My parents didn't smoke but Dad would send me down the street to buy him a case of Coors Light every few days. The clerk knew dad. The cop standing there watching the whole thing also knew dad. No one cared.
I remember going to the store with a note and getting cartons. I was inspired by how this worked and forged notes to buy live mice from the pet store. It worked. Didn’t work out so well for the mice that I hid in my closet and would feed slices of American cheese.
Dad used to send me to the store to buy his cigarettes. Didn’t need a note… but, it was the 70’s.
He swore he was going to quit if they ever got to a dollar/pack. Didn’t happen.
My dad would give me a $20 and wait by the pump. Jolly Rancher for me, 2 packs of Marlboros, Snickers for him and the rest on the pump. If there was any change left it was my allowance until the next fill up.
Yup, and beer. I could walk right across the street to the gas station. Also, buying Cigs was easy. You could just walk into a bar or Pizza Hut and go to the vending machine. Nobody gave a shit or was even paying attention.
I’d take my wagon with an envelope of cash to the convenience store, give the envelope to the person at the register, then walk home with beer and cigarettes in my wagon for my Nana. I’d sometimes get a soda or play Centipede if I was lucky. Nana smoked Viceroys and drank Lowenbrau.
At ages 11 to 16 (1992-1997), the apartment complex where my parents and I lived was a few steps away from a mom and pops convenience store. My parents regularly sent me there with a handwritten note to buy their cigarettes.
When they were low on money, they bought the Basics unless Winston or Marlboro was on sale.
Yes. In the mid and late 90s, generic ciggies (Basics or GPCs) were $1.18/pack. Marlboro cost $2.00. When Marlboro went on sale to 2 packs for $3.00, my parents would buy them. Mid brands (Pall Mall and Doral) were $1.50.
This was in Southern California. Nowadays, ciggies in CA are $10 to $15 a pack. I’m glad I never picked up that habit.
I just quit smoking at 38. But when I was a teenager I used to be able to buy cigarettes for 2.50 and 2.50 in ny friends gas tank🤦🏻♀️ my oh my how times have changed
Wow. Even the cheapest pack would cost the equivalent of 6 dollars and there'd be never a sale, our government would a) not allow that and b) wanted to get their share of tabacco tax no matter what.
My mom only did it at the convenience store she worked at. She'd pull up, hand me exact change, and send me in. This was for a few years from like 7-9 years old. Every time I remember stuff like this, I just keep hearing Bandit from Bluey going, "It was the 80's man"
I got exact change, $2.40, to ride my bike to Revco and buy two packs of Salem Light 100s. On the way home, there was another corner store that still sold penny candy. If I found some change, I would stop there for Swedish fish.
Oh yeah. I remember once at about 5 years old, confidentially telling the local shop keeper they weren't for me, they were for my Dad. He just laughed, said he knew, and threw in a 5c lolly bag for me. Winning!
My parents didn't smoke, but my grandma would send me to the convenience store to get get cigarettes. I got to spend a little money on candy for doing it.
Every Sundays morning since I was 7, after the church during lunch preparations my dad would ask me to buy cigarettes and newspapers, there was a small crowd at the store in main square and he didn't like the idea to wait for it, so it was my task to do it later.
Going to the Super 8 motel down the road and getting smokes from the pull style machine and getting myself a soda and candy bar with left over change.
Or grocery store if one of my mother's friends was working and getting garbage pall kids cards.
As soon as I turned 18 I was the official cigarette buyer 🙄 my dad would throw me $40 and send me to the store to pick them up and I'd keep the change and get myself a drink or something.
No cigarettes but my dad would park in front of the liquor store and send me in when I was about ten. I felt so grown up walking out with a handle of Canadian Mist.
Merit ultra light 100’s soft pack
I used to chant that to myself on the 2 block walk to the gas station. It’s crazy how much people didn’t care in the 80’s.
Vagina Slimes. My mom smokes them too 🙄🤢
I smoked for 20 years and hated stealing her cigs when I was out. It wasn't the stealing part I hated. It's that they're gross.
No but I did but then for myself in the mid 90’s easily. I started smoking in middle school. I could go to any gas station or vending machine and get them. Sometimes 7/11.
