What was it like going to work in the 60s, 70s and 80s?

[RISP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kabekew I entered the workforce in the 80's, after PC's but before email, and just remember the big yellow intra-departmental mail envelopes with about 50 boxes of "to/from" printed on the front. To send a memo, you'd handwrite it on a company memo pad, or print it out using your word processor, stick it in the envelope, seal it with the attached string, write the destination office number on the next open box on the front, and put it in your "out" box. Then a mail guy would come by and take everything from your out box and put anything incoming to your in-box. When you got something in your in-box, you'd read the memo and save the envelope, scribbling out the last entry so you could reuse it.

We still have those in use. They are quite useful to pass along documents like contracts, where a physical copy is required.

[Marita40]

Regarding smoking: story yesterday in our local paper about a guy who while driving on the interstate tossed a cigarette butt out the window but it flew back in and burnt him and the car. Sorry to say my evil twin came out when I heard that story as I thought, poetic justice!

[GrayHare]

A certain megacorp's workday during the '80s did not begin until the office pool winner was determined. Not the football pool, it was the "what color panties is she wearing" pool. A department's worth of guys would gather at the window with binoculars to watch for her arrival in the parking lot. I don't know if she was in on the game, but her choice of skirt length and the way she climbed out of her car greatly assisted the process of determining the winner. Within a few years this megacorp fell apart and was merged out of existence.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare A certain megacorp's workday during the '80s did not begin until the office pool winner was determined. Not the football pool, it was the "what color panties is she wearing" pool. A department's worth of guys would gather at the window with binoculars to watch for her arrival in the parking lot. I don't know if she was in on the game, but her choice of skirt length and the way she climbed out of her car greatly assisted the process of determining the winner. Within a few years this megacorp fell apart and was merged out of existence.

Dang, and I was thinking about sending my resume...

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marita40 Regarding smoking: story yesterday in our local paper about a guy who while driving on the interstate tossed a cigarette butt out the window but it flew back in and burnt him and the car. Sorry to say my evil twin came out when I heard that story as I thought, poetic justice!

Here on Long Island, we had a bizarre story about a man who inadvertently used a cigarette to kill some bedbugs in his rental car with disastrous results.

Man Set Rental Car On Fire Trying To Kill Bedbugs, Police Say

"EASTPORT, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a Long Island man set his rental car ablaze while trying to kill bedbugs inside the vehicle.

Scott Kemery suffered first- and second-degree burns in the incident Tuesday outside an Eastport supermarket.

Police say the Bridgehampton resident poured alcohol over the insects, then sat in the car and lit a cigarette, setting off the blaze.

He fled the vehicle on his own.

Detective Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald told Newsday (Scott Kemery, of Bridgehampton, burned while trying to kill bedbugs in car, cops say - Newsday ) that someone told Kemery that if he saturated the bedbugs with alcohol it would kill them.

Police say two other cars were heavily damaged from the intense heat of the fire."

You can't make this stuff up. News12, our LI cable news station, showed video of the blazing car.

I feel bad for the poor owners of the cars parked next to his which got damaged.

[sunnysideup]

I remember a few thing from the 70s. As a female we had to wear skirts or dresses, and in the late 70s some companies allowed ladies' trousers. It was a BIG deal.

I remember showing respect by calling everyone in management Mr, Mrs or Dr. I recall, being aghast, in the mid 80's when a younger colleagues called our physician VP by her first name--everyone else called her Dr.

The HR representative submitted the health insurance claims for us. Can you imagine that today with all the HIPAA stuff?? LOL...

I had someone actually tell me that they paid men more because they were the breadwinners. I was a scientist doing the same #$% work! Arghhh...

People stayed with their companies much longer. Companies treated people better. (At least the ones at which I worked did.) People didn't complain nearly as much as they do today.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnysideup People stayed with their companies much longer. Companies treated people better. (At least the ones at which I worked did.) People didn't complain nearly as much as they do today.

There is that. Very early on I worked with a few who had lived through the 1930's Depression (although they were very young at that time) and even though they worked 12-hour shifts six days a week when they started they felt lucky to have a job then. They knew a lot of people who didn't.

So if the 1930's are your frame of reference then there wasn't much to complain about in 1974.

[ABQ2015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kabekew I entered the workforce in the 80's, after PC's but before email, and just remember the big yellow intra-departmental mail envelopes with about 50 boxes of "to/from" printed on the front. To send a memo, you'd handwrite it on a company memo pad, or print it out using your word processor, stick it in the envelope, seal it with the attached string, write the destination office number on the next open box on the front, and put it in your "out" box. Then a mail guy would come by and take everything from your out box and put anything incoming to your in-box. When you got something in your in-box, you'd read the memo and save the envelope, scribbling out the last entry so you could reuse it.

We still use those big yellow envelopes, including attached string, in my federal government office to send correspondence within our complex and to HQ in DC and other field offices. And the in and out boxes and the daily mail pick up. And it was this way in 1985 when I first started working there.