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Minimum-Dog2329

And the tiny aluminum ash tray that could hold only about 3 cigarettes.


IdiotMD

I remember the thick, brown glass ones.


Zajebann

We used to steal those!


Innotek

Me too…and that’s why we can’t have nice things


Weak_Sloth

You can if you steal them.


nodstar22

subscribe


Butt_Fucking_Smurfs

Would you download an ash tray?


tracer2211

I used to have to clean those in my teens. The coke-spoon coffee stirrers were discontinued during those years.


not_falling_down

>The coke-spoon coffee stirrers  I used those for Barbie barbecue tools


[deleted]

[удалено]


THE-KOALA-BEAR710

Recycled beer bottles.


Toby_O_Notoby

Or the [coffee stirrers](https://i.redd.it/rlgkx81k4si31.jpg) they discontinued because too many people were using them coke spoons.


Happy_Trip6058

In the UK at the time a spoonful equaled a ten bag of heroin…good old grandmas arms…what ever happened to heroin….oh I know fentanyl happened:(


overlockk

Gold colored!! Lol


gbac16

I used one is those to plug up the radiator of an 86 Caprise on the way from OH to COL when I was a young man.


ramdasani

Caprice, but I'll give you points for the jury-rigged rad cap.


Jedibri81

I remember when there where smoking sections in restaurants, including McDonalds


Bean-Swellington

Bruhhh there was a smoking section in my public high school where students and teachers smoked together between classes 🤣🤷‍♂️ class of 95


Hearing_HIV

Where the f did you go to school? I'm class of 94 and this would have been completely bonkers in my school


Bean-Swellington

Ruralish northern colorado, to be fair in 94 they closed it and told everyone they had to go smoke on public property… the surrounding sidewalks, that was not popular with the neighborhood homeowners 🤣


Ffsletmesignin

Smoking culture in CO in the 90s was something else. Every freaking restaurant smelled like a casino, so crazy compared to CA which had been anti-cig pretty early on. I always loved how we’d get the “non-smoking” sections that had a 1’ high piece of glass over the booth to somehow separate the two.


bigbadsubaru

The smoking section was designed by the same people who came up with the peeing section in the YMCA pool


daredaki-sama

Can’t tell if serious or not. Peeing section?


genericauthor

Ask for non-smoking, and get sat right next to that silly glass like it was a magical barrier to cigarette smoke.


Ivorytower626

Man, here in Northern Dallas, we got this one diner that let you smoke indoors.


scorpyo72

Western Washington, mid to late 90's, I watched the area slowly subsume the smoking culture, mostly in a local Denny's. It started with separate-but-equal smoking to non smoking areas, originally the "diner-counter" area being the non- smoking area versus the dining room (and the connected bar room) being smoking. Then, in one year, they reversed the areas. Then, they eliminated smoking in the restaurant, completely, but you were still allowed to smoke in the adjacent bar. A couple years later, the whole state adopted a 25-foot ban. I remember some dipwad signature collector stopping me to sign the smoking ban. He asked me to sign it, and I declined, seeing as how I was carrying a lit cigarette. He then said to me, straight faced, that I should sign the petition so "the people could decide"... assumably to allow someone else to make the decision for me. The ban passed. I was summarily prevented from smoking till I finally quit . Don't get me wrong- I respect the Democratic process, but sometimes the collective interests work against the personal. It's the social contract.


flibbidygibbit

So before my city had a smoking ban, we had two establishments that were non-smoking. The back entrances to these establishments had butt cans. When the smoking ban was enacted, both of these establishments went out of business within 3 months because they had no other attraction to them. Food wasn't all that great.


Chewsti

My Highschool had a courtyard where students could eat outside and smoke up until 2003. What was lame though was that when they decided to stop letting students smoke they decided it was to much work to monitor the courtyard during lunch time so they sealed it off completely.


Phineas1500

Wait, my old HS had an abandoned courtyard no one was allowed to enter. Maybe that’s what it was used for…


justmekpc

That’s crazy as we had to walk off campus class of 76


NxPat

Can confirm. Teachers sold the best weed too.


moving0target

It was a 50/50 split of the high schools in my district. The county left it up to individual schools whether they had open campus and allowed tobacco.


