A BLIND DATE
Ever since I made a post entitled "Now and Then" I have been thinking about "Then."

It was in the summer of 1947 when I was unemployed and looking for a change of pace from the dull office job that I had worked at for five years.

My cousin was an accountant for a prominent restaurant in the Boston area that had a concession at the Suffolk Downs Race Track. She knew that I was looking for work and asked me if I would like to work at the track selling cigars and cigarettes at the club house. I jumped at the chance!

What an education that was for me. I saw employees who were working for minimum wages throwing their money away on the races. They thought they could beat the system, but of course they always lost.

One afternoon a charming older gentleman stopped by to make a purchase, we got to talking and he told me about his son who had recently returned from the service. "Would I be interested in meeting his son?" I don't recall even hesitating and said "yes."

Sure enough his son called me and we arranged to meet. Well, his son was not as good looking as his dad but he was a charmer. He introducted me to foreign films, free programs at the Boston Public Library, Ford Hall Forum and college theatre. He didn't have much money but he knew what was available in the Boston area.

That was not the man I married but he turned out to be a good blind date.

Do young people go on blind dates today?

posted by millie garfield @ 2:39 PM | Permalink | I LOVE COMMENTS >>