[KAPital PHINUst]

Oh, I most definately know what it's like to go without. Having to forego field trips due to lack of funds, oh yeah. Utility disconnections, been there done that (electric disconnection Monday Sept 9, 1985 that lasted 4 days, and gas shut off due to old pipes and water heater system 9/28/89 that lasted about 3 weeks).

Having to scrape up change to buy a 43 cent pack of Hostess Chip Flips (which were IMHO so delicious) or a 25 cent Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie (this was circa 1983-85).


I remember being promised an allowance of 30 cents for each time I emptied a “loaded” mousetrap (and amassing close to $10—in 1982 dollars, mind you, within a month’s time that my mother never paid me for). Subsequently, I never had to empty any more mousetraps after that. About a year later, I was given an allowance of $1 per week and was paid every 2 weeks—which lasted maybe a couple of months before that came to an end. I received for my 10th birthday a whopping $2.25 in cash—6 months later I visited my Aunt Rozina in Pittsburgh and she game me $5 for no reason at all. I thought I was big ballin’ for a kid.

I was so accustomed to making chump change, if I ever had over $10 in my pocket at any given time; I thought I was a millionaire (or close to it).

When I was 12 years old, I amassed $15 in birthday money so I opened up my first savings account at Bank Ohio (now National City) and got my own little bankbook. I thought I was the MAN—until the bank started charging my account $5 a month in bogus service fees. My mother promptly closed the account and reimbursed me the $5. What the fuss kinda gangster mess was that? A big bank such as Bank Ohio charging a kid such bogus fees. Was someone on the pipe to be doing stuff like that?


Wearing clothes from Charity Newsies, did that too. Having food with the white box and black lettering that just said "CEREAL" or "BEANS" ala Chris Rock's stand-up bit, I can relate, and not just the government-issued food, but from a now-defunct chain supermarket called Big Bear that had no-name brand food.

Buying groceries on credit from a corner store called Little Giant, (I bet some of you young folk didn't know you could do such a thing). My family went off welfare in 1986 and I felt a burden being lifted off the family as a result.

I remember being “upgraded” from free to reduced price school lunches in 10th grade. I also remember at the age of 14 being denied a summer job via my city’s Private Industry Council because my family made too much money. I actually found that denial a thinly veiled compliment and was actually flattered.

I also remember eating free box lunches in the summertime at the local Recreation and Parks summer program at the local playgrounds and recreation centers. Does any other city besides mine have something to that effect? You gotta love those turkey sandwiches that smelled like someone’s B.O.

I remember as a teenager, my appetite starting to grow. Those portions Mom gave me as a kid wasn't cutting it anymore. The one thing I remember inventing to eat to hold me over until dinner was a "spice pizza", which was a slice of toasted bread with ketchup, numerous spices from the spice cabinet (chili powder, onion powder, etc.) salami bits, and government cheese all toasted in the toaster oven and served hot. Delicious!!

But for what it was worth, my family did without many things, but we were never evicted, and we never went hungry. Praise God.