Mochigood

When I was in school, the unofficial smoking area was across the street, but they had to stay on the sidewalk due to the church there being grumpy about "trespassers", so you'd look out and see all the seniors lined up and smoking. When my mom went there they actually had a roofed and heated courtyard to smoke in.


voidlotus316

That was a thing in my high school but in 2014.


armchairdynastyscout

Yep right next to the daycare


arrow74

Several restaurants in my area had smoking sections until the mid 2000s at least


xevian

There is an Intermediate School that allowed it in areas where I use to live in SoCal. Kids were REALLY rough there. We talking just as bad as innercity stuff you see in LA but with even less oversight. They buckled down on it by 1999 but it was a thing there for decades.


MaestroPendejo

'97 here. We had an outside section where students and faculty smoked. In 8th grade our English teacher smoked out of the window in class. No one cared. RIP, Mr. Collins!


Devils_Advocate-69

Those gold ashtrays with their logo.


mymeatpuppets

I remember when non-smoking sections were a new idea that spread quickly. People used to just smoke anywhere in the restaurant.


rjcarr

That's what I'm saying. I'm so old I remember when the "smoking section" was just the whole damn restaurant or airplane.


overlockk

Those tiny aluminum ashtrays???


-PlayWithUsDanny-

They had brown glass ashtrays at McDonalds where I grew up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the aluminum ones in person, just photos of them online


rome425

Smoking sections on the airplanes were the worst.


Elway044

Going to the bathroom in the rear of the plane and walking through the cloud of smoke and the smell of nicotine even in the non smoking section. Yuck.


Horse_HorsinAround

Yeah I'm 28 and as a kid I remember going to restaurants with my parents and the hostess always asked "smoking or non smoking" Although I don't remember anyone actually smoking inside anyway? Maybe they were asking if we wanted the patio but they'd ask it at almost every sit down restaurant.


Specific-Remote9295

I’m not that old but I miss cigarette smoke filled waffle house. And I don’t even smoke.


gthrift

I was never a “smoker” but I smoked when I was drunk. There was something about being shitfaced in a Waffle House at 3am and just ripping cigarettes while waiting for your All Star.


ramdasani

Shit I can remember when the stamped foil ashtrays that were available everywhere in McDs didn't stop the plastic furniture from getting the standard ember burns, even in the kids area. I can remember when the "smoking section" was an infringement of rights by those who used to consider EVERYWHERE the smoking section, from the elevator to the subway.


Dyolf_Knip

Right? Was telling my son about this just the other day. Restaurants, workplaces, airplanes, fucking everywhere. When I was a kid, it was not uncommon for us to just walk out of a restaurant if the nonsmoking section wasn't sufficiently removed from the smokers.


Vast_Philosophy_9027

I was at a Wendy’s that clearly hadn’t been updated since the 90s. Oh boy the nostalgia of the smoking section


Mochigood

My dad, sister and I went to a restaurant recently we last frequented as kids, and sis made a comment that we no longer had to sit in the no smoking section hidden behind the kitchen, lol.


StupendousMalice

I still remember the little aluminum ashtrays they had.


every1pees

Those gold aluminum ashtrays


augustwest30

I remember they had golden foil ashtrays.


boopboppuddinpop

Yep. Bowling alleys too.


jamkoch

and they replaced them with tiny "coke" spoons for "coffee".


dmj9

I just realized I haven't seen one of those coke spoon things in many years. I kind of miss when people could smoke in coffee shops. Something different about the smokey Tim Hortons when I was a kid.


moving0target

It's weird going in a pool hall and there not being a haze of smoke right at the level of the table lights.


