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I remember typing pools...

Steve Bridger

I remember my first day at work. The summer of 1981. County Hall. The smell of polished corridors and trolleys laden three-feet high with leaver arch files and buff folders. I opened a door and there it was: The Typing Pool. Page 3 of The Sun were always plastered on the walls of the printing unit whenever I was asked to make errands. We still had a few discussion threads on that topic in the early days here - in 2004!


And I've seen Made in Dagenham, the movie!


I only mention this as the CIPD published a report called Work Audit today, a fascinating look at how the world of work has changed
in Britain since 1952.


I thought we could share our own compelling vignettes of social history comparing changes in the way we work.


What do you reckon?


Steve

  • This is a very entertaining post! My first job was as a part time waitress at a motorway services in 1999 - I remember the smoking room *gags*, and watching the first ever series of Big Brother on my breaks.


    I remember doing some work experience where the computer screens were black with green type (someone else mentioned this)... and a klaxon marked the start and end of our regimented breaks (even for office staff).


    At the time, I was doing my A levels, and did indeed look things up in books, mainly our trusty family encyclopaedia!


    I've now gone back in a way, working for a company with a tea trolley round (no cakes)!

  • I recall joining British Steel in the late 1970's - the works canteen also had a bar. The men responsible for tapping the blast furnace (a very hot job near molten metal) were given a "beer note" entitling them to a free pint to replace the sweat they'd lost. If a shift manager wanted a favour from someone he'd generally offer a "beer note" as a sweetener.


    Wonder what "elf and safety" said!


     

  • This is such a good thread!!


    Harvey mentions paper rounds. I remember going to the local Tax Office at the age of 13 to get my employment card and NI Number so I could work as a paper boy. This was in 1970 and I started my job on 15s a week for 7 days!! I loved Saturday (very light bag) but hated Sundays with all the supplements. Started at 7am and had the round done and dusted by 7.45. I also remember taking a bit longer the week leading up to Christmas - making sure I made a noise when I put the paper through the letter-box!!


    After a year my first promotion - to Marker-Up. The downside was that I had to get in at 6am to mark up the rounds (shared the task with the owner) and was done by 7am - but my wage doubled to £1 10s a week and I stayed in the dry and warm.


    Over 40 years ago but still such vivid memories.

  • Remember my summer job in the typing pool at County Council offices in the Architects Department.  The matriarch sat at the front of the room with 16 of us fixed in front of golf-ball typewriters (we only had one electric typewriter at college so I was more used to manual machines).  We were issued with work by the matriarch who signed off the paper chit when we took it back completed.  At the end of the first week, I received a gentle telling-off from her because I was completing too many pieces of work and the pile of work to be done had reduced to 7 days delay from 10.  'At this rate, my dear, we will be completely caught up and someone will notice and the typing pool numbers will be examined and some poor lady will lose their job while you swan off back to college.'!

  • In 1984, I worked for a major aerospace company and the typing pool were to be 'revolutionised' with computers.  A senior manager came in to explain to us the merits of using computers connected to printers as opposed to typewriters and how life would be much easier.


     One of our number who had worked in the pool for many, many years, heard all this, sighed, then asked (words to the effect of) "This is all well and good, but where do I put my tippex?"


     

  • Those of you who want to reminisce more fully may be interested to know the Women's Library in London is running an exhibition until the spring covering the history of women and work:
    http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/whats-on/exhibitions/all-work-and-low-pay-the-story-of-women-and-work.cfm

    And if you can't get to London they also have an online exhibition about women in Thatcher's Britain:
    http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/whats-on/exhibitions/iron-ladies-women-in-thatchers-britain/iron-ladies-women-in-thatchers-britain_home.cfm

    By the way, all you Tippex fans, did you notice when the formula changed? The original product apparently fell foul of the H&S legislation relating to "substances hazardous to health in the workplace" :-)

  • Loving this thread!


    My first job was at about 13 years old collecting potatoes in a field on my hands and knees in a neighbouring farm.  It changed a couple of years later to being on a machine, a lot less people!


    I started "proper"work in 1998, doing basic admin and discovering emails with amazement.  I used to think in those days that each email you sent was at a cost like sending a letter :)


    So much has changed even since then...I hear all the stories from "the good old days" in various factories I worked at...How I wish I'd been there for some of it!

  • I'm really enjoying this thread!  I learned to type in the '80s at school, on a manual typewriter, so carbon paper, tippex paper and pencils with brushes on the end are all familiar to me.


    My first job was as a Receptionist, in 1992.  I had an electric typewriter on my desk but no computer.  I did occasionally cover for the MD's PA and she had a computer, but she also had a telex machine (so we could communicate with our staff "in the field" all over the world).


    (The highpoint of the job was the Friday afternoon when the courier company were so busy they used to send the GORGEOUS Assistant Manager out on pickups on our route)


    My dad worked in Telecoms all his career so talk of trimphones and undersea cables takes me back to my childhood.

  • This thread is giving me a lot of memories, especially the tippex sheets and smoking in the offices!


    I had a part time job at a supermarket when studying for my A levels. This was when the tills were manual and you had to key in all the prices and if there was no price sticker on your tin of beans you would be shouting out asking for a price check.  Someone would then come over with a huge folder full of spreadsheets looking for the right item in amongst the lists and confirm the price for you and if they couldn't find it in the lists they would be running round the supermarket trying to find the item on the shelf!

  • Only 12 years ago I worked for a time that had a some toilets that were only for senior managers, once you'd reached that dizzy height within the organisational heirachy a right of passage was to receive your very own key for said facilities !!