Things where you look back and think "that really was a different world"

[StealthPolarBear]

I am only in my early 40s so young and sprightly.
When I was even younger I had a job in a dentists office. Basically sending reminder letters out, printjng the letters, and addressing the envelopes. The dental records didn't have title on them so I asked what I should do. The response was i a woman's husband is also registered at the practice, she's a Mrs.
So I did that. Mrs for those respectable married women, and using my teenage innovation I decided any where I was unsure would be 'Ms'.
I got such a telling off. Apparently people complained as it looked like they were divorced.
There are times when the 90s seem only yesterday, and times like remembering that when they seem to have more in common with the victorian era than the present day!

@Taytocrisps I was also early 70’s but definitely a middle class upbringing in London. So certainly lots of cultural factors which influenced things

Dont know if you can still do it, but you used to be able to ring the AA and they'd give you the directions to write down before you went on a big trip. My mum got me an A-Z when I got my first car, to keep in the glove box. Now I just tell the car where I want to go and it gives me directions 😂 We actually got a printed list from the AA. It was spiral bound, so you turned the pages as you went; then turned the pad over for the return journey!
@Graphista; we had a NatWest cheque book with wildlife pictures-badgers, foxes etc. It was very pretty.

@Taytocrisps

Oh, I just remembered another one. My DM had very low iron levels during her pregnancies (I'm not sure if it was just one pregnancy or all of them) so the doctor recommended she drink Guinness every day to boost her iron levels. I think she was supposed to drink a glass or maybe a pint of it every day. DM was never much of a drinker and hated the taste of it. This would have been somewhere between the mid '60s and mid '70s.

Speaking of alcohol, generations of babies were raised on gripe water.

Mate, the doctor told me this in 2004! When I was having DD1.

When I was about 11 years old I had anemia (due to a hereditary thing) - the doctor then told me I could have iron tablets or drink a small can of stout a day. I chose the stout

That would have been in 1991

Wow, I can't believe they were still recommending alcohol to boost iron levels during pregnancy as late as 2004!

When my now-DH and I were first dating, you couldn't send text messages between networks, but he had a piece of kit where he worked, that could send to any network, so he could text me if his shift was quiet. I found a website that I could text him from. It felt romantic, because of the extra effort involved.

I worked in a dialysis unit in the 90's , and just before Christmas we'd be able to order a selection of alcoholic drinks from the hospital supplies to give to patients when they first went on dialysis!
Likewise I worked in a medical ward in Leeds in early 90's and the Sister's office had a buffet in it for all staff working on ward over Christmas ....we were even allowed a glass of alcohol with our meal
When I was expecting my first dc, in '94 , I slipped on ice when I was 32 weeks pregnant and was quite shaken so went to day unit for monitoring....consultant advised me to have a couple of glasses of red wine when I got home

Teachers drinking in the pub on a Friday lunchtime in the early 2000s then going back to school to teach.

I started work as a trainee in a very stuffy law firm in the City in the late 1990s. They still had tea ladies who would go round with their tea urns on trolleys. It was a matter of utmost pride that they remembered how everyone on the floor took their tea and what was “their” mug. There was a central Fax Room where a bank of 10 people would spend all day simply sending faxes delivered from across the firm by the office Messengers or trainees. Woe betide you if you handed them a stapled fax and they had to waste time installing it.

We were considered a frightfully modern firm because even the trainees were given personal computers, although not initially connected to the internet! Female trainees were not permitted to wear trousers and we were told that our skirt suits should be knee length and made to measure from “our tailor” . People smoked in their offices and there was a partner dining room that did silver service.

Being on the bus when my mobile phone rang and EVERYONE turning around as no one had mobiles...

Sorry - wrong thread. Was supposed to be the 9/11 thread. Will report for deletion.

Getting into running.
Improved mental health and made lots of new friends. Even met a new partner

I am always amazed the number of people who get the whole Mrs/Miss thing mixed up. Mrs - married; Miss - unmarried. Ms is if you don't know which they are or if they choose Ms.

