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Original poster

What was normal in your workplace in the noughties that would be outrageous now

658 replies

Shhhhivegotasecret · 02/12/2023 19:32

My example - all the men going off to continue business meeting at a Stringfellows leaving all the women behind…. Would be the stuff of tribunals nowadays, back then it was 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
CheshireCat1 · 02/12/2023 19:34

Ashtrays on the desks

SonicAllanKey · 02/12/2023 19:34

My place used to do golf weekends “just for the men”

Cornettoninja · 02/12/2023 19:35

Regular lunch time pub visits.

CroftonWillow · 02/12/2023 19:35

Faxes

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 02/12/2023 19:36

People used to smoke in the staff room (care home), occasionally one non-smoker would have to empty the rancid ashtrays into an elderly roses tin to try and combat the smell.

In another care home the staff would smoke in the KITCHEN, but if cooking was actively taking place they could smoke in one of the residents BEDROOMS.

I shit you not.

GCAcademic · 02/12/2023 19:36

Sitting next to colleagues who smoked at their desks all day.

Teeheehee1579 · 02/12/2023 19:37

I miss the pub at lunchtimes. Every Friday without fail we would all go. Happy times!

goodgriefsean · 02/12/2023 19:38

I worked behind the bar in a student nightclub for 4 years while I was at uni so pretty much everything that went on!

StSwithinsDay · 02/12/2023 19:38

Sitting next to colleagues who smoked at their desks all day.

This. Also getting edible underwear as a Secret Santa present. And having to eat it in front of everyone.

Poppins2016 · 02/12/2023 19:38

Older men commenting about young women (teens) having "attractive childbearing hips". Men ogling and women just rolling their eyes and dismissing it "X, look at my eyes, not my boobs".

Original poster
Shhhhivegotasecret · 02/12/2023 19:39

I got a ‘well done blondie’ from a member of the board after presenting a new business strategy…

OP posts:
Tarantella6 · 02/12/2023 19:39

The boss used to smoke in his office, we were in a listed building with sash windows and a leaky roof. He would walk around dictating to his PA, who was sat at his desk typing. He was smoking as he walked and she had a cigarette between her fingers as she typed. Modern office buildings with glass partitions aren't really the same!

Original poster
Shhhhivegotasecret · 02/12/2023 19:39

I have an actual name and it’s not Blondie

OP posts:
User136921 · 02/12/2023 19:40

Smoking at the desk
pub at lunchtime
those page 3 calendars on the wall in the workshop

mummyh2016 · 02/12/2023 19:40

I worked in a hairdressers, we all smoked in the staff room and clients could smoke in the salon if they wanted. Accepting cheques. And when the card machine played up we'd use that swipe thing to take a payment which took an imprint of the card. Only little things but none of that would happen now!

Confuzzlediddled · 02/12/2023 19:40

Women not being allowed to wear trousers!

Poppins2016 · 02/12/2023 19:42

StSwithinsDay · 02/12/2023 19:38

Sitting next to colleagues who smoked at their desks all day.

This. Also getting edible underwear as a Secret Santa present. And having to eat it in front of everyone.

A colleague of mine refused to ever take part in secret santa again, following a gift of chocolate underwear....
(Arguably, however, the person who gave it to her should be cut a little slack as she used to openly talk about going to Torture Garden... which was also inappropriate for the workplace!)

PuttingDownRoots · 02/12/2023 19:42

Opening bottles of champagne with swords

Floopani · 02/12/2023 19:43

Working day shift at A&E, going to the hospital social club for a drink during our hour lunch break and then returning for the rest of our shift.

Rachaelrachael · 02/12/2023 19:43

PuttingDownRoots · 02/12/2023 19:42

Opening bottles of champagne with swords

😂😂This one wins!

Echobelly · 02/12/2023 19:44

Absolute expectation that you come in by 9 and leave not a moment before 5.

Xmaswrap · 02/12/2023 19:44

Page 3 girls everywhere in the workshops. Smoking in the factory, being one of the only young girls (working in the labs) I found out my lab coat was being taken out of the dirty wash basket and SNIFFED and rubbed on the faces of the men that worked with me as a joke.
And I did nothing about it because well, it was just what men did wasn’t it….😒

Original poster
Shhhhivegotasecret · 02/12/2023 19:46

Rachaelrachael · 02/12/2023 19:43

😂😂This one wins!

Show quote history

Wow this actually sounds hilarious

OP posts:
Rysimo · 02/12/2023 19:46

Even in the early 2000s it was still acceptable to go to the pub at lunchtime. In my old workplace in London we would hit the pub on a regular basis. It's unthinkable now.
We worked with the public too.

Giraffescarf · 02/12/2023 19:47

Staff and students to the pub on Fridays. Wild nights. The boss opening the wine at 3.30 on Friday afternoons. Smoking.