That is pretty much the old pre-1968 NYCTA logo. Blondie looks like some of the characters hubby and I used to see at 14th Street – Union Square back in the late ‘70s when he was a token-booth clerk and I was a conductor, except this guy’s more rational.
Sister Mary Joan: Now class, is there anyone higher than God?
Mikey: My mother.
Sr. Mary Joan, aghast, hauls Mikey down to the Principal’s Office.
Sr. Jude Thaddeus (principal): Young man, you say your mother is higher than God Almighty?
Mikey (still wondering what he said wrong): Yes, Sr. Jude Thaddeus.
The nuns decide to kick this one upstairs to the Pastor, Father McClellan. The good Father is a former teacher himself, and has heard pretty much everything over the years. The nuns go into the pastor’s office and explain the situation, then Fr. McClellan calls Mikey in.
Fr. McClellan: Now, Mikey, you say your mother is higher than God?
Mikey: Yes, Father.
Fr. McClellan: Refresh my memory, Mikey – tell me what your mother looks like. I know I must know her.
Mikey: Mommy’s the very tall lady who always wears matching suits and hats to Mass. She makes them herself!
Fr. McClellan realizes immediately who Mikey’s mother is. Mama is six feet tall in her stocking feet, built like a greyhound, clearly was an athlete in her youth and is still in good shape, with a will of steel and a right hook to go with it. Mikey is her baby; his older brothers are strapping young men in their late teens over six feet tall, and they obey their Mama!
Fr. McClellan sends Mikey out of the room, but still in earshot of the adults.
Fr. McClellan: Let it go.
Sr. Mary Joan: But, Father-
Fr. McClellan: Let it go.
Sr. Jude Thaddeus: We can’t have someone saying in Religion class-
Fr. McClellan: Let. It. Go. I know who Mikey’s mother is – and he may very well be right!
Back in the mid-’70s, there were quite a few folks in the Civil Service who had to take the choice of either a lower-paying job or being laid-off altogether. Cops becoming Bus Operators was the least of it. People in jobs that had several steps to full pay/qualifications were stuck at the step they were in – a progression from one step to the next that ordinarily took one year took five years.
Although I though Ralph and Norton had the seniority to escape that bit, unless they took it voluntarily – which was an option ;-)
Of course, now 98% of the old farts like me who remember those times are either retired or dead by now.
Our council starts pre-order sales Monday.