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

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by Scubamax The cheapness factor was really extreme. Every employee was allowed 2 pens, 2 pencils, and 2 pads of paper. If you ran out of one of these items, you would go to the person in charge of supplies and they would require in the case of a new pencil the old one back first, which would have to have less than 2 inches remaining on it. Pens would have to be non functional or out of ink, and if you wanted a new legal pad of paper you had to return that cardboard backing in order to get a fresh pad. If you lost or misplaced any of these office supplies you were out of luck!

A coworker once told me that the way a company handled supplies told you everything about what it was like to work there!

I worked in Cincinnati a few years after graduation and one large employer was a life insurance company. They had bells that went off when you were supposed to be at your desk, when you could leave for lunch, etc. I was also at an insurer but it was far more liberal. A few people defected to the life insurance company but I would have lasted about 3 days there.

[JoeWras]

Geeez. Some of you basically worked under prison conditions! Wow.

[aja8888]

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Originally Posted by JoeWras Geeez. Some of you basically worked under prison conditions! Wow.

If you were in a Fed prison, you probably had it better.

[marko]

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Originally Posted by JoeWras Geeez. Some of you basically worked under prison conditions! Wow.

And yet, I keep being told that terrible working conditions, cheap bosses, greedy corporations and abused workers are a new and recent phenomenon.

[MRG]

My first job in IT (early 80s) was really eye opening. In mills there were very few women in the office.

My first IT job our director was a woman and the workplace was 40% female. I enjoyed those early years, not much for politics at my level so it was enjoyable and I was learning a tremendous amout of useful skills.

I did work with a gal that was friendly we did several enjoyable projects together. Our female director had transfered out to be replaced by a rude crude man, that happened to be the guy that placed me at Megacorp. My female cow*rker asked me to attend a meeting with the new pervy director, that really had nothing to do with me. I said sure but I'm confused what my role was. She got a little red in the face and blurted out "that pervert plays pocket pool with himself whenever I'm alone with him. I don't know how to handle it". We laughed, and I volunteered to be present. What a perv, sexual harassment was next to impossible to prove back then.

Went through periods of the office supply nazi, suppies available 4 hours a week. Then the chair nazi took over, all chairs has to be pushed in at just the right height, facing the exact same direction. Failure to do so would generate a nasty voice mail to you and your manager.

I later w*rked on a team that was led by a former USMC, he never said no to any impossible task. I recall one he volunteered for, seemed like there was no way it could ever happen. I gave him crap for volunteering and how did he think this would ever work. True to form he looked at me said I knew you wanted to help. How are WE going to make this work. We did made it work(lot of late nights) and he gave me a fair share of credit.

[HFWR]

I've punched a time clock, had 30-min lunch, and breaks that happened when the "break guy/gal" reached your machine. Most "foremen" were promoted because they were the biggest a-hole in the department.

In the meantime, you stamped out metal parts over and over and over...

[marko]

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Originally Posted by MRG She got a little red in the face and blurted out "that pervert plays pocket pool with himself whenever I'm alone with him. I don't know how to handle it". We laughed, and I volunteered to be present. What a perv, sexual harassment was next to impossible to prove back then. .

Yeah, my very first admin would have guys drop over to chat during the day. There was one guy...she just said to me one day: "whenever he comes over here DON"T LEAVE THE AREA!" It was kind of a command.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by marko And yet, I keep being told that terrible working conditions, cheap bosses, greedy corporations and abused workers are a new and recent phenomenon.

Excellent point! We've had a few posters that I've accused of revisionist history - they'd make all these claims about how much better things used to be. And it was not to be questioned!

-ERD50

[Meadbh]

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Originally Posted by ERD50 Excellent point! We've had a few posters that I've accused of revisionist history - they'd make all these claims about how much better things used to be. And it was not to be questioned! -ERD50

Not being questioned was a feature of working in those times. The culture was much more hierarchical.

[marko]

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Originally Posted by ERD50 Excellent point! We've had a few posters that I've accused of revisionist history - they'd make all these claims about how much better things used to be. And it was not to be questioned! -ERD50

Maybe there's this general equilibrium of things over time.

Some bad things get replaced by good things and some good things get replaced by bad things. Net zero.

But...off topic.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by Meadbh Not being questioned was a feature of working in those times. The culture was much more hierarchical.

Yes, my FIL was not a bitter man at all, but he related a story to me on several occasions - when he started working, he made some suggestions to the boss about how they might approach the job. The boss said "You're not paid to think, you're paid to work!".

And he always said it rather bitterly. It really made an impression on him.

-ERD50

[Walt34]

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Originally Posted by Scubamax You were not allowed to leave the floor except at lunch (strictly 45 minutes in length, and only could be taken at the pre-authorized time). The only exception was payday, when you got 20 minutes that morning to go off site to the bank to deposit your check. I always looked forward to that escape. The cheapness factor was really extreme. Every employee was allowed 2 pens, 2 pencils, and 2 pads of paper. If you ran out of one of these items, you would go to the person in charge of supplies and they would require in the case of a new pencil the old one back first, which would have to have less than 2 inches remaining on it. Pens would have to be non functional or out of ink, and if you wanted a new legal pad of paper you had to return that cardboard backing in order to get a fresh pad. If you lost or misplaced any of these office supplies you were out of luck!

