Things you were shockingly old when you learned

yes and no? if there's a lot of markup, sure, but fancy cocktails have significant prep time

just pouring booze in a glass with little or no garnish is pretty economical

yeah I guess that's true

Doesn't any cocktail still contain at least one shot of liquor? It seems like it would be even more economical to just push people to drink shots. xp

which definitely is a thing

i remember being in my 20s waiting for someone at a very busy bar, and as this was LOL pre-mobile phones i literally had nothing to do other than sit at the end of the bar watching people. this was also when bars generally didn't take cards. the amount of money that i saw being passed over the bar just floored me. hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the space of minutes. i was like man, this is the fuckin racket.

but the joy man the joy

tbh i wanna go back home and run a small pub

That the specials board in a restaurant is mainly leftover food which they need to get rid of.

I've heard that before (I think it entered widespread consciousness through Kitchen Confidential), yet it often seems to me that there's some fish or meat on the "specials" menu that isn't on the regular menu at all.

sometimes that's because the wholesaler had leftover meat and offered the restaurant a discount

i remember being in my 20s waiting for someone at a very busy bar, and as this was LOL pre-mobile phones i literally had nothing to do other than sit at the end of the bar watching people.

apparently you were shockingly old when you learned you should never go to a bar without a book to read

I was in my late teens before I learned that a movie clapboard was not just for effect or some vestige of "Old Hollywood" but was used to synchronize the sound reels with the film during editing. For some reason, since projected film had a soundtrack on the side, I assumed it was just recorded that way as well.

super 8 was!

it was probably 22 before I realized when you pump gas you can put up that little lever to hold the pump in place and let go and let it pump itself until you're done

wasted all that time squeezing the lever

so THAT's why you have one muscular arm

i still squeeze the pump--I don't trust the little lever.

anyone seen these in the uk?

I think they're even illegal in some states.

I don't trust the lever thing either. The one time I tried to use it didn't go very well.

the lever works, trust the lever

lol wait what happened enbb

zoolander

lol I've had it get stuck a few times and pump an extra dollar or so unintentionally

I have never had it fail me, except for one glitchy sensor where it kept popping instantly

if it does fail, that means gas is pouring out the side of the car, right?

lol I think so. I don't think I've ever had it happen though.

the lever on a freezing day when you have no gloves or wanna sit in your car > no lever

sometimes I just start the car and start driving before the gas is done pumping

I have a friend whose scatterbrained mother drove off with the nozzle from the gas pump still attached to her car. Multiple times.

do they charge extra for that

I think you get in some small amount of trouble, but not enough trouble to remember the next time

i have been guilty on a few occasions of wedging gas cap into handle in lieu of lever. I have no illusions that this is safe or anything

I was a busdriver in college and one time drove several blocks from the lot with diesel gushing out (cap was not securely on). A car pulled up beside me and started yelling "you're leaking!"

and then his car exploded

I didn't know about the little lever until today.

I have yet to have a problem with the lever. If anything, it usually pops out too soon.

I usually siphon by mouth tbh

http://images.scribblelive.com/2014/3/9/1e3dc019-c48d-4b52-8ef5-cf9bd86964df_800.png

I was in my late teens before I learned that a movie clapboard was not just for effect or some vestige of "Old Hollywood" but was used to synchronize the sound reels with the film during editing.

LOL i only learned this a MONTH ago when my bf was making a short film, and was vexed over how to sync the (seperately recorded) audio with the iphone video and frend Nick goes "just use the clapboard dude" and I went OMG LIGHTBULB.

This happened to me exactly once

The gas gushing I mean

I was 37 when I learned the thing Trayce just posted.

because I learned it today

at 7:20 pm ET

Yah cos the "SNAP" sound makes a sharp spike in the audio editor which is "oh course, duh" and I dunno why I never thought about it before.

For a very long time - well into responsible salaried adulthood - I knew about the gas-pump lever, but felt like it was a splurgey extravagance to use it most of the time.

When I was younger, it was normal to pay for gas with cash (and to not have very much cash). So if you had precisely $10 to spend on gas, you meticulously squoze the handle while watching the counter intently.

$9.90 (squeeze), $9.93 (squeeze), $9.95 (squeeze), $9.96 (squeeze), $9.97 (squeeze), $9.98 (squeeze), $10.01 "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Nowadays everything is credit/debit cards and filling it up, so I've relaxed somewhat, but I will never forget that lost art.

$9.90 (squeeze), $9.93 (squeeze), $9.95 (squeeze), $9.96 (squeeze), $9.97 (squeeze), $9.98 (squeeze), $10.01 "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Otm.

I still do this quite regularly btw (I tend to still pay for most things w/ cash)

While we're talking about gasoline-related trivia, I don't know if I was shockingly old when I discovered this or if it's a relatively recent development but apparently most/all gas hoses are connected to the pumps with some magnetic mechanism that allows them to easily disconnect in the event of someone mindlessly driving off with the nozzle still jammed in the side of their car. And no, thankfully, I did not learn this the hard way.

I was in my 40s (i.e. this decade) when I learned what the UK's "O-levels" and "A-levels" actually stood for.

I always use the gas pump lever because it gives me enough time to use the squeegee to clean the windshield.

it says "do not leave unattended" but imo just lock that little lever in place and then run into the store to buy a soda and chips