I used to embroider a blue X on the corner of “my” handkerchiefs so my husband wouldn’t take them if he decided to take stuff out of the dryer. It didn’t work.
I’ve worked for the City of Grand Rapids as a library page, 20 hours a week, for over twenty years, and can’t join the city workers’ union because my job is considered “seasonal.” I like my job, and when I started working there, I was making more than I did working retail. At 75, I doubt that I could get another job.
Way back before Michigan had a 10-cent deposit on bottles and cans, the lady who owned Lutinski’s Market would give us 2 cents for every pop bottle kids brought in. She didn’t charge 2 cents on the nickel bottles of pop she sold. She also had a penny gumball machine that had a few special gumballs that we could exchange for a candy bar.
I “ruined” Christmas for my in-laws one year. I wrapped everyone’s present in white paper, wrote “GIFT” on the packages with a black marker, wrote “contents: something for Jane or something for Ann” and drew a fake barcode on the back. Even though the gifts were things they asked for, my sisters-in-law (women in their 20s) were not amused.
I’ve offended the nannybot with words I never considered obscene.