How was the office changed?

[AgTag23]

Tell me some stories about the good ole days in the office

I used to hear stories about the workplace in the 60s, 70s, 80s, about drinking/smoking, etc in the office and man oh man does it feel like a different place....reminds me about the show Mad Men on Netflix

How has it changed in your opinion? Seems to be very political, politically correct, and way too many corporate buzzwords.

[TransPecos]

I will no longer speak to or engage with any female in my office without at least one other person present. We had a 20 year vet of our company almost get fired because he typed one word in an e-mail that a younger snowflake on the west coast found offensive.

Also my company pays thousands of dollars a year in ‘carbon offsets’ to counteract all of us flying everywhere all the time.

I’ve been in the workforce since the mid 1990’s and I still remember 3 beer lunches on Fridays...hasn’t been that way in a long time.

[JayB]

When i was in high school, worked in a motorcycle shop at 15. If you bought/sold a house or car etc, got a new girlfriend, broke up with the old one...you had to buy a case of beer for the shop fridge. It was a struggle at times, but I always came through with my case.

We always had a chat around the shop after closing hours. I did not drink since I was underage but was not excluded from having to buy.

I remember folks smoking at their desks all the time.

[sailor]

Are you kidding...…
I worked at a T.V. station...…
You wouldn't believe, what went on...….

[TxAg]

I'm glad the smoking moved outdoors, but I still have some customers who drink at the office.

We have a salesman that just retired. He said they used to go out for lunch and if they started drinking, they might not make it home for 2 days.

[bloodstick]

The stories i heard from one of my old boss and his boss back in the 70's and 80's.

As an oilfield service company, they spent BIG money "entertaining" their customers. All of our offices at the time came with a fully stocked wet bar and a room upstairs for "rest"



Now, all you have to do is look at someone wrong and they are looking to get you fired. Always have to watch what you say or it will bite you in the butt. And my new office does not even have a smoking area, not that i smoke or anything. I simply noted the areas.

[jerp]

I started in the brokerage business in 1985. At the time there were some guys in the office that had been there since the late 50's. Of the 35 or so employees - brokers and support people - I would say that 20 of them smoked. At their desks. All day long. The old school guys had bars in their offices or at least a bottle or two in the credenza. Very common to pour a tall one at 3:00 every day when the market closed. The operations side and the assistants were all women. I sometimes think about how they were talked to by the men in that pre-"me too" era. Every day there were multiple comments made that would get you fired on the spot today.

[stickfigure]

Things have changed not only at offices, but also at construction sites. I got in trouble a couple of years ago because I instructed the 30 yr old foreman to have his guys clean-up the &@$# mess on the roof before it blew off and hurt someone. He went and told the superintendent that I cussed him out.

[MQ32Shooter]

I worked for Ma Bell in the mid 60's through the mid 80's. It was wild and Wonderful! It was back when men were men and women were women and each knew who they were and were good with it. It was crazy how almost anything and everything was on the table and tolerated. Some of the older guys will remember when lot's of men had cabover campers on their trucks. Any lunch hour you wanted to go walk through the parking lots, you'd see campers rocking and rolling and hear some really cool stuff going on. God, I miss those days!!

[glen]

Retirement cakes gotta be shaped like a cake. Had to take down the blow up doll that my guys would put different stuff on they found in the lake. The ashtray I keep change in is now in my locker because it is “offensive”. It’s not my office that has changed but the occasional visitor

[Quackerbox]

No one likes desk pops anymore.

I know several businesses that have a few beers after closing

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[FlounderPounder]

Not sure about offices but there were big changes in the maritime industry as far as drug and alcohol testing after the Exxon Valdez incident, probably a good thing though, I can remember being on boats where nobody was anywhere close to being sober but we were still operating, seen a galley table with a half pound of weed dumped out on it and guys sitting around rolling joints, drunken brawls, all kinda craziness. The good ole days

[SmTx]

So they take away the smoking, boozing, and flirting with the womens at work and folks can't figure out why younger folks don't want to work?

[SwampRanger]

No one likes desk pops anymore.

I know several businesses that have a few beers after closing

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“When was your last desk pop? Last week?”

[Burnadell]

Retirement cakes gotta be shaped like a cake. Had to take down the blow up doll that my guys would put different stuff on they found in the lake. The ashtray I keep change in is now in my locker because it is “offensive”. It’s not my office that has changed but the occasional visitor

You must have left that doll in your tackle box!