wmowrg wrote:JaneyE wrote: .... I'm talking about the 80's. Back then, fancy latex or nitrile gloves were rare, so they used to wear "normal" household rubber gloves. I remember standing there and staring at them for "hours"; or at least until my dad moved on to the next stall, and I had to follow him.
Me too Janey, being a child of the 70s & 80s, I well remember ladies at markets and the local greengrocer shops ALWAYS wearing marigolds to weigh out the potatoes and other vegetables .... I suspect Mrs Uni will remember similar too ...
... and fishmongers too ... none of this fancy, flimsy stuff worn today, a nice pair of proper household gloves ....
P.S. ... Now that I think about it, I can remember a couple of "characters" in TV programmes of the time who played that type of assistant to perfection .... If you get the chance to see "May to December", Kate Williams & Chrissie Cotterill play Lesley Dunlop's mother & sister in the series. They work at a greengrocers and are found in marigolds a few times ... (plus Lesley Dunlop herself wears them a couple of times during the series !)
.... and I'm almost certain that a young Elisabeth Sladen ( ) appears in an episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em as a similar character and is wearing rubber gloves in that too ....
I certainly do remember women wearing rubber gloves in greengrocers back in the '70's and '80's, though Wmowrg it was your pet hate I'm afraid, the single rubber glove! I don't remember seeing many if any wearing both gloves presumably, they thought they could still use the till they just wore one glove. Used to drive me nuts as I'd see them getting their naked hand dirty the whole time and using the till with the rubber gloved hand WEAR BOTH OR NONE Obviously I had to watch even though that single gloved thing was torture
See it all the time in cafes; one of those flimsy blue things for 'food handling' that they wear while passing you your change from the till. Which completely defeats the object of wearing them. Soooo annoying!
At least fishmongers did the right thing with the big thick blue gloves. And they were all over telly back in the day, fewer dishwashers= more women wearing rubber gloves. Ah, the 70's and 80's were the glory days of mass rubber glove wearing