Original Flavor Season Talk: Dinner at Rodbell's

[readster]

17 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

One of the weird things was after everyone quit the factory job and everyone else got a job Roseanne actually talked her way into a cushy secretary position even though she didn’t have the resume for it until she found she needed computer skills.  What I found odd was that no one (not Dan, not her friends, not even her kids) even brought up the idea of her learning how to use a computer.  

I remember saying that to my mom way back in the day. Her reply was: "She doesn't want to change, but she wants to earn a living too, you can't have it both ways." Years later, especially being a teacher now, I see that attitude a lot. Many Baby Boomers and now Generation Z want it all, but they don't see that they have to either change their outlook or learning style to make things better for themselves. In Roseanne's classic: "Don't live beyond your raising." speech. Roseanne basically said at that point not only if you grow up poor you are going to die poor. However, in her mind, she never saw an escape, she wanted a quick fix with something that made her happy. If you look at her string of jobs outside of the hair salon. As much as I hated Leon's character, he said it perfectly: "You come and go as you want, and you complain when it isn't your way. I didn't plan on this life either, but I try to make not only the best of it, but improve myself." 

  It goes back to Dan, he had a great worth ethic, but sadly he could never think ahead. He, much like Roseanne went with the: "Easy fix." Dan actually was happy with the City Job, because it was steady and while they weren't rich, it was constant with retirement package and so forth. As soon as Chuck put the bug in his ear about the prison. Dan just thought of major extra cash, especially since Roseanne had Jerry. However, Dan should have thought: "Sorry, I have another kid and one in high school and my oldest isn't financial stable. Have to keep my current job. " The Conners were not smart with money. They didn't know how to deduct their taxes correct, especially with Dan being a contractor. They blew too much money on the Bike Shop. As soon as Dan was working again and slowly rebuilding, Bev dropped the $10K and immediately Roseanne and Jackie were: "Let's open our own business again!" Instead of: "Wait, let's pay some things off, put half in the bank and then go from there." Outside of Chuck, all of the Conners' friends, thought ahead, were careful with their money and while were not having a lot of "fun money" they weren't ready to spend it as soon as it came in. 

  Say what you will about Dan's father, but he knew why he had to be on the road, making money and keeping a roof over his kids' heads back when Dan was young and years later with Crystal. Granted, as we learned Crystal was working, but they had to turn it in with: "Your father is always gone and leaving me with the kids." I wanted to go: "So you prefer that or the street?" Plus, from what we got from his appearances, when he was home he was spending time with the kids and Crystal a lot, trying to make up for lost time. He regretted being on the road, but he still made an effort. 

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, readster said:

As soon as Dan was working again and slowly rebuilding, Bev dropped the $10K and immediately Roseanne and Jackie were: "Let's open our own business again!" Instead of: "Wait, let's pay some things off, put half in the bank and then go from there."

Actually, that was not immediate at all (for Jackie, yes, but Jackie was in a better financial position); Roseanne's instinct was not to risk it, to simply pay bills with it.  She and Dan had that great talk while lying in bed, one so many people have had and that they'd had before on a smaller scale, about using it for expenses now versus taking the chance on something that could help them long term.

4 hours ago, readster said:

Say what you will about Dan's father, but he knew why he had to be on the road, making money and keeping a roof over his kids' heads back when Dan was young and years later with Crystal. Granted, as we learned Crystal was working, but they had to turn it in with: "Your father is always gone and leaving me with the kids." I wanted to go: "So you prefer that or the street?" Plus, from what we got from his appearances, when he was home he was spending time with the kids and Crystal a lot, trying to make up for lost time. He regretted being on the road, but he still made an effort. 

He did not have to miss holidays and such in order to make enough to support the family (either the first one or this one), he chose to spend that extra time away from home, which was Dan's beef with him and the root of his warning to Crystal that she was going to wind up in exactly the same place his mom did.