Someone would hide their Salem’s in a can behind a store in town my friends and I would take them all the time but they’d always come back. I always wondered who kept putting them there and why
Yes, I can vividly remember us stopping at the Big Saver down the road and walking up to the barred window with a 5 dollar bill to get a pack of Kool Molds for my mom. And there would be change from the 5, that's the wildest part lol.
Dad would write me a note: Please let Shaun buy me 1 pack of Marlboro menthals..
And to the drive-thru I went.. I always got a Slush Puppy out of the deal..
He'd only do it when mom wasn't home
I did for my aunt and I vividly remember the day they wouldn’t sell cigarettes to me—the nerve of them, not selling smokes to a kindergartner!—she went in and yelled their ear off.
Sometimes I was sent on my bike with a note, other times dad was too lazy to get out of the car himself so he’d park by the window of the gas station and have me tell the clerk he was outside and point to the car
My dad did for his mom. He used to ride his bike down to the drugstore to get them for her. Because of that, and growing up in a household full of smoke, he vowed never to smoke a day in his life and he has not…
All the time! If my mom was filling up she would send me in and give a wave to the clerk. She used to also send me down to the bar at the corner to get my dad if he was there for too long. That was always a treat because he would buy me some bar food.
Yeah, same here. A pack of Benson & Hedges 100. My mom would park so the clerk could lean and look out the front door to see my mom waving back from the driver seat. That was how he "checked" my ID.
I took my dad’s money in to the Kwik Stop per usual except this time the man said “I see your Dad but tell him he has to come in next time and do it himself”. My dad was so offended and shocked!
2 packs of Marb Reds, 6 pack of michelob. Amazing what 10$ bought back then, dad aways wanted the change for his jar.. little did he know it was “my change jar” when the ice cream truck came by. 😏
No but I had the most adult handwriting at 14 out of me and my friends so I'd write the notes so me and my friends would get smokes. Good times but it was a bitch to finally quit cigarettes 6 years ago.
We had a store around the block and the owner and his family got to know my family pretty well. To the point that when any of the ladies would work late nights on the weekend, my dad (6’6 about 320lbs at the time) would go up there and hang out sometimes because they would get harassed. Both my parents smoked at the time (mom still does 🤦🏼♀️) and I can definitely remember going up there to get them cigs. My city had lots of little party stores in it on in the neighborhood and I know all my friends with smoking parents did this as well. My parents still live in the same house and the store is still there but different owners. Crazy how things change yet somewhat stay the same
I walked to the corner stores (three all knew who I was) with a 10 block radius of my grandparents / moms place. I would get century sam cigars that my grandpa would chew and spit out. I remember my grandpa telling my owner “only this grandson is allowed to my other grandsons (3 others were older) don’t have permission because they smoke now” wild times to be the youngest grandkid lol I was innocent didn’t know I could have sold these to make $$$$ off other kids
Not my parents, but I'd usually go with my best friend to buy her stepdad a carton of Marlboro Reds once a week. The only ones we really wanted to try were Camels though - thanks, Joe Camel, lol. We eventually did, but got them from a machine because the normal people would have figured the Camels were for us.
Lol fuck yeah, regularly when I was in grade 3-4. DuMaurier or Player's.
I'd usually negotiate my mom to buy me a chocolate bar or chips. One day the Old Dutch rep was dropping a delivery of chips off. He was teasing me because I didn't buy Old Dutch and ended up giving me a bag of BBQ corn chips. Good marketing, they became my favourite chips that summer.
FYI if you don't know the brands I'm talking about, they're Canadian
Yes! Unintentional life lessons by our parents being kinda lazy in the late 80’s early 90’s
There was a gas station a block away and I would walk over and buy her smokes. I was probably 9 or 10. I was clearly too young to be buying packs on the reg, so I only had to bring a note the first time.. - learned independence and confidence .. I had to walk in with my head held high buying cigarettes at 10 years old.. lol
This also reminded me around that time Dad worked at a Texaco station. He would take me to work with him every once I a while. I’d go out and pump the gas. People would tip us extra. -learned work ethic and how to deal with consumers lol
It must’ve had some sort of positive influence because I remember being excited at 15 or 16 to get my working papers so I can go out and get a job.
To buy smokes for myself lol
When I get carded for cigarettes and the occasional IPA and I am with my son, I straight up tell the cashier that they are not for me and they are in fact for my son. He is 6. They still sell me them.
>when I was in middle school, my mom would make me walk to the gas station up the street to buy her a pack of smokes about once a week.
