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Tales by Tom


This podcast showcases the audio stories of Tom Cagley Sr.

Oct 25, 2009

Welcome to Tales by Tom -

This collection is a group of 24 stories under the title of Nobody Likes a Proofreader and Other Lessons I Have Learned During and After a Life in Retail.

This epsode includes stories # 17 and #18.

Story 17: How to give up a three-pack-a-day smoking addiction

I smoked since I was 14. I tried to quick for 10 years, starting in college. I failed 10 times or more. And I hate to fail. But I did. It was awful. Then one Sunday in Waterloo, Iowa, after the Surgeon General made his first pronouncement, even though I missed Mass, I made the leap. Everything clicked. I stopped. I swore the tail would not wag the dog for another day.

But my way is not for many, but it did work for me.

Story 18:  A Song of life

Everybody has one. Digging up your personal ancestry is not easy. Writing it down is not easy. But the lessons you can learn in the process for the years of toil and trouble can be the hardest task of all. But you know what? You leave something for the people that follow. Can’t out a price tag on that. What a legacy! Legacy, by the way, is the only word in the English language you can make out of my name and not have any letters left over.


Please feel free to contact me at talesbytom@gmail.com or at the listener call in line at 206 339 5456.


John Manion
fourteen and a half years ago

The addiction reflected a battle most folks face in a life time.
My biggest deterrents were 1) the yuckie taste and 2) the cost of .25 a pack... I only had $5.00 a week budgeted for expenses during my college years. And, our friend Happy Meyers used to
ask me to cash a check for him just about every day... for $.25 so he could buy cigarettes. I thought that was an awful strange thing in itself. My question 55 years later: What did I do with all the money I saved not smoking? Oh yeah, I never had it to save.

The Mulligan... simply with relationships.... friends I had,but now 50-60 years later miss... Same deal.