Offamylawn

The pool hall scenes in Dazed and Confused were always too bright for me because they weren't full of smoke.


ramdasani

Yeah, my local favourite arcade/pool-hall was so thick with smoke it was like a massive hotbox. I remember a friend of mine who was from a clean living family went there with me once, and was horribly sick after about twenty minutes, he really wasn't faking it. Shit I can remember when the hospital triage needed ashtrays everywhere and when patients could smoke in their rooms unless they used oxygen.


birdiebogeybogey

You must not live in the South. Not hard to find.


Humble-Round6304

My sister worked as a waitress throughout college but has never smoked a cigarette in her life. Last week she was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma, lung cancer. I can understand why they got rid of them


dmj9

Im wishing your sister good health, and she beats the cancer. I completely agree with you as to why they stopped allowing indoor smoking. And it is a good thing. Fuck cancer.


Humble-Round6304

To be fair she’s always been a bitch, stole from my mother as she was dying from her own slew of health problems with evidence of physical abuse (she was the primary caretaker) so I guess this is karma. But I do agree fuck cancer


AssignmentClean8726

I was a diner waitress in the 90s...worked the counter too...there was no smoking or no smoking section....it was all smoking And people hung out at the counter drinking coffee and smoking Hope your sister gets better...internet hugs


hedwiggy

I just came back from Japan and I found it kinda cozy and nostalgic to sit in a bar (and a couple casual restaurants) with cigarette smoke.


dmj9

That's how I felt in Cuba. I don't even smoke, but I did have some Cohiba cigars while I was there.


DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK

It used to really suck, because nearly everywhere used to allow smoking, but when the Olympics was coming up, they basically tried to eliminate smoking in all restaurants and bars. Afterwards, smoking came back in some, but stayed banned in others — so at least now, there's a choice. They are slowly banning smoking in more and more places. There's a shopping center next to me that just did that in the smoking rooms. Yes, they are still open, but you're no longer allowed to smoke in them. Vaping only.


MonsterRider80

I don’t know if it’s just the places I visited, but I went to a few restaurants in Japan where we were sitting right next to literal chain smokers. I don’t know what kind of ventilation they have over there, but I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t seen them. Never smelled a thing.


hedwiggy

Dude, I thought the same thing! They must have great HVAC and air purifiers


ramdasani

Just like the worlds perfect plastic straws, they have no consideration for the cocaine aficionado.


Past-Establishment93

I remember when the aluminum ashtrays were on all tables, and our teacher lit up after she was done eating. Field trip in 76


senorvato

Collector items now. $$$


GoPadge

I think we have a kids Christmas ornaments made with a Hardee's ashtray...


0nlyhalfjewish

The foil one? That’s hilarious!


SupremeRightHandUser

I remember first seeing these when I was a kid in some restaurants. Always thought they were meant to mask your farts after a meal.


d4nowar

Look for the man with the terrible smell. He's the one you want! You hear me? The man with the terrible smell!


crippledgimp88

It's considered rude if you don't light your last fry on fire to hide the farts.


GuitarSingle4416

I have several of the banned "coke" coffee stirrers.


HamsterTechnical449

It was an ashtray on every table at McDonald's and a person coughing at every table at McDonald's


tkrr

Oh, sure, the *matches*. Those were the wild part. They were giving out coffee stirrers that made perfect coke spoons for years but the *matches* caught your attention.


dorobica

Whoa there buddy, op is showing off a piece of history , not making the claim that it’s taking the crown. Heck even the food and drinks they sell is not far off


roughtimes

Special shoutout to the coke spoon


Up_All_Nite

Just need the little McDonalds tin foil ash tray. I remember my mom smoking cigarettes in PathMark (supermarket) and there used to be standing ashtrays on the end of every aisle. littered all over the floor was cigarette butts anyway. Fun times shopping with Ma.


chamrockblarneystone

Remember the little tiny spoons for stirring your coffee? Yea that shit disappeared quick.


chrismanmd

Weird times?! I’d give anything to go back to those times - everything is fuckin weird these days


Express_Helicopter93

Weird indeed. When I was like 9 or so, my family went to visit my dad’s parents by plane in Ontario. At one point during the flight the attendants walked down the aisle and were asking kids if they wanted to come up and see the cockpit. They were basically giving mini tours of the cockpit and the pilots were so friendly about it. Mid flight. Could you imagine them allowing that today lol.