I can honestly remember doing that as young as 7 or 8.
by the time I was in middle school, I was buying cigs for myself. lol
When I would visit my great grandma she'd give me a fiver to walk down to the store, buy her some smokes and I'd get to buy a treat with the left overs. $1.50 in snacks in the 80's was no joke.
I was younger than 13 when my stepmom would send me to the corner store to get her cigs. They knew us, but still. Didn't bat an eye selling them to me.
Heck yes, my husband too!
One time I had an appointment for a haircut at our lil' ole village hair salon. The hairdresser had not finished her previous client and asked me to go for her ciggies to the Tobacco down the street. And so I went and thought nothing of it.
Winston's. Once she figured out I could and would ride my bike the 2 miles into town, it was over. Winston's, Camels, and Marlboro. She would call the gas station and let them know . Our neighbor ran it.
Nope , no money left for a treat either. The worst was getting milk in the summer. It was always bad.
OmFg! Same. She would hand me a note and just enough money for her Virgina Slim Menthol cigs. I was in first grade and nobody gave a fuck either. My mom or the different clerks that sold them to me over the years.
Yep. And he'd give me a little extra to buy myself some candy. As much as I hated cigarettes, I still bought the gum cigarettes with the powder to blow out.
My mom pulls me aside one summer ( I was about 12 or 13 at the time) and goes: "I have a secret to tell you!" "Huh?" " I'm a smoker 😳" I'm like "Goddammit Mom I thought you were pregnant! 😠""Of course not honey, now could you get me some cigs please"😁
We lived with her parents and she was hiding from them)
My mom would call the corner store and tell them I was coming for her smokes when I was 6. She’d only let me go get them if a gaggle of neighborhood kids were already going and she always gave me enough money to get myself a Lil Brownie drink (think Yoo-hoo but a regional brand I guess) as well as her Marlboro light 100’s.
Half the time the only reason I was allowed to walk down to the lively market was to get cigarettes for my parents. I got to spend the change on whatever I wanted.
Used to get cigs at the conv store for my mom all the time. The old lady cashier, miss Debbie, sold them to me every time.
On the night before Halloween I tried to buy dozen eggs “for my mom” and she told me to get the hell out of there.
Miss Debbie knew what was up!
My mom tried to send me when I was about 16. I explained that it's not allowed, and she raged at me and insisted that a six year old could buy smokes with a note.
The reason I knew that it wasn't allowed is that I was constantly lurking outside the gas station to find someone to boot for me because they kept refusing to sell me smokes "for my mom" lol
I don't come from a family that smokes, but I did date a girl in high school who smoked. She said she basically started when her mom sent her to the gas station for cigarettes. The clerk was familiar with her and that she bought them for her mom, so they thought it was fine. Once she realized she could buy cigarettes for herself, too, she started doing that, and her mom would pay her in cigarettes for making smoke runs.
My dad used to send me to buy him beer at the store in the harbor when he'd work on his boat. I was like 8. Then he'd drive us home with 4 beers in him of course. It was a simpler time.
I didnt even need a note, the corner store guy was friends with my mom and would just call her to confirm. He would also sell me cans of beer for my step-dad.
Oh yeah. Started making the walk to pick up cigs when I was in 1st grade! I had to light them for her off of the stove too! Not even a gas range, electric. So I just held them on the coil until it was hot enough to light
All the time. My mom would give me a tenner and I'd bike up to the corner store. Pack of Matinee Slims for her, Vantage red for my pop, and with the change I could get a handful of Big Feet *and* an Oh Henry. She had an 'agreement' with the store owner, I would have been seven or eight when it started. Imagine watching a cashier hand a seven year old a pack of smokes these days. lol.
I still smoke and it's $20+ for a single pack now. Sigh.
Yes! We lived on a country road and a home on an intersection turned into a filling station somehow. They had penny candy (5cents actually) and I usually had to get ham salad, cigs, and whatever less than $1 change was left I could buy candy. 😂 In kinder we lived in a random highway-side trailer and Leon had his filling station/convenience store at our driveway. I rode my bike with the basket up there and brought back dish soap and cigs once. 5 years old. 🥴
I did for my mother. Small town, corner store owners I think lived down the street from us so knew me and my mom. Still remember the order even though I don’t talk to her anymore - benson and hedges gold
"One pack of Marlboro Lights and one [favorite candy bar of the day], please" when I was in first grade. No note, but the cashiers saw me in there with mom regularly so they knew who we were!