Having said that, I don't know why women have more options than men.

Mr - adult men; Master - boys.

I was at Uni in the 1970s ... no idea where I was sleeping the first day I arrived - in fact two terms sharing a room with a complete stranger, baths only allowed once a week ... slightly retro even then, but not unusual. Work in the 1980s: no mobile phones, no computers (except a huge thing in accounts), no dress down, filthy blackened London, nothing much open on Sundays, pubs limited opening (e.g. 12-2.30pm and 5pm-10.30pm weekdays) - and spent a lot of time in pubs, especially in winter, as the flat in which I rented a room wasn't heated and the windows didn't fit properly ... happy days! Oh and bombs going off from time to time, courtesy of the IRA.

Ms was popularised by feminists who didn't want to be defined by being or not being married.... Nowt to do with divorcees who may have adopted the style later on

I agree with all the posters that Ms was for those not wishing to use a title that denotes status. It was NEVER anything to do with being divorced. FFS. I have always chosen to us Ms when I have to provide a title (which I'd avoid if I could).

I’d personally be annoyed to be referred to by the wrong title in the present day and would correct the mistaken person

@UpHillandDownAle

Ha ha! Love it. We’ve got kids of both sexes. When filling in the boy passport application, I noticed Master wasn’t there anymore so it was straight to Mr. So for our daughter, I went for Ms. The person in the post office wanted to change my form! It is so ducking wrong (IMO) to have a title that changes when you marry for one sex and not the other! Especially as the historical root for it is that women passed from their father’s possession to their husbands (hence the whole giving away bit of marriage ceremony which is largely defunct now I believe). And don’t get me onto the word History! I mean, it is literally HIS STORY!! Rant over! Back to the original post: the casual sexism in films in the 90s is shocking. Didn’t even notice it when living through the 90s! Also listened to a historic interview of the first international women footballs (60s/70s) and the questions the interview asked! OMG - the commentator even told one player she had the wrong decision when she wasn’t married (yes, the first question was, “are you married”) as her boyfriend of 2 years had said it was him or football and the commentator replied something along the lines of surely most girls would want the marriage!

In France and Germany you are called "Madame"/ "Frau" instead of "Mademoiselle/ Fräulein when you become an adult women, regardless of whether you are married. I like that idea.

My first proper job was in an office type setting but with a shop attached. The nature of the job meant that most customers coming into the shop were professional males. My boss, at interview told me that I should dress "nice and pretty to keep the customers happy"
The vast majority of them were absolute pervs and I had to endure it because I should be flattered!

@StillWeRise

NO Ms was always intended as equal to Mr, a title that did not indicate marital status. It was never intended to indicate being divorced.

It def was though, back in the day!

I remember the head master at our primary school literally driving to the traveller camps and forcing the kids to go to school. Wouldn't get away with that now.

Also I remember when my grandad took me and my brothers and cousins to the local aquarium to see the dolphin show. Great at the time, but horrific looking back. It was indoors as well which was even worse for the poor creatures. What's even more surprising is grandad was a vegetarian and all round animal lover.

Also going to Circus with live animals.

2 telly channels and no colour. They played the National Anthem when the telly closed down at night...and before that, no telly at all just the wireless.
no internet....none...it didn't exist.
An outdoor toilet at the bottom of the garden.
No hot water in the house, just one cold tap in the kitchen. heating was open fires and oil stoves. The bath was kept in a shed and carried in on fridays....and we were by no means poor....not as poor as many people i knew.
No Pizza hut, no Macdonalds (I first had a Mac in America in 1974)
My first mobile was a car phone wired into the car. It cost an arm and a leg and call costs were phenomenal.

@WorkHardPlayHard1

"It def was though, back in the day!"

nope, that might have been the assumption but it never ever was
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms.

I've never heard of the "Ms being for divorced women" thing before. When I got married in 1994 I always used Ms not Mrs. No one thought I was divorced, they just didn't get it advertised that I was married.