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YouTubery: 'The Front Line' (of the grocery store)

Supermarket cashier is not traditionally considered a career path by modern standards. It's a good first job for those just starting out, certainly great summer work for high schoolers, but not something you think of as a stopping point on the path to making an independent living.

Not such the case fifty years ago, when this training film, "Supermarket Cashiers: Ambassadors of Goodwill" was produced. A lot more went into the job, as you'll see. Barcodes had yet to become standard, so all goods' prices had to be manually punched in, along with the proper department each item came from. Errors were easier to make and were more costly. Coupons, checkwriting, price discrepancies -- all the things that take seconds to solve these days could take ages in some situations way back when.

YouTubery: 'Grill Skill'

Of all the training videos I've watched online, Wendy's has a track record of well-established weirdness. There is an epically long video about closing procedures set up like an old Matlock rerun, which I'll get to on a future missive. Right now, however, we're going to enter a world of glitz, glamour, glitter and garish, singing raw beef patties.

'Grill Skill' is a training video from the early 1990s teaching new hires about the grilling procedure on the back lines. It is one of many videos of the era to involve a dream sequence with outlandish characters who rhyme, sing, and patronize to a certain degree, all in an effort to help make the learning process less of a chore. Think of it like 'Schoolhouse Rock' but for fast food.

YouTubery: 'Delicious' drive-in fare

Ah, the drive-in movie. Sadly, I never got to experience the magic of going to the drive-in growing up, even though there was one nearby. So, in an attempt to live vicariously through past generations, I punched up the trusty YouTube in order to see what kinds of '50s and '60s drive-in nostalgia I could find.

The clip above is one of many compilations of intermission films, most of which direct patrons to the concession stand, or Refreshment Center, if you like. The food on offer is... well... I'm sure it was food, once.

YouTubery: The Commercials of Stan Freberg

There are very few modern-day commercials I enjoy watching, especially the ones you see on nearly -every- commercial break. I understand that's the nature of the business today. I don't have to like it, but I accept it.

Luckily there's nothing preventing me from putting the TV on mute every once in awhile and looking up commercials from the better era of ads (read that as 'before I was born.') I remembered a great ad I saw on a TV special about, of all things, the greatest commercials of all time. It starred dancer Ann Miller, and was a spectacle for the now defunct Great American Soup company. What grabbed my attention was the final line, after Miller's big, expensive song and dance. Her TV husband embraces her and asks, "Emily, why do you always have to make such a big production out of everything?"

YouTubery: Eeyore shops at Publix

We have all made fun of the cheesy training videos we're forced to watch at a new job. I'm sure there are a few here at WAFF, though I haven't had the occasion to view them yet. My last major job at which I had to watch training videos was at the defunct Borders Books. The hostess of one of them ended her video with a Vulcan salute and saying, "Live long and prosper," just as earnestly as she could directly into camera.

I am so glad to live in an age where YouTube can provide me with even worse training film footage. One of the first I was able to dig up was from Publix Supermarkets, made in the early 1980s, my favorite decade.

Beyond the plebian editing, beyond the message being driven home (that saying 'Thank You' is contagious, can you imagine?), the thing that sticks with me about this video is the depressing nature of the 'customer.'

Stream it: 'You Can't Do That on Television'

Stream it: 'You Can't Do That on Television'

There has been a movement as of late to bring back classic shows from the "first kids' network," Nickelodeon. A major coup came when spinoff channel TeenNick created "The '90s are All That" two years ago, highlighting sporadic reruns of great fare like Rocko's Modern Life and The Secret World of Alex Mack.

However, the one big "get" for Nick nerds like myself has been You Can't Do That on Television. Considered the holy grail by kids of the '80s, You Can't is the program that brought Green Slime to the masses.

Rare comet watching this week

Rare comet watching this week

With clearer skies on the horizon, you may want to step outside this week to catch a glimpse of the Comet PanSTARRS. It will be viewable with the naked eye in the early evening over the next several days.  It  should be about as bright as most stars in the Big Dipper.  Each evening,  it will be a little farther to the right in the sky, and gradually over the next  few days, it will begin to grow dimmer.

PanSTARRS should be only one of two comets visible to the naked eye in 2013.  It is also believed to be on a ~100,000 year orbit... Pretty rare.

Click here to read more and get tips on catching a glimpse...