Friday, December 5, 2025
Not sure how my incoming emails wind up with some of the junk that comes in, but I do get some weird stuff and I guess, once I open a few, they think it's okay to keep sending them. Some I like.
Like History Facts. This email comes about four times a day, loaded with so many odd facts or stories. The other day, it was about the milkman. Did you have one? We did. When I was growing up in North Bergen, we had that tin squared box that was lined with plastic insulation to keep the milk cold while sitting outside our front door .Every day, a guy would come, take the empty bottles out, which were quart sizes, and replace it with new bottles and fresh milk.
And this younger generation thinks they are the cat's meow with their Uber Eats! My Mom was one up on that.
Great system, until I got older. That milk delivery came with a cost. So, when my sister and I got a little older, we were trusted to walk a block, to the dairy that was right down the street. Hohneker's Dairy. I may be off on the spelling, but this big ass company was right there. Now it's all homes. What else did you think. Funny thing though, there is a factory diagonally across the street from the dairy lot, and it's still there. No clue what they make?
Now, the gallon of milk we were entrusted to walk a full block with, as an 8 year old, was made of glass and had a plastic handle that wiggled. I'm 8! Sometimes I showed up at the house with just the plastic handle. Stuff happens! I was only 8.
My reason to tell you about the milkman. Now that was in the early sixties. Sometime in the mid 90's we had a guy who was older than dirt, come work for us part time. His real job as they all like to say, was that of a "milkman". It brought me back to my childhood and that squared box.
The milkman was very dependable. Hey, do you realize how important it was to get that milk delivered before the break of dawn. We had every walk of life come through that door looking to work. We took them all, even the milkman.
Like the "water boy". Not Adam Sandler. We always thought we knew everything that was going on at Perfect Limo. Little did we know, chauffeurs are group of guys that, when at the airport or on jobs where they wait around, they have a lot extra time to talk about life. And the new guys that were hired.
One day I was talking to a few guys about a wedding they just got done with. I forget how the conversation actually went, but I mentioned a particular chauffeur by his first name, about how he did on the job.
The response, "yeah, the water boy was good, no problems with him. He wasn't wearing his jacket though."
The water boy? Turns out he worked for Poland Springs full time, yep, another part timer. Good thing these chauffeurs weren't around with the milkman! The good news, he was no longer called the "newbie".
Time Out magazine has their 'Coolest Street' in the world list out this week, and Orchard St. in NYC came in ninth place in the world and number one in America. Pretty cool! Now this is one more place I need to get to when visiting the city. Personally though, I always thought Mulberry Street was cool.
Also, how excited are you that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are getting married on June 13th, 2026? Yeah, me too!
John A Sutich
Just Another Story Blog
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