What was the norm when you started work

[harknesswitch]

Inspired by another thread, what things were the norm when you started work that would now be unbelievable.

When my Mum told her employer she was pregnant, in 1972, they sacked her

When I started work you could smoke at your desk and we were even given branded ashtrays

No email, everything was printed out by a work processor and filled in by hand. We had one of those personalised ink stamps to use which we signed so they knew who had filled in the form

Actual written employment references with content, good and bad!

I started work in London in 1984, no trousers, no open toed shoes, tights had to be worn. Very smart dress code.

Outdoor clerks and office managers, filter coffee machines with a dedicated person in charge of filling them, constant 'Memorandums' which would get screwed up and binned - not a shredder in sight!

I worked in a solicitor's office in the mid 90s and every poxy email had to be printed out and filed.

The secretaries PCs were just word processors, they didn't have MS DOS on them.

I had to write out all the cheques by hand every month and then write it all down in a ledger.
What a bloody waste of time!

The only 2 computers that had internet connection was mine and the senior partner's - which obviously used a modem; and he used AoL!

'The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there'

We also kept hard copies of all the correspondence we sent out on blue paper that had to be archived.

All applicants for jobs had the courtesy of 'Regret your application was unsuccessful' response by whatever method. Not a line in the job ad stating, 'If you haven't had a response after three weeks your application was unsuccessful'.

And 'multi-task' and 'work in a highly pressurised environment' were never seen.

I worked in a shop in the 90s that was a time throwback. It reminded me a lot of Are You Being Served?

One of our big sellers was ladies bloomers (cuffed or elastic, Madam?).

Also a lot of our customers didn’t want to use the changing rooms so they took things “On Account”. We wrote in a book what they had taken, then they would try things in at home and bring back what they didn’t want, or settle up with a month.

The shop is still there. How it is going is beyond me as it’s like a time warp. There’s clearly money in expensive, ugly clothes!

@Sparklingbrook remember these we used to have various trips that the social club organised, the London ones were great, funny when you looked down the coach and there was Tina from accounts, Jean from the post room etc!!

Oh and one of the tills was so old it only rang up to £99, (it was an analogue one where the number popped up in the display and you had to press the lever hard to open) so if the customer was spending more than that they needed two or more receipts!

[quote lollipoprainbow]@Sparklingbrook remember these we used to have various trips that the social club organised, the London ones were great, funny when you looked down the coach and there was Tina from accounts, Jean from the post room etc!! [/quote]
Yes! It was a proper outing! Loved them.

short hand, typewriters, making tea for the boss, no first names for the boss

I'm so curious about this! I often think how much longer things must have taken before the internet/computers, yet everyone seems to be working more than ever.

Was there not the same pressure there is now? Was the pace naturally slower as it just took time to type letters or courier documents?

Great thread!

lunch time drinking occasionally too

Having a phone with a number on my desk so people could ring and contact me directly

Before we had to start WFH, we all had our own desks with our pens, photos, food in our drawers. Hot desking is making people panic when we get back to the office!

Another one - no air conditioning, in the summer you just opened a window

That would be so much better! I bloody hate air con.

The internal phone list.

Printed on a sheet of a4 and distributed to each department weekly.

Back in 1972, during the 3 day week, I used to sit there with my manual typewriter and hurricane lamp - just carried on working. Would not be able to do that now.

In 1973 my boss applied for a wage increase for me because I had taken on a lot of extra work. It was turned down by the Remuneration Committee because it meant I would be earning more than a man who was the same age! (He was a lazy bugger as well).

Oh, and I worked IT helpdesk early 90s.

Staff phoned their issues in to the IT reception. She wrote them on a form, and put them in the in tray for one of us to pick up. There weren't even emails.

i didnt smoke in my office in my first job because i was along the corridor from the vascular surgeon who hated smoking, unsurprisingly.

next job i smoked at my desk, and converted to roll ups so they could sit and go out in the ashtray when i was on the phone!

@Etinox the holes were so you could see if there was a document in there or not without opening it and looking at the contents. Very handy.

I worked in the Civil service back in the 90’s.
Most of the department including managers used to clock off early, go for a pub lunch, and then onto the local karaoke night on a Thursday.
My job on a Friday, was taking all the orders for the greasy spoon cafe from the hungover workers, collecting the money, then taking a works vehicle to get the food and distributing it. Then it would be refereeing the arguments over who ordered what.
No mean feat over 2 floors.
Then I would have to take spare office fans, plug them in and aim them at the very hungover big boss.

@therearenogoodusernamesleft

I'm so curious about this! I often think how much longer things must have taken before the internet/computers, yet everyone seems to be working more than ever.

Was there not the same pressure there is now? Was the pace naturally slower as it just took time to type letters or courier documents?

Great thread!

People didn’t spend hours checking their emails, eBay, Instagram, Facebook etc. People got on with their work! There certainly wasn’t the pressure to reply to things now this minute , if you sent a letter it would take a day or so to arrive, then a day or so to be answered. And once you left work at the end of the day that was it for most people , no emails pinging away in your inbox. So yes, less pressure, we hadn’t heard of work life balance but most of us had it without knowing.

My Saturday job in a shop in the mid 90s. Everyone bought everything by cash and we used little stickers in a gun to price up the merchandise.

I also remember the aerosols having ozone friendly on them, if they were ozone friendly because the hole in the ozone layer was a worry then.

British Steel in the nineties and early 2000. So many people 3.5k on our site, the gossip the affairs and the scandal.

Pub at lunchtime, big nights out at the Leadmill on Thursday nights, not going in the Friday after because of the hangover.

Made lots of friends for life, the camaraderie I wouldn't have missed for the world

Shopping Centre promotions in the 80's.
Based on touring craft groups who did shows across the country, staying in B&B;s.
Handmade items like knitted toys, names burned onto leather bags, glass animals, handmade fudge, dolls house accessories and a lot of women's small businesses.
You could just set a table up with a cloth on it in the middle of the centre and put your stuff on it.
Cash paid direct to the managers who 'put it in the Charity box'!?
Now you require a promotion stand costing around 10 grand and big business chains have moved in, such as Krispy Creme donuts and mobile phone operators with 50 outlets, threading franchises and Sky.

As a 16 year old office junior, being given a £10 note on Friday afternoon by the head of department and being sent to the local off licence to buy a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky which said head of department then used to share with one of his colleagues after we'd all gone home at 5pm. Then they'd both drive home completely pissed. This was a law firm and these individuals were solicitors.

Started work in 1987:

Smoking at desks
Luncheon Vouchers
Typing pool
Pub every day at lunch (pub accepted them for alcohol).
Microfiche
Canteen

@viques I agree. It was time consuming but obviously we didn't know that then it's just what we did.
I think it's easier to slack now than it was then TBH.