Archive for the '$0.02' Category

Tony’s story — Part #3

February 23, 2007

Milk wagon
TONY (written while he was in jail)
I don’t know how many people remember the old horse and milk wagon that used to go around the streets picking up empty bottles and replacing them with fresh bottles of milk. When I was about eight years old, the milkman would pay me 2 cents a bottle. Some customers would put their weekly milk payments on top of their empties on the porch; they were always people who lived in big houses and who had big money. My family had to live too, so a few bucks here and there plus my $1.50 per day helped us stay alive.

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PS: Tony has a court date on Monday, Feb 26. It’s also his 58th birthday.

Posted in $0.02, 2 cents, bottle deposit, cream, delivery truck, empties, horse drawn milk wagon, job, milk, milkman, morning ritual, poor, right to eat, schoolkid, skimmed milk, skimming, stay alive, stealing, surviving | 8 Comments »

7UP + $0.02 = domino theory (circa 1965)

February 2, 2007

7UP (circa 1951)

TONY
“I got arrested when I was 17 for taking 7UP from a 7UP truck, which was actually the second time I did it.

“I’ll tell you about the first time, which we didn’t get caught for. I was 16 and a bunch of us went up to the old 7UP factory on Christie one night. We emptied out the whole side of a 45-foot long delivery truck. So, right when we were taking the last case, the truck got so lopsided that it just kind of leaned over, right onto the truck beside it. Before you knew it, it was like a a bunch of dominoes, with our truck being the first domino.”

PHILIP
“What did you do with all the 7UP ?”

TONY
“We drank most of it. Other than that, we just poured it out.”

PHILIP
“You did this for kicks?”

TONY
“Actually, we did it mostly to get money. Back then, they would give you two cents for every bottle you returned.”

Posted in $0.02, 1965, 2 cents, 7UP, arrested, bad choices, bottle deposit, delivery truck, domino theory, drinking, funny, Toronto | Leave a Comment »