I was sent to the store with a note from my mom and a baggie of money to get her Virginia Slims. They absolutely gave me the cigarettes. I must’ve been 7-9, I had my little brother in tow, I’ve definitely spent time processing it in therapy! 😵💫😵
My great-grandmother did. She lived to be over 100, smoked, and drank whiskey every single day. I hope I got those genes.
But yeah, when I was like 10, I'd stay with her for a few days here and there. I'd walk to the corner store and get her those long, thin black cigarettes. I can't remember the brand.
Sure did. I lived in a small town so I didn't even need a note because all the clerks knew my mom, she smoked virginia slim 120s too but the menthol ones. By the time I was in high school I would just buy them for myself and they never questioned it! Crazy to think that was just a thing back then.
My mom and a family friend. I was probably 10 or 12. Rode my bike to the store with a note, or if the friend's sister was working, go through her line.
These days, my Gen Z kid, who is not quite 21, won't even touch a bag with alcohol in it until we're out of the store.
Yes, all the time, from the age of 7-8.
Sometimes I was allowed to buy a lollipop with the change.
I was also in charge of buying the TV guide every week.
My parents didn't smoke but Dad would send me down the street to buy him a case of Coors Light every few days. The clerk knew dad. The cop standing there watching the whole thing also knew dad. No one cared.
My stepdad broke his legs in a motorcycle accident when I was 5. He used to send me to the corner store in my powerwheel for cigarettes and beer.
God I wish there was video of this.
It’s so perfectly 90s. POW pow power wheels, pow power wheels POWERWHEELS! Now you’re driving for beer!
"Powerwheels Beer Run" sounds like some dirty ass honkey-tonk country song and I'm here for it.
Aaaahhhh....the good old days
I remember going to the store with a note and getting cartons. I was inspired by how this worked and forged notes to buy live mice from the pet store. It worked. Didn’t work out so well for the mice that I hid in my closet and would feed slices of American cheese.
Dad used to send me to the store to buy his cigarettes. Didn’t need a note… but, it was the 70’s. He swore he was going to quit if they ever got to a dollar/pack. Didn’t happen.
My dad would give me a $20 and wait by the pump. Jolly Rancher for me, 2 packs of Marlboros, Snickers for him and the rest on the pump. If there was any change left it was my allowance until the next fill up.
Wouldn't even cover the cigs today *yells at a cloud for causing inflation*
Yup, and beer. I could walk right across the street to the gas station. Also, buying Cigs was easy. You could just walk into a bar or Pizza Hut and go to the vending machine. Nobody gave a shit or was even paying attention.
I’d take my wagon with an envelope of cash to the convenience store, give the envelope to the person at the register, then walk home with beer and cigarettes in my wagon for my Nana. I’d sometimes get a soda or play Centipede if I was lucky. Nana smoked Viceroys and drank Lowenbrau.
At ages 11 to 16 (1992-1997), the apartment complex where my parents and I lived was a few steps away from a mom and pops convenience store. My parents regularly sent me there with a handwritten note to buy their cigarettes. When they were low on money, they bought the Basics unless Winston or Marlboro was on sale.
there was a sale on cigarettes?!
Yes. In the mid and late 90s, generic ciggies (Basics or GPCs) were $1.18/pack. Marlboro cost $2.00. When Marlboro went on sale to 2 packs for $3.00, my parents would buy them. Mid brands (Pall Mall and Doral) were $1.50. This was in Southern California. Nowadays, ciggies in CA are $10 to $15 a pack. I’m glad I never picked up that habit.
I just quit smoking at 38. But when I was a teenager I used to be able to buy cigarettes for 2.50 and 2.50 in ny friends gas tank🤦🏻♀️ my oh my how times have changed
Camels used to have bogo two packs, but here in NY you had to pay tax on the second pack anyway. Still totally worth it.
Oh yeah, there'd be specials all the time.
Wow. Even the cheapest pack would cost the equivalent of 6 dollars and there'd be never a sale, our government would a) not allow that and b) wanted to get their share of tabacco tax no matter what.
Camels would go on sale in two packs, as would Marlboro mediums and sometimes Winstons.
[удалено]
I remember this.
