Industrial Disease

There was a time when certain products that were readily available over the counter, contained substances that are frowned upon now. Coca Cola contained cocaine in its early years, and Seven Up's list of ingredients included lithium. Ah, the good old days. In 1966 I worked as a stock boy at the Jewel Food Store in Tinley Park. One of the things Jewel carried on a shelf next to the Pepto Bismol and Geritol (Which contained 12% alcohol), was something called Romilar Cough Syrup. I think Romilar contained codeine at that time, which is why we could not keep it in stock. I would open a new case of Romilar and put it up on the shelf. By the time I had the empty case broken down flat, I would turn around and the shelf would be bare, mostly shop lifted. In fact, some of my high school chums who knew I worked at Jewel, would ask when the next shipment was coming in. By the 1970s all that stuff was controlled and no longer available to high school kids. Except for Geritol. You can still stroll on into Walgreens and get a bottle of Geritol with that 12% alcohol. Which brings me to Mark and his little cough. His doctor prescribed some of that good cough medicine. It worries me a little bit that it could be addictive, but Mark is not really the addictive type. So I'm on board with it. Besides, I'm thinking it might keep him from talking during movies, and yelling at Fox News.