Shoutout to the thrift store guy who called my old CRT a 'boob tube'

I was digging through a Goodwill in Akron last Saturday, looking for a cheap keyboard for a retro build I'm messing with. This older employee walks by, sees me eyeing a 20-inch Sony Trinitron, and just laughs. He goes, 'You kids are something else. Used to pay people to haul these away, now you're paying $15 for 'em.' He then spent the next 10 minutes telling me about his old Commodore 64 setup and how he could program basic games in like 20 minutes. I ended up chatting with him for a good while about how the local recycling center charges $25 to drop off old monitors now. Made me wonder how many of those old CRTs got tossed that would still work perfectly for light gun shooters today. Has anyone else run into old-timers at weird spots who actually know their stuff about old tech?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_ramirez221mo ago

@troyjackson bet that guy has seen some wild stuff go from gold to garbage and back.

troyjackson1mo ago

Did the guy happen to drop any Commodore tips before you left? That sounds like the kind of encounter that makes thrifting way better than just finding the gear.