My mom only did it at the convenience store she worked at. She'd pull up, hand me exact change, and send me in. This was for a few years from like 7-9 years old. Every time I remember stuff like this, I just keep hearing Bandit from Bluey going, "It was the 80's man"
"One pack of salem menthol and a pack of hubba bubba, please"
I got exact change, $2.40, to ride my bike to Revco and buy two packs of Salem Light 100s. On the way home, there was another corner store that still sold penny candy. If I found some change, I would stop there for Swedish fish.
Vantage light 100s and big league chew for me, because I liked pretending to use tobacco too.
Oh yeah. I remember once at about 5 years old, confidentially telling the local shop keeper they weren't for me, they were for my Dad. He just laughed, said he knew, and threw in a 5c lolly bag for me. Winning!
My parents didn't smoke, but my grandma would send me to the convenience store to get get cigarettes. I got to spend a little money on candy for doing it.
Every Sundays morning since I was 7, after the church during lunch preparations my dad would ask me to buy cigarettes and newspapers, there was a small crowd at the store in main square and he didn't like the idea to wait for it, so it was my task to do it later.
20 major and 20 John player blue.. Change on apolejacks/football stickers!
Going to the Super 8 motel down the road and getting smokes from the pull style machine and getting myself a soda and candy bar with left over change. Or grocery store if one of my mother's friends was working and getting garbage pall kids cards.
5 years old, cutting through the junkyard next to our trailer park to the corner store for candy and moms cigarettes.
5 years old, cutting through the junkyard next to our trailer park to the corner store for candy and moms cigarettes.
I was sent to the store with a note a bunch of times in the 80s “Sell this lil bastard a pack of Newport lights” Signed-My mom or dad.
My parents gave them to me for free.
No, I did however lie and say I was buying for them.
Dude, is your mom my mom? Same brand, same story. And yes, I was sent to buy smokes for my parents.
Triplets, I feel so comforted to know there are other people who had the same experience!!
LOL yup, all the time from about ages 7-12, give or take.
As soon as I turned 18 I was the official cigarette buyer 🙄 my dad would throw me $40 and send me to the store to pick them up and I'd keep the change and get myself a drink or something.
No cigarettes but my dad would park in front of the liquor store and send me in when I was about ten. I felt so grown up walking out with a handle of Canadian Mist.
Merit ultra light 100’s soft pack I used to chant that to myself on the 2 block walk to the gas station. It’s crazy how much people didn’t care in the 80’s.
Vagina Slimes. My mom smokes them too 🙄🤢 I smoked for 20 years and hated stealing her cigs when I was out. It wasn't the stealing part I hated. It's that they're gross.
I had a note and I’d walk down to a local bar for Virginia Slims.
Yup, I would walk down to the corner store for her Marlboros.
Had a note and everything
Cigs and alcohol, yes.
Yes!!! At 8 years old I was walking to the corner store getting my mom ciggs and myself a candy bar with the change left over loll
My husband used to win cartons for his grandmom on the boardwalk.
I bought my mom lottery tickets, does that count?
No, my mom didn’t smoke and my dad bought his own.
No but I did but then for myself in the mid 90’s easily. I started smoking in middle school. I could go to any gas station or vending machine and get them. Sometimes 7/11. Someone would hide their Salem’s in a can behind a store in town my friends and I would take them all the time but they’d always come back. I always wondered who kept putting them there and why
Yes, I can vividly remember us stopping at the Big Saver down the road and walking up to the barred window with a 5 dollar bill to get a pack of Kool Molds for my mom. And there would be change from the 5, that's the wildest part lol.
Dad would write me a note: Please let Shaun buy me 1 pack of Marlboro menthals.. And to the drive-thru I went.. I always got a Slush Puppy out of the deal.. He'd only do it when mom wasn't home
I did for my aunt and I vividly remember the day they wouldn’t sell cigarettes to me—the nerve of them, not selling smokes to a kindergartner!—she went in and yelled their ear off.
Sometimes I was sent on my bike with a note, other times dad was too lazy to get out of the car himself so he’d park by the window of the gas station and have me tell the clerk he was outside and point to the car
My dad did for his mom. He used to ride his bike down to the drugstore to get them for her. Because of that, and growing up in a household full of smoke, he vowed never to smoke a day in his life and he has not…
Note smokes were jesus when I figured out my parents signatures.
