Vox Populi
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Mel Packer: Hots and a Cot
Payphone only cost a dime in 1963 Wickenburg Arizona where I had bedded down courtesy of the local police willing to let an 18-year-old hitchhiker looking for work sleep the night "But we'll have to lock you in... Regulations, ok?" Beat the street sleeping on my last dime Waitress at the diner sent me after she apologetically told me “I gotta close up now” after feeding me for free But go see the cops up the street tell them I sent you So sure, lock the door I need a place to sleep tonight ‘Cuz I gotta call that dude ranch advertising in the paper for a dishwasher first thing in the morning My last dime went into that payphone at the diner old style even had a door folded me in Didn't need privacy I needed a job place to sleep maybe guaranteed meals And it all matched up apparently job qualification was minimal ability to operate a pay phone answer questions in English "Slim" drove into town and picked me up at the diner I was hired. $125/month Three hots and a cot In exchange for 60+ hours a week for the next few months me, Eddie, and Slim up to our elbows in hot water and steam But I ate And I slept And I even got drunk Once in awhile
(c) 2023 Mel Packer
Mel Packer is a long-time peace, justice, and environmental activist in Pittsburgh.
Vox Populi 
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I was born in 1963 in Wickenburg, Arizona. I remember the first time I saw a payphone. It cost a dime to use it. The police let me sleep on the street for a night to get a job. I was so lucky. I got a job at the diner. The waitress told me she had to close up now. I was so grateful. I went to see the police up the street. They told me I sent you. They were sure I could sleep at the ranch. I hope I can get a job there. Maybe they will give me a job with a minimum qualification. I need a place to sleep tonight. I was born in 1963 in Wickenburg, Arizona. I remember the first time I saw a payphone. It cost a dime to use it. The police let me sleep on the street for a night to get a job. I was so lucky. I got a job at the diner. The waitress told me she
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Mel:
I’ll soon click that link the story further. As I was finishing a response, the damn thing just took off and I wasn’t sure it got sent, but am grateful to hear your reply and will follow up!
—Sean
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Love it!
There was special knowledge and special love functioning in the woodwork, and, (at least if you were white, perhaps male), so much less danger abroad. Have we made all this go away or is it a natural progression [regression] in the parcel of who we are?
I’d lend you a dime if you could call and tell me.
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Thanks Sean, I like your comment. And yes, I am both male and white, 77yo, and have benefited from the first two my entire life and am well aware of that privilege. This is a true account of the time I wound up in Wickenburg AZ with just a dine in my pocket after quitting high school (second time) halfway thru my senior year simply because I was bored and failing (again). This was prior to the years of college age folks wandering in a backpack and I met no other people on the road except those willing to pick up a clean-cut white hitchhiker with a sign on the suitcase that probably said “West”. I had some influences from reading the Beats, and somehow thought I could “ship out” from a port in CA. I made CA, but how I then left and hit AZ is another story and not that interesting, nor were the grifters who persuaded me to head that way. Thanks for the offer of a dime, and if I needed one, I’d call you, if I had your number, and if I could find a payphone that now probably takes half a buck and also probably doesn’t work. Have we regressed or progressed? A loaded question that requires long discussion over lots of coffee or maybe an occasional beer. I should stop now before I grab another morning coffee and allow it to delude me into thinking that anything I’m writing here is of value…. If you’re still reading (a glutton for punishment perhaps) and want to hear more about my hitchhiking thru the South and having a life-changing event, click on this link to our Pittsburgh StoryCorps. https://www.wesa.fm/storycorps/2017-06-04/storycorps-pittsburgh-mel-packer
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