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

[topcat2014]

I temped in the post room of a factory, and also did reception and tannoy, (which was unusual as a man..)

So much so that callers would say "hello love" when I answered..then twigged...

I remember the words "fuck it" going across the whole industrial estate when I left the tannoy on by mistake.

Makes me shudder even now.

[starfishmummy]

Primary teaching in the 70s. Every male Headmaster I worked for banned women teachers from wearing trousers. In theory they would allow them for outdoor P.E in the winter, but only for the duration of the class, so in practice there was no time to change so it rarely happened.

[Ieatmarmite]

Early 1980s: women not allowed to wear trousers; carbon paper; smoking in the office; long, long Friday lunches in the nearest wine bar then back to the office where we'd open another couple of bottles of wine. Christmas parties paid for by the company. The week before Christmas was spent doing the rounds of the office parties being held by other companies in the same building.

[Claphands]

@anniepanniepears123

When I went for an interview for my first job after leaving school in 1974 I was told that women couldn't wear trousers and could only wear rollers in their hair by special permission on a Friday

Do you mean going to work with rollers in your hair? 😲

I worked in a shop and I remember one of the managers grandma working there part time to wash up and make tea, she was a granny to us all. Also cheque guarantee cards and putting a credit card in a machine with a carbon paper on top. Going to the pub at lunch, brilliant xmas dos that I actually wanted to go to.

[Howtomakeevery1]

2002 - Accountancy training contract in city of London.
We needed prior written permission of a partner to leave the office without a jacket.

[Bambam2019]

So I’m only in my late 20s and got my first job at 16, first full time at 21 after uni so not that much has changed. I work in childcare and it has come much more technology/admin focussed even in the past few years. Everyone and everything has to be assessed, noted, planned....

I love talking to my mum about when she started work at 16. She worked for a big bank and still does, though in a different role. She is now home based and has been for about 5 years but until then some of the people she worked with had also been there when she was 16. She too talks about smoking at desks, a much more social environment (everyone knew each other and the Christmas parties were wonderful) and the best one....a final salary pension!

[influencernope]

@harknesswitch

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

still had those till lockdown in my local council job!

[flowerycurtain]

Smoking rooms in offices and factories.

Fax machines

I'm only 38!

[Diddumz]

London. Early 90s -

Faxes

Smoking in office

Drinking at lunchtime

Enormous computers with really clunky word processing software

A very primitive intranet with our New York office - it never worked.

Only the bosses had mobile phones.

No internet.

Lots more paper than is used today.

[Howtomakeevery1]

2016 - internal mail of printed instructions from solicitors to finance walked round the building twice a day.

[chipsarnie]

An actual pub in the building with a telephone on the bar to call you back to your desk if you were needed. Every now and then the cab firm we used to take staff home after a late shift would supply a chauffeur-driven limousine as a treat. Post-deadline drinks which meant leaving at 1pm (and sometimes sleeping back in the office on a sofa if you stayed so long you missed the last tube). Vast books of 'trannies' (slide photographs) from the picture library - some of which were so valuable you'd be sacked if you left them on your desk overnight. (National newspaper)

[Brindisi32]

Smoking allowed in restrooms, all accounts were on paper, Friday lunchtime at the pub, basic electronic tills, sexual harassment was rife, buying the local paper for work on Fridays so we could look through the ads and weekend entertainment listings.

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

@rosegoldwatcher

Newly qualified secondary teacher in 1982:-

No photocopier - worksheets produced on a very smelly Banda machine.
No computers in classrooms.
No whiteboards - blackboards and chalk.
Handwritten register, with girls then boys listed alphabetically.
Smoking allowed in your classroom (at lunchtime and after school.)
Lunchtimes in the pub.
1 hour and 10 minutes for lunch-break.

Happy teachers!

Newly qualified primary teacher in 1997. I had all of the same, apart from the longer lunch break.


I remember when our first Windows computer arrived in school (one for the whole school) and having to get to grips with it before being able to teach the children, one at a time on a rota, how to use word etc.

[SpiderinaWingMirror]

Office parties in the actual office.
Laughter
No measurement of actual work
Blatant sexism -think ashes to ashes.
Could open a feckin window on a hot day
Sit on a radiator on a cold day
Endless fog of fag smoke.
Pub for lunch most days.
Card indexes
Registers
Lost files.
Could get another job tomorrow if you wanted.

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

Early 00s weekend waitressing job (was 16). CONSTANT pervy comments from much older men, all met with back slapping and sniggering from anyone else who was around to hear. Literally no shame in loudly commenting on my boobs, I discovered if I gave a shitty response I was shunned for being "up myself" and if, in desperation to try and fit in, I attempted a "joke" back, I was a bit of a slut who wasnt to be taken seriously.
I look back and cannot believe not only how gross those guys were to make the comments they did but also how literally everyone else who worked there laughed along, not one person ever reminded them of my age (I was a schoolgirl!) and told them to stop and nobody ever asked if I was alright.

[MissSmith80]

Over head projector and acetates or writing/drawing on them as you presented if you were very confident.
Great thread

[groundcontroltomontydon]

Applying for jobs was much easier, you just filled out a paper form and went for an interview where you talked about your previous experience.
Yes! Now it's while we can see from your CV that you have the qualifications and experience this job needs, your inability to express it through the medium of contemporary dance means we won't be taking your application further - that final pirouette lacked the commitment we're looking for in a library assistant

[grafittiartist]

Gosh- I used acetates and an overhead projector in my teacher training!
And had to wheel the big telly in to a classroom to show anything.
Definitely felt simpler.
Proper lunch breaks.

[Howshouldibehave]

Pub on a Friday lunchtime and if you wanted to smoke in the staff room, you went in from 12.30 to 1!

[TwoBlondes]

Manual typewriters
Carbon copies (no corrections allowed)
Telex machines
Calling superiors Mr or Mrs
Being pissed at your desk on Friday afternoon!

This was only the early eighties

[TwoBlondes]

Oh, I forgot shoulder pads and smoking!

[dodobookends]

I used to work as a cashier in a bank and we had to do all adding up in our heads while serving customers at the counter. Some business customers would pay in loads of cash and cheques so it was quite a feat sometimes.

This was in the days when the only computer in the building was tended by a harassed-looking person in the back office.

We also had one of those shunt back and forth credit card machines into which you fed slips of what looked like greaseproof carbon paper.
Anyone else remember Access cards?

[MrsMoastyToasty]

Midland Bank (which became HSBC )
smoking in the office
Using an adding machine to tally everything from the days counter transactions to on excess of 5000 cheques received through the clearing houses.
Manually sorting all those cheques into strict alphabetical order.
Memos from head office on headed paper.
Manager's had secretaries. Large branches also had a typing pool.
Managers reviewed all staff transactions daily.
New account numbers were issued from a book.
Punched cards for ordering cheque books and paying in books.
Manual diary system of cards.
Microfilm.
Using a manual credit card machine with slider and forms with carbon paper inserts.

[user1471538283]

Smoking at your desk, long long hours with no breaks, word processors and lots of hand drawing, lots of noise and drinks after work most nights.

[Cipot]

In the 80s we had customer records on microfiche, where you'd be given an updated set once a month and had to feed all the pages into a holder on your desk. To make a change you had to complete a form by hand and get it signed by the manager.
People could smoke at their desk, but only on the hour or half hour.
If we wanted to go to the toilet we had to put our hand up, as only one out of 12 could go at a time.
That was for a high street bank.