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

[violetbunny]

@harknesswitch

The brown internal envelopes, the type with holes in them and boxes to write the name and dept it went to

We still have these were I work!

[Gwenhwyfar]

@oneglassandpuzzled

Luncheon vouchers! Thanks for reminding me of them.

One thing that is far better now is shopping in the City. Where I worked, off Cheapside, was like a desert for women in 1985. There was a Dorothy Perkins/Miss Selfridge or something and that was it. Lots of wine bars (that bit was fun). But when I go there these days (or pre-pandemic) my jaw drops.

Quite ahead of its time to have had wine bars I think. They still don't exist in smaller towns and even asking for wine in a pub was considered a bit posh until the early 2000s.

[LadyDanburysHat]

@harknesswitch

The brown internal envelopes, the type with holes in them and boxes to write the name and dept it went to

The last company I worked for still have that now.

[crayyola]

Internal envelopes — with string! — are still a thing.
www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-String-Tie-Inter-Department-Envelopes-Printed/dp/B0722LW64K/ref=asc_df_B0722LW64K/?hvlocphy=9045941&linkCode=df0&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=309819519058&hvdev=m&hvtargid=pla-561974170540&hvrand=15880548883294234670&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[Flissitytricity]

One boss I had (way before emails were invented) used to remind me to distribute his memos. Nothing unusual in that but he always pronounced them MEEmos. I didn't dare challenge him.

[BoomBoomsCousin]

Gwenhwyfar

Quite ahead of its time to have had wine bars I think. They still don't exist in smaller towns and even asking for wine in a pub was considered a bit posh until the early 2000s.

I grew up in a factory town in the midlands and we had a "Wine Bar" that opened in the 80s. It considered itself very trendy, but it still mainly sold beer. The wine choice was red or one of three whites - medium-dry, medium or sweet!

There were a lot of wine bars in London at the time. Though, again, that didn't always translate into people drinking wine.

[Chienloup]

Blackboard and chalk!
Paper registers and all tracking of grades was done in the back of your planner for all classes.
Rolling the tele into the classroom and having to book it in advance.
Section 28.
Smoking room within the staffroom.
Out the door at 3.10 on a Friday and straight into the nearest pub.

[Ameanstreakamilewide]

@TicTac80

1996: my first part time job in M+S. I was a shop assistant (just working weekends whilst in Lower 6th/Yr 12).

I remember writing letters to enquire about job vacancies (or work experience) and enclosing my CV. I used "posh paper" and cool fonts! I got a pager first, then an old Ericsson mobile phone/brick. Wages were paid weekly in cash..in a brown envelope! I remember M+S would only accept debit cards (Switch or Delta), cheques (with a cheque guarantee card) or cash. No credits were allowed!
It was a job that opened my (rather sheltered) eyes to how the world could be. Two days before Xmas, they put me down to work in the food section (I worked up in the Kids' dept). The carnage was awful (I couldn't believe how people were behaving!)! For some stupid reason, the store didn't put the dividers on conveyor belts, so I ended up getting completely bawled out by some nasty woman for putting her massive Xmas food shop through with another bloke's shopping. They were standing together, chatting away, and getting quite close to each other. No obvious gap in shopping on conveyor belt. I thought they were a couple. Funny how you remember stuff, eh?

I remember there was a smoking section in the staff room. It was more accepted that men would be sexist/leery towards women. Oh god, that reminds me of something else...I remember during a job interview (for a different role - I was about 20) the manager asked me if I was thinking of getting married/having kids!!!

My first job was in M&S too, in the late 90s.

So many memories have just come flooding back!

My main job was on Foods and it was always carnage like that!
I remember on Saturdays, basically being on the till for the whole 8 hour shift.
And having to beg the supervisor (who wore a white paisley blouse, to my blue version) to let me go for a wee.

I'd be absolutely busting! My post pregnancy bladder couldn't handle that now.

[flashylamp]

The smoking, I still think of it often. One of my very early jobs was waiting staff. Just off the kitchen there was a door to the store room and beside that another door where the storage freezers were - this doubled as the staff room. Every Moring chef would take some frozen tray ales etc out and leave them on top of the freezers to defrost (they went out in the evening ready for next day) and the whole day people would sit in the staff room smoking away, over the tray bakes and with the smoke leaving the open door and going right into the kitchen

[CandyLeBonBon]

Quite ahead of its time to have had wine bars I think. They still don't exist in smaller towns and even asking for wine in a pub was considered a bit posh until the early 2000s.

We definitely had a wine bar in my town in the 80s. I was a regular (and also underage! ).

In fact underage pub-going was the norm in my town - we were regularly in them on the weekends from around 14/15?

There was always 'that' pub that you knew you'd get served in! - and our wine bar was one of them!

Shocking to think of it now!

[Gwenhwyfar]

"In fact underage pub-going was the norm in my town - we were regularly in them on the weekends from around 14/15?

There was always 'that' pub that you knew you'd get served in! - and our wine bar was one of them!

Shocking to think of it now!"

That was normal where I lived to. We went clubbing at 15. The club was at a hotel so I told my parents I was going to a disco/gig.
I remember a policeman coming into a pub where my friend's mum was working and she just told him we were not underage.

