Tiger Board Logo

Donor's Den General Leaderboards TNET coins™ POTD Hall of Fame Map FAQ
GIVE AN AWARD
Use your TNET coins™ to grant this post a special award!

W
50
Big Brain
90
Love it!
100
Cheers
100
Helpful
100
Made Me Smile
100
Great Idea!
150
Mind Blown
150
Caring
200
Flammable
200
Hear ye, hear ye
200
Bravo
250
Nom Nom Nom
250
Take My Coins
500
Ooo, Shiny!
700
Treasured Post!
1000

YOUR BALANCE
Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"
storage This topic has been archived - replies are not allowed.
Archives - Tiger Boards Archive
add New Topic
Replies: 10
| visibility 1,663

Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 7:58 PM

posts of today.

My first summer job "away from home" when I was in high school was as a gas station attendant at a Love brand gas station / tourist trap gift shop in Santee, SC. This would have been ~1971. Yes, kids, there was a time when you watched other people pump your gas, clean your windshield, and check your oil for you. These were called "full service" gas stations. So, as an attendant, you were in direct contact with the public, at least with the driver of the vehicle.

Now, here is some more background for this story. My dad was a HUGE "Rasslin" fan, all the way from the early days of "Jim Crockett Promotions presents Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", then the WCW, on through the modern WWE. He passed away in 1998.

Now, my Dad was ordinarily a really smart man, so I have to believe he just "suspended belief", and took the Wrestling on TV REAL serious. This led to an uncomfortable situation, as follows: Back in this time frame, like I said, around 1971, Ric Flair had just come on the scene. I don't think he was more than 17 years old when he started out. He was pretty much a "Heel" from the get go.

A couple of the REALLY established "Heel" stars of this time were Johnny Valentine, and Blackjack Mulligan. But, back in this era, it wasn't just "Heels vs Babyfaces" like it is most of the time now. The Heels would feud with each other as well. Both Valentine and Mulligan were Heels, of the worst order. And, right then, they had a BLOOD FEUD going on. I mean worse than anything in modern times, from what you saw on TV. They would just as soon kill each other's mammas as look at them.

So, with this background, who do you guess came tooling through my Love gas station one fine day, stopping to fill up their car on the way from North Carolina down to Florida? Yep. Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan, and Johnny Valentine. In the same car. And, it WAS just a car, no fancy tour buses back then. It wasn't even a limousine type car, it was just your average beater. They all got out to stretch their legs, and you could tell from the jokes and conversation that they were all "running buddies", if you get my drift.

My 17 year old self said, "Self, if you tell Dad this, two things will happen. One, he won't believe you. And two, as a result of one, he will probably get really mad, with possible other deleterious consequences." So, I made one of my first "adult" decisions, and kept Ye Olde Trap SHUT about that!

The things we do for love. And, for preservation of our behinds.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 8:23 PM

back in the late fifties my dad owned a dairy queen in torrington,ct.and he belonged to the local kiwanis.the club sponsored a pro wrestling night in the summers.great fun to attend for the kids.someone in the club spotted the same type of arrival of the participants and told my dad.all together in the same non-descript cars smoking cigars and laughing.it was a little disappointing for us kids,but we still loved the show and cheered for the good guys and booed the bad guys-haystacks calhoun,the sheik,scull murphy,killer kowalski,chief big heart and little beaver,ricky starr,and others.my dad knew it was just a show,but his dad,like your's,was a faithful fan.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpgmilitary_donation.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

null


Sometime around 1977 or so, a friend of mine living in


May 2, 2022, 8:32 PM

Charleston talked me into going to see wrestling at the old Charleston County Hall one time. The only name I remember seeing was Gene Andersen. He was once part of the famous "Minnesota Wrecking Crew, The Andersen Brothers". But, by then, he had gotten older, and had been replaced by Arn Andersen in the big time tag team. But, he hung around for awhile as a "dark" (nontelevised matches) singles performer.

The one thing I remember, which had to be scripted? Gene got thrown out of the ring several times, and each time, it seemed to be right in front of this older black lady sitting in the front row at ringside. Every time he got close to where she was sitting, she started whacking him with her closed umbrella! The crowd went wild.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 8:36 PM [ in reply to Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store" ]

Back in the day early 80’s flew from Charlotte to LA sat beside Jim Cornett who was the “Manager” of some of the talent . He was in coach and the talent rode in first class. All Buddy Buddy till the plane landed.

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 8:37 PM [ in reply to Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store" ]

Back in the day early 80’s flew from Charlotte to LA sat beside Jim Cornett who was the “Manager” of some of the talent . He was in coach and the talent rode in first class. All Buddy Buddy till the plane landed.

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 10:22 PM

Most of us young folks who grew up in the 40s, 50s and 60s quickly learned when to talk and when to keep one's trap shut. I, too, learned some valuable lessons in the early years from my Father and Uncles on when to talk and when to listen. Those type of educations stick with a fellow even when he is pushing 80 years old. Go Tigers.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Re: Here's a real story, amongst all the fake "grocery store"


May 2, 2022, 11:18 PM

If you worked at a gas station in Santee, you also sold fireworks, right ?

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Only on the "run up" to July 4th. That reminds me, they had


May 3, 2022, 9:58 AM

an "ID system" set up on their cash registers inside the store. Items were labeled X, XX, ###, or XXXX. Sounds like ####, but what it was in this case was MARKUP. The higher the number of X's, the higher the markup. XXXX items were 500% OR MORE markup.

They did a lot of "one off" type sales, too. I remember uncrating, washing, labeling sets of ceramic salt and pepper shakers they had bought from somewhere in South America. They literally paid ~a DIME per set. They sold them for several DOLLARS a set. They were one of the XXXX items.

Selling things to tourists is like shooting fish in a barrel. They are already on vacation, PRIMED to spend money on things they normally wouldn't give a second look. It was no different back then.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


I didn't know Loves even existed, back in the early seventies!


May 2, 2022, 11:29 PM



2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

As I previously said, they had not one, but TWO locations


May 3, 2022, 10:12 AM

in Santee, SC at the time, literally almost within rock throwing distance of each other. At this point in time, I-95 had not been completed all the way. It stopped at the Santee area, and all traffic had to funnel off onto Highway 301, which was the old "preferred route" up the east coast from Florida to points north.

When that stretch of I-95 was finally completed, and opened, a few years later, I found out that our gas station pumps were literally mounted on a trailer frame. I found this out, because, since the stations had lost their "prime" locations due to the traffic shift, Love Gas sent crews in with jackhammers, busted up the concrete and asphalt, dug them out, put the tires back on the trailers, and DROVE THE PUMPS UP OUT OF THE GROUND, and relocated them somewhere else, closing down both stations.

Nothing but some random pavement exists of the one I worked at. The "building" portion of the other one is still there. It is named "Fantasyland", if I remember correctly. I believe it is an "Adult" Bookstore. Never been in it, but I suspect books are probably not the primary thing being sold.

You know, there probably used to be twenty or MORE classic southern "Truck Stops" around the Santee area before I-95 opened up. Within a year after it opened, there had been a FREAKISH outbreak of building fires in the area, which consumed just about every one of them. A huge mystery, for shore.

2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Great story/recount


May 3, 2022, 1:17 AM

Suspended belief? What are you getting at?

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Replies: 10
| visibility 1,663
Archives - Tiger Boards Archive
add New Topic