The Old Union Bus Station

Today, I read a news report that Saturday they began demolishing the old Union Bus Sation building in downtown Oklahoma City to make way for a parking garage.  The old building is a classic of Art Deco Moderne architecture.  It brought back a rush of memories, some fond and one irritating.

When I was a teenager in 1943 I got a job as a baggage handler at the Union Bus Station where I actually received a paycheck.  I was paid the minimum wage of forty cents an hour.  They paid every two weeks.  I worked 80 hours and expected my check to be $32.  When I received my check it was $29 and change.  I complained there was a mistake.  I had worked 80 hours.  It was supposed to be $32.  Then came a teachable moment of reality.  It was explained to me that I was not entitled to the entire amount, that the government would first deduct income tax and FICA (social security).  I moaned that wasn't fair, it was my money not the government's.

I was royally ticked off and have been ever since.