[CounsellorTroi]

Fax paper was that slimy stuff for a while wasn't it.

Before the advent of plain paper faxes fax paper came on a roll and the fax was all curly. I also remember the old analogue faxes where it could take numerous attempts to get a fax of more than one page through as some of the pages were illegible due to some sort of interference on the phone line.

[BettyCarver]

3 month maternity leave!

[EversoDelighted]

Yes, I know of a wine bar that's been going since at least the 1980s and there was one in my small town when we moved here 20 years ago. I agree that drinking wine in pubs was not common back then though.

[flashylamp]

EastEnders had a wine bar, The Dagmar, back in the 80s. I thought that's when they grew in popularity with the 'yuppies'

[ScienceSensibility]

Lots of former bank staff on this thread, hi all.

I worked at Nat West International Division in the early 80s and remember so many of these practices,
The signing in book in the morning, which was taken away at five to nine and if you arrived later than that you had to go to a manager to sign in!


Overtime only accrued in full half hours, so if you didn’t balance and had to stay past 5pm, the supervisor would be desperate to get you out by 5.25.

Personal bank accounts were regularly scrutinised and you had to apply to Personnel to be allowed a credit card.

I had to fight to get support to do the Institute of Bankers exams, but male staff were offered day release automatically.

Incoming documents and post were methodically recorded by hand in huge ledgers. All letters had file copies plus ‘day’ copies which went round in a folder for all managers to see and sign for.

Nat West had a fantastic social organisation back then, bank teams for every sport and time off if you made it to regional level finals.

Every procedure possible was covered by National Books of Instruction. The ‘S’ book was for Staff and covered all personal matters.

Fantastic profit shares pro rata your salary and brilliant final salary pension.

Strict dress codes but also culture of pub and wine bar lunches and everyone drank alcohol at lunch!

We had a 20 min coffee break in the morning and a whole lunch hour. No one ever had lunch at their desk, we had a subsidised staff restaurant with excellent quality food.

There was almost a paternalistic approach from the Bank to its staff.
Promotions were frequent and if you were bright you could whizz through the grades.

Loved it. Very fond memories.

[Zippea]

Lunch and two tea breaks (the tea breaks were written into my contracts!)
Fax machines
Smoking was acceptable but only on one particular landing with the window open

[bumblingbovine49]

80s in a data processing dept for a market research company...

Large boxes of completed paper questionnaires manually being entered using date entry software to large mainframe computers by banks of fast typing data entry operators.

Then the data was printed out onto 80 column paper cards with numbers 1-9, X in each column with holes punched in specific places to represent the answer for each question.

These cards were delivered to the ' processing' dept where they were fed in via a machine that converted the holes into computer data. The data then was edited for date entry errors and then converted to data tables in large printouts on white and green stripped folded paper . The relevant data was selected and manually retyped in reports and presentations

A paper survey of a couple hundred people always took weeks and usually several months to design conduct and analyse.

Nowadays we have online surveys which take a few days to design, collect responses and analyse

Also as others have said, smoking in the office and it being fine to go back to the office a bit tipsy after a team lunch, people just laughed indulgently . Noone thought it was a sacking offence unless you were falling down drunk every week or something

[CounsellorTroi]

Also as others have said, smoking in the office and it being fine to go back to the office a bit tipsy after a team lunch, people just laughed indulgently . Noone thought it was a sacking offence unless you were falling down drunk every week or something

Yes I remember once it was noticed that a colleague hadn't been seen for a while, someone went to look for him and he was asleep on the toilet.

[Onlinedilema]

Where I work now we have only just got rid of the signing in book. Apparently the manager wants to cling into it to check up on staff.
I remember the 2 coffee breaks. Nobody ever had a drink unless it was coffee break or lunch and nobody ate lunch at their desk.

[Sparklingbrook]

There was almost a paternalistic approach from the Bank to its staff.
Promotions were frequent and if you were bright you could whizz through the grades

Very true at the bank I worked at. you didn't have to apply for a promotion, you worked really hard, proved your worth and up the grades you went. Day release to college every Monday to get the banking exams and further promotion awaited.

[LadyDanburysCane]

Where I work now we have only just got rid of the signing in book.

We still have one in case we have to evacuate - it’s just a tick in and out though, no times are recorded.

[BoomBoomsCousin]

I joined the police in the early 90s. As part of the uniform we were issued with a small handbag and a tiny truncheon that fit in it!

[Lexilooo]

Dictaphones with little tapes, and hard copies printed in duplicate.

Having to wear a dark skirt suit with tights and heels for court. We could wear trouser suits in the office, but not at court. No sandals ever and tights were compulsory.

Secretaries and receptionists calling the lawyers Mr...... Or Mrs........

[TitsOot4Xmas]

Haven’t RTFT but 1994, aged 15/16 it was normal for (young female) waitresses to get shut in the fridge/freezer by a (male) chef so that our nipples would get hard. They said it would get us bigger tips. (Ha ha.)

Oh, and being told by pervy older (male) boss to “get your tits oot for Xmas”.