Wow. I would have developed a severe attitude problem, eventually I'd tell the idiots what I thought, and been fired.

[JoeWras]

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Originally Posted by Walt34 Wow. I would have developed a severe attitude problem, eventually I'd tell the idiots what I thought, and been fired.

Something comes to mind, as I watch Walt flying upside down. Airplanes. Never question the Captain.

Well, that was then. But things have changed. I remember reading about Unitied Flight 173. The black box recordings are chilling as the flight engineer professionally reads out fuel readings that are getting ridiculously low. Perhaps they were all too preoccupied. Or perhaps, the engineer was just doing his job, reading out the fuel to the Captain as was his duty. Hell if the plane crashes or not, he was doing his job without questioning the Captain!

[timo2]

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Originally Posted by Walt34 Wow. I would have developed a severe attitude problem, eventually I'd tell the idiots what I thought, and been fired.

Now you know where unions came from. Good employers don't have to worry about unions.

I also worked at a place that a whistle went off for the morning and afternoon breaks, and also for lunch. 9,12 & 3. almost like Dr. Pepper! After that died away in the early 1980's, we still had a manager who would lurk at the door at 1:00 looking for people that were late coming back from lunch. At each quarterly work review, the manager would have a chart showing what days you took sick and vacation leave, and how many hours. If there was any kind of a pattern to the sick leave, they wrote you up for that.

And right before I started, in 1984, they had finally started letting women wear pants, and men not having to wear ties.

[marko]

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Originally Posted by Walt34 Wow. I would have developed a severe attitude problem, eventually I'd tell the idiots what I thought, and been fired.

Oh, but you'd be missing all the fun! That sort of corp BS and 'by the book' stuff is the foundation of some really good, entertaining, passive-aggressive behavior.

The idea is to say nothing, do what you're told and watch the policies blow up in their faces!

"....sorry boss that I didn't leave you that very important message but Miss X in the mail room wouldn't give me any more message pads; and policy is that all messages must be on those pink message pads..."

"...Yes, it went motor freight instead of airfreight, but the airfreight guys had already left and you were screaming that it had to go out today--no matter what-- so it went out today..."

"...yes, I know it's now an emergency situation but last week you said that I had to take my vacation starting tomorrow--no exceptions-- or lose it, so...."

"...I know there weren't enough handouts for the executive board meeting, but the mail room said we'd already maxed out our allotment of copies for the week; in fact the last handout is missing 12 pages...."

"...You said that Mrs X is the only one allowed to have the keys to the files; and now she's in Hawaii for two weeks..."

[Nodak]

I started working for the Air Force in 1983; about a year later we received a message asking how many PCs we wanted for our operation. I lobbied for at least 3 but was over ruled and the site Commander said he didn't think we needed any. We received a return message that said we would take at least 1. They were Zenith Z100s if I remember correctly and came with enough documentation to fill about 10 feet of bookshelf. Including, for reasons I will never understand, an Assembler level listing of the boot ROM. The thing came with a Diablo daisy wheel printer that weighed about 60 pounds. Within about two years there were PCs everywhere.

[Meadbh]

I remember, as a medical intern in 1980, working for an OCD endocrinologist. He was very demanding, impatient and unreasonable. We had a patient in the hospital for investigation of a rare endocrine disorder. The tests included six days worth of urine collection, and if the patient forgot to pee into the appropriate container, the whole day's collection would be ruined. On the fifth day, the attending physician demanded to know the results of the urine tests. When I replied that the collection was not yet complete, he went on a rant, implying that I, as the intern, hadn't been doing my job. Never mind that we still had one day's worth of urine to collect before the lab could do the analysis! The patient and I were both pissed off!

I had to put up with a lot of unreasonable demands as a resident. The longest shift I ever worked without more than one hour's uninterrupted sleep was from Saturday morning at 0900h to Monday evening at 1700h (56 hours). I truly thought I was going to die. I shudder to think what my decision making was like at the end. Somehow I managed to drive home safely and crashed into bed. The next morning I had to go back and start a 32 hour shift. Those hours have improved somewhat in the US and Canada, but interns and residents are still being abused in Ireland, where I did my residency.

[travelover]

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Originally Posted by marko Oh, but you'd be missing all the fun! That sort of corp BS and 'by the book' stuff is the foundation of some really good, entertaining, passive-aggressive behavior. The idea is to say nothing, do what you're told and watch the policies blow up in their faces! ...............

We used to call it malicious obedience.

[Walt34]

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Originally Posted by marko The idea is to say nothing, do what you're told and watch the policies blow up in their faces!

Well, there is that, and thinking about it a little more I've done my share of malicious obedience too!

[Live Free]

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Originally Posted by timo2 And right before I started, in 1984, they had finally started letting women wear pants, and men not having to wear ties.

I didn't realize that the women and pants thing went into the 70s and early 80s. My mom was talking about how she couldn't wear pants to work in the 50s and 60s and I was literally floored. I cannot remember ever wearing a dress or business skirt to work. Gah!