What Work was Like in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Metallicman ^ | June 2018 | editorial staff

[vannrox]

Today, Americans have taken so much for granted. We look at our life and think that it is as it has always been. Indeed, it is assumed that the way things are today have always been that way. Yet, the simple and plain truth is that America has changed. Over the last few decades there has been tremendous changes at all levels of American society and culture.

For instance, it is a recent phenomenon that restaurants can charge $8 for a cup of coffee. Or, that we have to take a urine sample to get employed. Casual day on Friday, or having a “co-pay” on your medical insurance was unheard of just a few decades ago.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on our shared past. Let’s look at what it was like to work for a company in the 1960’s. Just because things have changed does not mean that they have changed for the better.

"All federal workers will be ordered to spend 75 percent of their time on government work"

-President Donald Trump's (R) "cruel" executive order demanding that Federal Workers must actually work in order to get paid. If they do not work the bare minimum, they can be fired.

Today

Mr. Waturi: But can he do the job. I know he can get the job but can he DO the job? I'm NOT arguing that with you. I'm not arguing that with YOU. I'm not ARGUING that with you. I'm not ARGUING that with you Harry! Harry... Harry... Yeah Harry... but can he DO the job. I know he can GET the job but can he do the job?

[WildHighlander57]

Some points from the article that stood out:

“Busybodies typically run the HR groups in large corporations.

Americans are cheated out of vacation time, compared to the rest of the civilized world.

Workers used to have fun together.

People used to say Merry Christmas to each other during Christmastime.

......
From the Q & A section:

Q: Is it ok to say “Merry Chrismas” at work?

A: Oh my yes. Everyone here in China says “Merry Christmas”, and it’s not even a Christian nation.

If you are taken aside by HR and told not to express yourself, report that HR manager to the CEO of the company. They are way beyond their mandate.”

[SaveFerris]

Defective cans were quite a danger in St. Louis, Missouri.

I had to escape in a car that only had rims mounted...

[Songcraft]

Lengthy but quite interesting article!   (I remember those good old days, when a heavy tan phone just stayed there on your desk all day!)   Work-related music was a bit different back then too!   Here's a brief sample of some of those work-related songs from way back...

 

Off-Site Office Party - "Little Bits 'n Pieces" - Jim Stafford
(Maybe just past the 70's a bit, but it sounds like the 70's!)

Finding A Job - "Get A Job" - The Silhouettes
(Ok - it was a new "oldie" in the 60's!)

Working A Job - "Working In The Coal Mine" - Lee Dorsey

Leaving A Job - "Take This Job And Shove It" - Johnny Paycheck

Smoking - "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" - Tex Williams
(A little before the 60's, but it seemed to fit!  Desktop ash trays were
often supplied in a company's own office supplies room back then!)

[gattaca]

bmp

[mlo]

The article is an exercise in over-generalization.

And I don’t know a single restaurant that charges $8 for a cup of coffee.

[cherry]

my first job as a RN paid $3.75/ for night shift....my coworker, who was a new Lpn, lamented those working at Frito Lay...they got paid $5/hr...

[central_va]

IS that real?

[central_va]

I did that too all while sucking in leaded gas fumes. Those wee the days!

[central_va]

I suppose this is why tech and (I hope not) aerospace companies have to go offshore to find anyone that can do engineering work at the chump wages we pay..

Fixed it.

[metesky]

I worked for an outfit out of Lowell, MA back in ‘64 knocking down old mill buildings around N.E. Imagine the chit-fit today’s wussies would have watching men ride the wrecking ball down five or six stories @ lunch time and back up after a sandwich and a few “pops”. No saftety belts, no OSHA. Young, dumb and full of you know what... good times.

[vannrox]

@mlo

You don’t get out much, do you? Starbucks charges near $8 in selected areas outside of the states.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-much-is-starbucks-coffee-766065

Not that it matters much. But even the $5 cup of coffee in the states is far higher than the 25 cent cup of coffee that I paid for when I was working.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Mad Men” definitely was true to life then.

Offices were filled with cigarette smoke. We had a bottle of Everclear in a file cabinet to add to juice for impromptu parties. Happy Hour Fridays at the Blue Fox. Even the most staunchly political views on both sides were discussed and respected, with no animosity. Major flirting — including taking that to its “logical conclusion”. Pretty wild Christmas parties, with liquor arriving in the back of a pickup truck. (The organization attorney put an end to that following an accident.) Worked hard and played hard. Lots of overlap between work and social relationships. We’d work together eight hours a day, then party at the lake on weekends, and take cruises together for vacation.

Carbon paper. Making/changing flight reservations by phone. 10-key adding machines. Dressing well and appropriately. No Google, Excel, or even basic word processing yet.

[trebb]

Yep - I remember getting a breakfast steak and eggs for under $2 and the recommended tip was 10%...

[RegulatorCountry]

I’m just barely old enough to recall the annoyance and even vague sense of panic at having “lost two days” due to Federal Express. This was repeated again not too many years later, what was left of the lag after FedEx was taken away by the fax machine. This was industry-specific in the graphics industry, just before Macs took over that world and “high tech” was a Varityper typesetting machine that used photo paper and developing chemicals. This was hung to dry or if you were in a rush some had a dryer. The text was then laboriously cut out with an exacto knife, run through a hot wax machine to wax the backside, then pasted down on the layout board. Practically everything printed on a printing press was done in this manner. In some ways the craftsmanship has suffered, the art of typesetting certainly has now that any schlub can bang it out with no clue of kerning or line spacing. In other ways there are graphical elements used routinely now that could only be dreamed of back then, possibly created very expensively by hiring an airbrush artist.

[Redleg Duke]

When I was an engineering manager, I kept my slide rule (Post Versalog) and CRC Math Tables on my back desk. One of my young engineers saw them, asked what they were, and when I told him, he sneered at me and said, “Oh, yeah? Just what did you do with them?”

I told him, “We put a man on the moon. What have you done with your PC?”

He walked out of my office with his head bowed and his mouth shut.

[CodeToad]

“beautiful women everywhere you look”

Now they dress, act, and talk like truckers.

[rlmorel]

Well, I didn’t forget that they had to engage in state sponsored activity, I just didn’t really count that as anything other than being at work!

[rlmorel]

I know all that and thought long and hard about it, but the reality is, even those young people aren’t going out and socializing together after work today.

[CodeToad]

People smoked at their desks. When I was 16 I had a job where my boss smoked. I was so glad to be moved to where fuel was stored so smoking was banned.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL! Sweet. Great rejoinder.

Also “Machinery’s Handbook”! And the “Steam” book from Babcock & Wilcox.