Things you no longer see/do in the workplace

[TheGrumpiest]

I always really like those threads about food/shops that no longer exist, so I thought I'd start one about the work place. I joined the workforce in the early 90s working for quite large companies.

Luncheon Vouchers - loved these! Like Monopoly money.
Tea trolley lady that came round twice a day. Tea and coffee was free. Small packet of biscuits 5p.
Strippers 😲 A milestone birthday? Getting married? = stripper in the office at lunch time .
Rolls of fax paper on the floor every morning. You had to seperate and tear out each fax with a ruler.
Endless Memorandums with huge circulation lists typed out. You had to cross your name off and pass on to the next name once you had read it!
Friday lunch time = pub. People got quite tipsy.
Lack of HR type processes/concept of people management/development etc. People were just asked to not come back the next day if deemed unsuitable... One lady saw her own (unique) job advertised in the local paper and realised her time was up 😲

BTW these aren't necessarily things I miss about the workplace. Just things that don't exist anymore or not acceptable! Tell us yours!

The shoot - put your memos in and they'd be sucked through a tube to another part of the office.

Post dated cheques - go shopping 3 days before your wages went in.

Patterned black 10 denier tights (80s)

Worked in John Lewis 25 years ago, section managers sat together on a table at lunch/break times and Department Managers had their own dining room.

Luncheon vouchers - around £5pm we used to blow them in one go on 'steak and strawberries' at the Berni Inn.

When I started in retail, one company I worked for still had the clunky credit card machines, referred as a skateboard machine for when the tills went offline and when it came out, only 2 people knew how to use it in order to process card transactions. That was 20 years ago, I remember when chip and pin came in, it was a nightmare as customers hated it and kept asking to sign the receipt.

My ex manager was clearing out the office and found the skateboard machine, the kids that I was working with (all under 25) stared at me when I got so excited about the skateboard machine and we all watched a YouTube video of how they worked.

Fax machines I last used about 15 years ago in one company that was still in the dark ages when it came to paperwork, all our weekly reports had to be faxed to head office, that was fun when the bloody thing broke and it couldn't be emailed over.
Also had pigeon holes for post, internal banking bags for cash and card receipts and the loading bay boys still got their money in a little brown envelope every week. I also remember a memo coming round about lunchtime drinking saying it was no longer allowed.

I loved the noise that the skateboard machine made,so clunky and loud. I suspect it made me want to work in retail as the ladies always looked so glamorous (very late 80s and early 90s) just pushing the top over. I also remember my mum asking for the carbon copy as well.

A few more collections and sponsorships by the bucket load Studio cards catalogue going round office at xmas xmas club savings club Avon catalogue body shop it went on and on ended up poor!!!! ice cream van outside someone going down for a choc ice run 30 choc ices later !!!
room for if you were I'll and had to call a first aider had a bed in it and you could lie down and first aider would call after a while to see if you felt able to go back to work !!!!
the whole office seated in tables of four one team leader three team member called mother hen and chicks style!!! Boards on stands with great big sheets of paper bull dog clipped to the top of used for courses tv on wheels also used for courses baking cakes for coffee and cake day in office for charity

We still had our fax machine till recently and occasionally we got that thing where someone phones its number by mistake, the younger members of staff didn't know what was going on but all the older ones knew straight away.

@camelfinger That sounds like a company I used to work at. The fallout from the staff-pay-list-left-in-the-photocopier incident was epic.

Carbon paper. Posting the letter and filing the carbon. Tipex paper or carefully erasing a typo with a typewriter rubber. Changing the ribbon. A heaving post tray. Knowing that when the post went the day was done and could tidy up ready for home. With emails by the hundred arriving 24/7 the work is never done. Ever. 😣

Weekly pay packets, in cash.

Team work
Camaraderie
Laughter

But the fact that those are no longer here may be unique to my workplace 😁

Sophia: healthcare??

I'd forgotten about the phone number directory for all the staff and departments in the council I worked for. Did anyone mention clocking in cards. At the supermarket I worked for 1994-5 we had an electronic swipe card but the council three years later had a proper old fashioned clock card. Each Friday we had to add it all up and work out how much toil we had. There was also a paper vacancies bulletin that came round once a week. We still use land phones in our office now (NHS), they give a clearer line as our mobile signal is bad.

Hospital in mid 90s. There was a staff smoking room but patients could smoke in the park ward day room so we'd often sneak in there.

Social club in grounds with discounted alcohol and no apparent closing time. We used to go their from a late shift, get v drunk and those of us who lived on site would often crash with friends in the Nurses home.
Then up at 6 for an early shift. Sometimes I'd work 5 days on the trot and not go home between times.

Later on, smoking with clients including underage ones. All normal and acceptable in youth and homelessnesses sectors, it was seen as a positive way to engage with clients.

Admin workers to type letters/ deal with post.

Not being contactable when off duty unlike now when you are contactable round the clock.

Wine in the office ( social work team) on Fridays.

Works canteen was great when I was young and single. I ate a substantial, subsidised meal at lunchtime including a hot pudding and then only needed toast in the evenings.

Happy days!

Employment contracts which dictated the colour of female underwear. 😳

room for if you were I'll and had to call a first aider had a bed in it and you could lie down and first aider would call after a while to see if you felt able to go back to work

We still have a first aid room - I confirmed where it was a week or so ago, because i just requalified as a first aider at work, and they've been rebuilding, so a lot of things have moved.

Yes to this...

>> IT actually coming to your desk to help you sometimes.

Also, everything stopping when the vacancy bulletin was emailed round on a Friday afternoon.

And, before emails, the little "while you were out" telephone pads. In those days you would come back from as fortnight's annual leave to three of those on your desk. If you weren't there people would ask someone else or phone back. Now you come back from annual leave to 150 emails.

@EBearhug yes! nearly every warehouse /distribution premises and all schools have a sick room/first aid room. Perhaps because more serious injuries can occur than in an office environment?

Perhaps because more serious injuries can occur than in an office environment?

I work in an office with a sick room.

One place I worked had not only a sick room but a company nurse, with full traditional uniform, to go with it.

Internal envelopes that you requested a job doing. Sent it thro, took a couple of days then it came back with a Yes/No. Now it's email and reply asap. Offices getting daily papers eg Guardian/Telegraph.

I entered the workforce less than 10 years ago but still so much has changed.

Constant food being shared around the office. Covid changed that.
Admin work getting heavier and heavier since stricter legislations/laws/GDPR have come into place.
Posters of stark naked women on the walls of the men's work area.

I remember one place I worked about 30 years ago they tested the fire alarm/PA system every Friday afternoon. We would all be a bit skittish anyway because it was Friday but we would recite along with the recorded announcement. I could still recite it now.

Had a manager who pretty openly watched porn at work when the internet became good enough to do that. Till the company discovered firewalls.

Did a temp job in summer before University in the early 90s in the typing pool. All women, sit there and wait for the piles of paper to come down from the men to type up. Or little audio tapes.

There was a tea trolley.

I was a hairdresser in the 80s; clients would smoke as I did their hair!

Literally cutting and pasting text to create a newsletter.

Registering each cheque that came into the office in a special book.