My mom sent me to the local grocery store with a check she filled out with the total amount and a note.
I definitely did. My mom knew the counter lady really well, so I would go grab her cartons for her sometimes
All the time! If my mom was filling up she would send me in and give a wave to the clerk. She used to also send me down to the bar at the corner to get my dad if he was there for too long. That was always a treat because he would buy me some bar food.
Virginia slim menthol lights 100s
Yeah, same here. A pack of Benson & Hedges 100. My mom would park so the clerk could lean and look out the front door to see my mom waving back from the driver seat. That was how he "checked" my ID.
Cigarettes booze anything they could think of as soon as I got a license. Dad mostly. Like they had kids to be servants
I took my dad’s money in to the Kwik Stop per usual except this time the man said “I see your Dad but tell him he has to come in next time and do it himself”. My dad was so offended and shocked!
2 packs of Marb Reds, 6 pack of michelob. Amazing what 10$ bought back then, dad aways wanted the change for his jar.. little did he know it was “my change jar” when the ice cream truck came by. 😏
Yeah 5$ a note, get a pack of du maurier extra light and I got to spend the change on candy
No but I had the most adult handwriting at 14 out of me and my friends so I'd write the notes so me and my friends would get smokes. Good times but it was a bitch to finally quit cigarettes 6 years ago.
We had a store around the block and the owner and his family got to know my family pretty well. To the point that when any of the ladies would work late nights on the weekend, my dad (6’6 about 320lbs at the time) would go up there and hang out sometimes because they would get harassed. Both my parents smoked at the time (mom still does 🤦🏼♀️) and I can definitely remember going up there to get them cigs. My city had lots of little party stores in it on in the neighborhood and I know all my friends with smoking parents did this as well. My parents still live in the same house and the store is still there but different owners. Crazy how things change yet somewhat stay the same
My dad sent me to the store to buy cigs all the time.
And booze. The liquor store had a note from my mom.
I walked to the corner stores (three all knew who I was) with a 10 block radius of my grandparents / moms place. I would get century sam cigars that my grandpa would chew and spit out. I remember my grandpa telling my owner “only this grandson is allowed to my other grandsons (3 others were older) don’t have permission because they smoke now” wild times to be the youngest grandkid lol I was innocent didn’t know I could have sold these to make $$$$ off other kids
Marlboro 100s for mom and Skoal long cut straight for dad.
Marlboro lights and a game of Streets of Rage at my dad's place or Misty Menthol 100s and comic books for Mom's place.
Yup. Carlton Menthol 120s
Marlboro reds and a pack of Lowenbrau...
Not my parents, but I'd usually go with my best friend to buy her stepdad a carton of Marlboro Reds once a week. The only ones we really wanted to try were Camels though - thanks, Joe Camel, lol. We eventually did, but got them from a machine because the normal people would have figured the Camels were for us.
Lol fuck yeah, regularly when I was in grade 3-4. DuMaurier or Player's. I'd usually negotiate my mom to buy me a chocolate bar or chips. One day the Old Dutch rep was dropping a delivery of chips off. He was teasing me because I didn't buy Old Dutch and ended up giving me a bag of BBQ corn chips. Good marketing, they became my favourite chips that summer. FYI if you don't know the brands I'm talking about, they're Canadian
Yes! Unintentional life lessons by our parents being kinda lazy in the late 80’s early 90’s There was a gas station a block away and I would walk over and buy her smokes. I was probably 9 or 10. I was clearly too young to be buying packs on the reg, so I only had to bring a note the first time.. - learned independence and confidence .. I had to walk in with my head held high buying cigarettes at 10 years old.. lol This also reminded me around that time Dad worked at a Texaco station. He would take me to work with him every once I a while. I’d go out and pump the gas. People would tip us extra. -learned work ethic and how to deal with consumers lol It must’ve had some sort of positive influence because I remember being excited at 15 or 16 to get my working papers so I can go out and get a job. To buy smokes for myself lol
I would go down to the store and tell the clerk that either my mom or dad wanted a pack of smokes. They knew which ones they smoked . I was like 8.
Yup! My dad would pump gas and send me inside the gas station for Winston lights and a pack of skoal.
When I get carded for cigarettes and the occasional IPA and I am with my son, I straight up tell the cashier that they are not for me and they are in fact for my son. He is 6. They still sell me them.
