A Throwback to 1970

One of my early Polaroid ID cards!

No "curb appeal" here. LOL The door on the left wasn't there then. The entrance was the door in the shadows from a back alley.

by Skip Cohen

I love it when Throwback Thursday ties in with one of life's milestones...fifty-six years ago tomorrow, I was called into Polaroid to get my paperwork done for my first job as a "big kid." My actual start date was the following Monday in Building IV in Waltham, Mass.

I started at $2.89/hour, the most I'd ever made. I was in R&D working on emulsion development for what would become SX-70 technology in 1972. I had my first apartment in Boston at the corner of Hereford and Newbury St. for $130/month.

It was in a basement, but the place had wood paneling and a fireplace. Visually, it was actually sort of charming...little did I know I had hundreds of roommates...the cockroaches of Boston's Back Bay.  I remember a story in the Boston Globe, the cockroaches were there before man, and they'd be there when man became extinct!

While the fun of #TBT is in the hunt for photographs, for me, on this one, it's the people who came into my life and became friends. It's the memories and backstories that make today such a kick. Here's a classic example:

We were working with silver nitrate, which got on your skin and clothes. But you never knew it until you walked out into the sunlight and your skin and clothes were suddenly covered in black spots. There was a silver nitrate spill in one of the labs one day, and Frank L. had to clean it up. He hosed down the floor and followed the cleaning protocol. That was on a Friday.

Saturday morning, Frank and his family went to the beach. He was lying on the sand when his wife said, “Honey, take off your socks!” Sadly, Frank wasn't wearing socks, but the day before, his hush puppies, soaked in silver nitrate, had coated both feet, and they were as black as a pair of dress socks!

Little did I know then, that this was the start of an amazing career path, not the fastest, but one that I wouldn't trade for anything today. Great people, memories, and experiences. From R&D to HR to Customer Service to Services Manager in the Midwest, to an overseas Customer Service Manager at the subsidiaries, to Marketing Manager of the U.S. camera store channel, which led to President of Hasselblad in 1987.

Seventeen years at Polaroid, and I'm so grateful for the people who watched my back along the way. I was lucky with the quality of managers I worked for... I used to say they gave me enough rope to hang myself, but put a chair under me if they ever saw the rope getting tight!

If you haven't gone on your own hunt for Throwback Thursday...take the time today. While we can never go back, we can take short walks down Memory Lane and appreciate each turn of our journey.

One of my favorite quotes is, "I am a part of all that I have met." When you take that walk down Memory Lane you appreciate all the people who have come in and out of your life and helped make who you are today!

Happy Throwback Thursday!

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