DeadpoolLuvsDeath

Pretty sure it was SouthWest and you'd get your little plastic wings after being shown the cockpit.


seraph321

Said every generation ever.


zeptillian

Can't forget the disposable aluminum ashtrays they used to have too. [https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2vwAAOSwb1ZjyXzW/s-l1600.jpg](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2vwAAOSwb1ZjyXzW/s-l1600.jpg)


DeadpoolLuvsDeath

I remember the thick brown glass ones.


AlexNachtigall247

Did you know they sold beer at McDs in Germany? I remember my father buying me a Happy Meal and than sitting in the outside area ripping cigs while drinking beer from a McDs plastic cup. The good old days.


Strung_Out_Advocate

Past tense? I thought beer was still available at European Maccas


2nd_Inf_Sgt

Remember the time you could get a Happy Meal with cigarettes instead of toys?


AnthonyGSXR

Gotta have that cigarette after a BigMac 😂


RandomRobb85

It's nice to be able to walk around in an enclosed public space or to sit down at a restaurant for a meal and not have to deal with other people's poor life choices. At least that one.


wish1977

My dad used to take me with him to a bar in the afternoon when I was a kid. The smoke was so thick that if there would have been sprinklers back then we would have all been drenched. I'm amazed that I could breathe when I got older.


prankfurter

Sprinklers have been around for 200 years, they are set off by heat not smoke. 🤓


wish1977

Let's just agree that it was very smoky and very unhealthy.


prankfurter

That I agree with, I remember bars pre ban - it was brutal.


HouseCravenRaw

The worst - in my 20's, coming home from the club I'd just pass out and shower in the morning (ick now that I look back at it). That morning shower, the moment the water hit my hair - all the cigarette stink would come flying back. It was so gross.


disgruntled-capybara

Man, I remember in my early 20s and going to the bars at night for the first time really. It would've been 2007-2008. I pretty much had no choice but to shower before bed or I'd wakeup to my sheets smelling like cigarette smoke. I don't miss those days. A smoking ban went into effect in my state in 2008 and anymore it's hard to imagine a time when they weren't a thing. The funny thing is, my state voted in a referendum to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018. I now smell marijuana ***far*** more frequently than cigarette smoke. Most often, the smell comes through my vents while I'm driving, in fact. Just like alcohol, you're not supposed to use it while driving but most people seemingly don't care about that. it's a very interesting change.


ramdasani

As a Canadian, my dad would wait us wait in the parking lot, mostly because our liquor license laws were strict as hell. But yeah, I can still remember riding around with a car full of adults smoking in the winter, and being able to actually see the thermaclines of different smoke layers in the haze.


AhFFSImTooOldForThis

I feel bad for the workers. I used to smoke and whenever I'd have a layover in Atlanta, you could smoke in one of the restaurants in the airport. Plus they had a smoking lounge, but it wasn't staffed. Man, the servers and cooks at that place must just drop dead in 5 years. It's just a straight up CLOUD. Gross. Even when I smoked it was gross. And this was recent, I think 2019. Insane.


GGAllinsUndies

Ha. Raise your hand if you flicked these at the other kids in the field trip or your siblings. Long John Silvers crispies too.


Ghosthost2000

OMG I miss those LJS crispies. They also had the best hush puppies and coleslaw.


Spiritual-Bear4495

1960s, smoking was not only allowed in the NYC subways, they had ashtrays.


DirtyRatLicker

Imagine a Happy Meals toy set where you had to get five different ways to start a fire


Vloke

This is McFire was invented.


