On an earlier thread about ice cream I remembered a snack that was sold at assemblies and that started me thinking about some of my memories of childhood at conventions/assemblies. I guess it was the taste/smell association because even today when I go to various convention halls for home improvement expos, car shows and the like it takes me right back to the past. I have many memories wrapped around the conventions and experienced different things because I have lots of elders in the family that were used, literally, for food service, the accounting office, security and dramas. As a kid that had limited play experience due to the upbringing, I remember some assemblies as big playgrounds and some as 'responsibilities' because I was required to work. Once those horrid plastic sandwich-making gloves came off it was time to explore and see how close I could come to getting into trouble (as much as a preteen true believer JW goody-two-shoes nerd could get). How about you? Do you have a memory or two to share? I'll start
I learned to make coffee at an assembly when I was 8. They used those huge percolator urns in those days that seemed to take an hour to brew. There's some fun for an 8 yr old, dealing with grumpy half-awake elders that had to work early who were ticked off that the coffee wasn't ready. That was back when they still took cash for food purchases. I remember jockeying with my siblings for the 'best' table to work. A sister with a cash drawer sat in the back and you told them how much the purchase was and handed them the money. They made change and gave it to you to return to the purchaser. I always tried to work the table with the prettiest sister (I said I was a nerd, not stupid) cashier. One morning I had sister olderthandirt at my table and she was so slow at returning change that my older brother was told to take over because the elder in charge thought it was my fault the line was so slow. Well that sent me off bawling my eyes out (hey, I was 8) wiping them on my fine faux silk clip-on tie, straight to my dad who was manning a contribution box. He showed me how to make change on the spot and I made a triumphant return at lunchtime. So when I had sister smellslikeshoes as my cashier I could walk up with the money and tell her how much the purchase was and how much to return to me to give back. Now that I think about it, making change is pretty good skill to have these days (thanks dad).
Another year we were recruited by a relative in the accounting office to sort food tickets. I guess they ran low on them so we had to go through bags of them and separate the full 10 ticket pages and re-staple them into new books. I find that odd now, given that we were working for a publishing company. So after working through an afternoon session assembling new ticket books the elder in charge picked up a random book and counted the pages. Yup, one page too many (it wasn't me I know how to count. I can even make change). They pulled some of the sisters at work counting the cash drawers to audit the newly made ticket books. NO way was there going to be a fortunate witless buy a ticket book with an extra dollar's worth of tickets. Two thoughts: if JW's are so honest wouldn't they have returned the extra page they didn't pay for AND how did they know that jehoobers direction didn't cause that ticket book to have that extra page so some starving pioneer could have a pudding and a sandwich? hmmm
Last one for now. I remember speaking with an elder relative who was assigned to the nightshift security squad at an assembly. Why? Because there was talk of the homeless in the downtown area trying to break in and steal. Steal what, the fine bound books before they were released the next day? The muffin-egg sandwiches or possibly the awesome apple danish (had to be the apple ones because there were always cheese danish left over they tried to sell by the box load after the final session)? Nope. The spirit gum that was used to attach the beards to the actors faces in the drama. Apparently spirit gum theft was so rampant at conventions that a MS was assigned to be 'in charge' of the spirit gum. I met the guy they assigned that year to watch over the stinky stuff. He was honored to have been asked.