remember in the early '60's when most restaurants started going to fountain Coke instead of bottled. I worked in a restaurant at the time, and NOBODY liked the change. (That is, of course, except the busboys that had to lug Coke bottles around when bussing tables.)
Those were the days.
