Try renting porn back in the day...Those old squeeky saloon doors were murder.
LOL! I remember this! The porn section would be in some closed off area, right in the middle or slightly off to the side of the video rental shops!!
Everyone sees you go in and come out, and they all know what's inside! I wasn't old enough to legally be inside these rooms, but some of them were closed off by a curtain, and when you're like 9 or 10 yrs old, it's easy to slip inside, undetected. But when you reach "adult height"... I know that had to be rough!
I'll never forget it... I was at a Hollywood Video, in Illinois, back when I was 9 yrs old, 20 years ago. This guy came into the video store, and he looked nervous AF when he first walked inside. I don't know why this guy stood out to me, but he did. He seemed to be just too shifty and overly cautious. He slowly walked around the perimeter of "THE AREA", glancing at videos, while awaiting an opening where nobody would see him enter. He was glancing at PG, PG-13, and R rated films, as if he was hoping to give off the impression that he was interested in anything other than the T&A he came for. As a 9-yr old, I wasn't even fooled by this obvious bluff. I'd already been inside "THE AREA", and knew what it was about. I'd seen some of this stuff when I stayed home from school and broke into my dad's file cabinet, in the bottom shelf, underneath a shitload of papers. Memories of watching "Blacks and Blondes", at 8 years of age, came rushing to me when I stepped inside "THE AREA", for the first time, so I knew the look on the man's face.
Anyway, he believed the coast to be clear, and just as he quickly moved toward "THE AREA"'s entrance, the Middle Eastern man, that worked at the video store caused everyone to look at the man, as he said, in the thickest Middle Eastern English accent I'd ever heard, though the words were crystal clear, "I know what you're going to do...." He said this with the biggest smile I'd ever seen, and with the most accusing stare I'd ever imagined. I was embarrassed for the guy. I could see the heads turning in his direction, and feeling the weight of my own eyes, I decided to look away, to provide at least a bit of relief, so that he wouldn't see a child watching him, as well.
Like a world-class athlete, the man Usain Bolt'ed out of the store, like a smouldering arrow from a crossbow, being catapulted through a soft slab of butter.