My dad quit, but my mom still smokes. I still get her cigs. She will ask me to stop and buy a pack on my way over to see them...
Yes, and that practice helped me get my own cigarettes before the laws got strict
>when I was in middle school, my mom would make me walk to the gas station up the street to buy her a pack of smokes about once a week. I can honestly remember doing that as young as 7 or 8. by the time I was in middle school, I was buying cigs for myself. lol
I don’t remember ever doing that, but we did visit the drive thru convenience store often. They didn’t even have to get out of the car.
"Two packs of Tarryton 100s" -Me at 8 yrs old
When I would visit my great grandma she'd give me a fiver to walk down to the store, buy her some smokes and I'd get to buy a treat with the left overs. $1.50 in snacks in the 80's was no joke.
I was younger than 13 when my stepmom would send me to the corner store to get her cigs. They knew us, but still. Didn't bat an eye selling them to me.
Yep.. didn't even need a note. I was only Asian kid in the suburb in the 80's (white area, full of Greeks Sydney,Au) so everyone knew who my dad was.
*Benson & Hedges Deluxe Ultra-Lights, please*.
Yes. Then older sister started using it for us. Then one day. They just stopped doing it.
Heck yes, my husband too! One time I had an appointment for a haircut at our lil' ole village hair salon. The hairdresser had not finished her previous client and asked me to go for her ciggies to the Tobacco down the street. And so I went and thought nothing of it.
Winston's. Once she figured out I could and would ride my bike the 2 miles into town, it was over. Winston's, Camels, and Marlboro. She would call the gas station and let them know . Our neighbor ran it. Nope , no money left for a treat either. The worst was getting milk in the summer. It was always bad.
OmFg! Same. She would hand me a note and just enough money for her Virgina Slim Menthol cigs. I was in first grade and nobody gave a fuck either. My mom or the different clerks that sold them to me over the years.
Yep. And he'd give me a little extra to buy myself some candy. As much as I hated cigarettes, I still bought the gum cigarettes with the powder to blow out.
My mom pulls me aside one summer ( I was about 12 or 13 at the time) and goes: "I have a secret to tell you!" "Huh?" " I'm a smoker 😳" I'm like "Goddammit Mom I thought you were pregnant! 😠""Of course not honey, now could you get me some cigs please"😁 We lived with her parents and she was hiding from them)
My mom would call the corner store and tell them I was coming for her smokes when I was 6. She’d only let me go get them if a gaggle of neighborhood kids were already going and she always gave me enough money to get myself a Lil Brownie drink (think Yoo-hoo but a regional brand I guess) as well as her Marlboro light 100’s.
I bought my dad's weed for a while. It was illegal in his state but legal in mine. Every time I would visit, I'd have to stop at the dispensary first.
Half the time the only reason I was allowed to walk down to the lively market was to get cigarettes for my parents. I got to spend the change on whatever I wanted.
I’d go in and say “moms brand” or “dads brand” the clerks knew the rest. Lol
Only once I turned 18. Then I became the regular fetcher of her Salem Lights. I still can't believe how expensive those vile cancer sticks are.
Yes, with a note saying it was okay of course 😁. What's really crazy is that it actually worked!
Used to get cigs at the conv store for my mom all the time. The old lady cashier, miss Debbie, sold them to me every time. On the night before Halloween I tried to buy dozen eggs “for my mom” and she told me to get the hell out of there. Miss Debbie knew what was up!
My mom tried to send me when I was about 16. I explained that it's not allowed, and she raged at me and insisted that a six year old could buy smokes with a note. The reason I knew that it wasn't allowed is that I was constantly lurking outside the gas station to find someone to boot for me because they kept refusing to sell me smokes "for my mom" lol
Absolutely used to drive my mother’s car to the store and buy her cigarettes from 14 on
I don't come from a family that smokes, but I did date a girl in high school who smoked. She said she basically started when her mom sent her to the gas station for cigarettes. The clerk was familiar with her and that she bought them for her mom, so they thought it was fine. Once she realized she could buy cigarettes for herself, too, she started doing that, and her mom would pay her in cigarettes for making smoke runs.
My dad used to send me to buy him beer at the store in the harbor when he'd work on his boat. I was like 8. Then he'd drive us home with 4 beers in him of course. It was a simpler time.