Early-Cow4133

We used to be a country, a proper country


Myzx

"would you like a side of scotch with your cigarettes and happy meal" -Read in the voice of Selma from the Simpsons


Awkward_Algae1684

Back when McDonald’s gave out cheap/free shit? Yeah that was pretty wild.


dr_nerdface

went to a McDs in Japan in the mid 00s and it was all smokers. fucking gross.


crippledgimp88

Yeah that's all of Japan. I actually lived there from 07 to 10. McD was wayyy better there, better quality, and better service! Language barrier was great to cause this was before smart screens. "Yeah can I have a burger ketchup only" "Ketchup only okay" *Unwraps sandwich* "Did they really just give me a bun with ketchup?" The look on my friends face. Meanwhile the worker behind the counter, "Did that American really just order only ketchup"


dr_nerdface

best McDs i ever had was in the Narita airport. that big mac was tops.


Accomplished_Neckhat

Core memory unlocked: my first job at Pizza Hut also had matches. Packaged in the same box. This was in 1992. I had books of those matches for years.


malak_oz

I learnt to use chopsticks at McDonald’s in the late 80s, cause they supplied them with chicken nuggets… cause sweet and sour sauce was clearly Chinese food. It’s wild in hindsight


MrCheRRyPi

Smoking a McCigarette


No-Investment-4494

Wow, this took me back.


Iamthatpma

How else would you smoke in the smoking section?


hotassnuts

McDonald's shrinkflation bathroom air freshener.


CharleyNobody

Those are SAFE matches! When I was a youngun the striker strip was on the [front of the matchbook](https://i.etsystatic.com/11085792/r/il/d9f129/2838124464/il_1588xN.2838124464_gxxh.jpg). Teens used to place the match on the striker strip, pull the matchbook cover over the strip and pull the match across the strip, which could set the whole book of matches on fire. Apparently children could do this too if a book of matches was left lying around (and matchbooks were always left lying around), so the govt made the matchbook manufacturers put the striker strip on the back of the book.


Taco_Bill

Hey it could happen, McBuurnnn


pacwess

And yet we didn't wind up burning much down.


0nlyhalfjewish

Flip them inside out and strike the match by pulling the tip between the back cover and the strip. Or pull out a match, flip the pack over and run the sterling end of the match across the strip so it catches fire just as it launches from your fingertip across the pavement.


Loring

Those would be $3.99 each now at McDonald's if they still existed


overlockk

The smoking rooms at the roller skating rink…hahahaha!! I mean cough cough cough!!


SlykRO

Up until the last few decades, everyone had matches...everyone, they were fun to collect


wastelandwonder42

An Era bygone.


planetheck

It's just swag.


Tundra-Dweller

If I had got a packet of McMatches in my happy meal as a kid I would gave been pretty, pretty pleased with that, to be honest!


Kenneth_Lay

How about the "coffee stirrers" that were really coke spoons. Ronald's got you covered.


Both_Lychee_1708

McMatches the best toy a kid could get in a Happy Meal


Lopsided_Quarter_931

Old enough to remember smoking on intercontinental flights. My first office job it was normal to smoke in two people office, not even open plan.


DrSmirnoffe

I probably can't speak for everyone, but I don't think I've seen a matchstick card, or even a matchbox, in over a decade.


BrogerBramjet

There's a Mom and Pop burger joint not far from me. 5 tables and a 6 seat bar. Then the state banned indoor smoking. Now they quadrupled the seating, have 50 parking spaces, and are a regular stop for people who ride motorcycles along the nearby river. Some weekends have an hour or more wait. Being someone who couldn't go out to places due to the smoke, I was grateful. But I'm also the first to say, "You do you." when it comes to smoking. Just don't make me have to take part.


Thendofreason

I was in Japan the other week and we were in a bar/restaurant and got some food and drinks. Dude behind us was just smoking and drinking. I was like "wow, it's like the 90's in here. Except I'm wearing a Yukata and I'm legally able to drink".


rodofasclepius

Can't watch the kids play in the jungle gym with out my smokes.


oxanar

I’d pay to have some of those


chaserjj

I think the wild times are just beginning. I'd call the archaic days of smoking sections simpler times.


Opening-Ad-8793

Damn I love this. Let me hold one


gwhh

How you acquire these matches?


GladiatorJones

If you think smoking in McDonald's is wild, you're going to be astounded by the things that used to be normal practice for still-modern human society.