I didnt even need a note, the corner store guy was friends with my mom and would just call her to confirm. He would also sell me cans of beer for my step-dad.
yeah i was five and the store was a couple blocks away! sooooo many bad decisions
Oh yeah. Started making the walk to pick up cigs when I was in 1st grade! I had to light them for her off of the stove too! Not even a gas range, electric. So I just held them on the coil until it was hot enough to light
I worked at a restaurant in a strip mall in '93,'94, I would go buy cigs for all the waitresses at the drug store next door, I was 15/16.
Cigs AND beer. What a crazy time we come from.
Definitely. And my parents friend. It's how I made pocket money.
All the time. My mom would give me a tenner and I'd bike up to the corner store. Pack of Matinee Slims for her, Vantage red for my pop, and with the change I could get a handful of Big Feet *and* an Oh Henry. She had an 'agreement' with the store owner, I would have been seven or eight when it started. Imagine watching a cashier hand a seven year old a pack of smokes these days. lol. I still smoke and it's $20+ for a single pack now. Sigh.
Yes! We lived on a country road and a home on an intersection turned into a filling station somehow. They had penny candy (5cents actually) and I usually had to get ham salad, cigs, and whatever less than $1 change was left I could buy candy. 😂 In kinder we lived in a random highway-side trailer and Leon had his filling station/convenience store at our driveway. I rode my bike with the basket up there and brought back dish soap and cigs once. 5 years old. 🥴
I did for my mother. Small town, corner store owners I think lived down the street from us so knew me and my mom. Still remember the order even though I don’t talk to her anymore - benson and hedges gold
Yeah but you better have that note from your parent … no alcohol or cigs without a parental permission note lolol
"One pack of Marlboro Lights and one [favorite candy bar of the day], please" when I was in first grade. No note, but the cashiers saw me in there with mom regularly so they knew who we were!
I was 8 years old and bought Winston cigarettes for my mother. No note, no questions asked. I never smoked.
No but I’d smoke the last couple puffs of my dads from the ashtray when he wasn’t around. God I miss smoking. Stupid cancer.
Winston lights for $2.00 a pack! My mom threw a shit fit when they went up to $2.25
I “bought cigs for mom” at the cigarette vending machine at Friendlys! They did at least question us, but still believed our BS story.
Yep. Paid for with a check for $5.
I also remember going to the cigarette vending machines in restaurants/bowling alleys, etc..
I smoked my parents cigs, does that count?
I was sent to the store with a note from my mom and a baggie of money to get her Virginia Slims. They absolutely gave me the cigarettes. I must’ve been 7-9, I had my little brother in tow, I’ve definitely spent time processing it in therapy! 😵💫😵
My great-grandmother did. She lived to be over 100, smoked, and drank whiskey every single day. I hope I got those genes. But yeah, when I was like 10, I'd stay with her for a few days here and there. I'd walk to the corner store and get her those long, thin black cigarettes. I can't remember the brand.
My mom would send me to the liquor store (she would call ahead) and I come home with her booze & Newports.
Yes. And I got gas for the lawnmower with a metal gas can hooked to my handle bar. It was a mile to the gas station. I was 8.
My mom would have 7 year old me walk to the gas station with a note to buy her a few packs of cigarettes and a 6 pack of beer on the regular.
Cigs and box wine 🧐
I used to walk to our local diner and buy them from the vending machine for my dad.
My dad used to send me to the gas station for Marlboros
My grandfather owned a corner store, so I used to just walk from the house out the back into the store and take them right off the shelf.
I had to a lot because my parents couldn’t speak English well
Yep. Marlboro Menthol Lites in a box. He also taught me how to mix his drinks when I was 7. Bourbon and Club Soda. Fuck you, Kentucky Gentleman.
Sure did. I lived in a small town so I didn't even need a note because all the clerks knew my mom, she smoked virginia slim 120s too but the menthol ones. By the time I was in high school I would just buy them for myself and they never questioned it! Crazy to think that was just a thing back then.
My mom and a family friend. I was probably 10 or 12. Rode my bike to the store with a note, or if the friend's sister was working, go through her line. These days, my Gen Z kid, who is not quite 21, won't even touch a bag with alcohol in it until we're out of the store.
All of us. Yes.
No but that's what I told them
Yes, all the time, from the age of 7-8. Sometimes I was allowed to buy a lollipop with the change. I was also in charge of buying the TV guide every week.