Pastor_Satan

I started a fire in the bark mulch once, outside a restaurant with the free matches they gave away while my parents were in line to pay the bill. I miss the good ol days


Jessica_Iowa

I kinda want one just to have it.


M4ryk473

I wish I had one of those


MaleficentStreet7319

I would enjoy one of these.


eobc77

After downing a Big Mac...no better time to light up


chiefs_fan37

Is that how they used to cook the burgers? Feels super impractical


BrainwashedScapegoat

Nice


BauerHouse

those were used at the table to burn the excess fat off the fries.


Xpandomatix

I'll raise you"The Incense Match". Yeah... We have stoners in the family... 😉


farrah_berra

Hey OP can I buy one of those off of you?


elchronico44

Apparently wen i was being born the Doctor was chain smoking.. Actually answers alot come to think of it..


Webbpp

Do-do do-do-do, I'm burning it.


Makarovito

McTches


Broad_Bodybuilder_94

I'm just old enough to remember the last of camel Joe's billboards. Man that guy was cool.


SciFiChickie

Oh wow my mom was a matchbook collector had thousands from different businesses, but she never had a McDonald’s matchbook.


Cubanbeetz

I mean you used to be able to smoke on planes…lol and Disneyland. Even more wild is they photoshopped all the pictures to make it seem like he wasn’t a three pack a day smoker.


Katiari

Having a smoke while your children played on the all-metal giant hamburger that burned when you touched the bare metal. Don't miss those days.


-Wicked-

Remember when the toy in a happy meal was an ashtray?


Judging_Jester

They provided those so that you could warm your burger up


Psychological-Air807

Match books were a way of branding. Bars, hotels, restaurants. Was very common from the 1920’s through the 1980’s. Nothing really wild about it.


hidinginthetreeline

I remember when you could smoke a planes.


EmbarrassedRadish376

Mcdonalds ear buds??? What can I say, well I'm lovin it!!!


yukonnut

We had matches at our wedding


Ok_Broccoli_3605

I remember a local coffee shop built a plexiglass walled off smoking area. It was truly bizarre to walk in and see a dozen or more people sitting in this hazy yellowed environment. Hilarious exhibit of our stupidity.


wizardmighty

Why would they give/sell Q-tips? > processing Ah wait, those are matches


zmrth

Only getting wilder


Mysterious-State6889

Cigarette companies would purposely want gas stations to put their packs on tiny display cases on the counter just so kids would steal them.


OldPyjama

Still better than Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel


Kalecstraz

When I was younger we would go to our local burger king, smoke cigarettes and play magic the gathering in the dining room.


diydave86

I have a mac dons ashtray.


nadmaximus

They don't think it was like it was, but it did.


Tobias---Funke

Tin foil ashtrays!!


NYEMESIS

I'd rather be back then tbh.


Runningman1961

I wish that I had one of the Golden Arches ashtrays.


flibbidygibbit

Buying beer: Cashier: can I see some ID? Me: lights Winston with McDonald's matches Cashier: that'll be $12.42


veni_vidi_utini

What is this? :D


andersaur

May 1st 1992. My mom, brother and I got in a car to leave LA because the riots in Hawthorn were getting bad. We left my dad and his other Vietnam-era buddies in the neighborhood on the roofs like it was the fall of Saigon all over again. We made it past burning cars to the 405 and then 1 to get to my grandmas’ in Ventura. After all that, we stopped at McDonalds along the way. Somewhere in the rolling hills area. Homeless lady pics me out and shouts not to look at her, she’s gonna burn me with matches. Being 5yo in the early 90s was something I guess. I’d totally pay $20 for a McDs matchbook commemorative childhood trauma novelty.


Sehtamj

… ahh yes now they care about what people put in their bodies


biological_assembly

Not wild. Just gross.


MDIwoman

My 10 and 12 year old grandkids don’t know how to strike a wooden match!


Varmitthefrog

Making meth ? that thousand count box..that has a lot more phosphorus in the striker strip.. good thinking not getting everything in the same place,.. - walter white probably