Working Daze by John Zakour and Scott Roberts for February 17, 2024

I’m that way with some of my coworkers too. They bring up that point when they find out.

She knows where all the bodies are buried. (She buried a lot of them herself.)

https://notalwaysright.Com/when-the-manager-has-your-back-gives-you-slack-and-is-on-the-attack/323523/

It’s funny. My wife just found a photo of me in my first year of work post-grad school. In it,I’m sitting at my desk with a typewriter. Off to the side is a mimeograph machine.

A friend of mine who worked for a large national company told me of his final 5 desk-bound years before retirement. He said that throughout the morning letters and memos would pile up in the “IN” basket on his desk. Without reading any of them, he would slowly initial the corner of the papers and move them to the “OUT” basket. Then, he would go to the cafeteria for a coffee, come back and move the papers back to the “IN” basket, as a group and slowly (without reading any of them) do exactly the same thing. He claimed he had no idea who picked the papers up at the end of the day, but the next day there would be a fresh load in the “IN” basket. That, apparently, went on for 5 years. Too many papers … too many employees!

Mrs. Jenson sounds a bit like me in my job before retiring. There had been so many changes and if anyone really wanted to know how it had been done in the past – I could tell them. (I do admit, however, I frequently told them even if they hadn’t asked and probably didn’t really want to know.)

I’m one of the old guys who knows how and why stuff works. New fresh outa school know it all’s are trying to fix an issue. Millions of dollars on the line. I told them what to do. They looked at me like I was insane. A couple of hours go by, and they are desperate. They ask for help. I type 2 commands and voilà all better. I then explained that I helped build the system 40+ years ago and that a bad management decision led to this flaw that would crop up a few times a year. I told them how to fix it long-term and also told them to never let a manager code.

Even the machines are gone. Comptometer

The future is here and I’m not a fan of it

Good philosophy!

I had 5 jobs in the same company over 42 years. The job I started in did not exist when I finally retired.

And still no flying cars!

I sympathize with Ms. Jensen – when I first started with AT&T in the ‘60s, the first thing I learned of use was how NOT to get burned by the electron tubes (valves, to the English), just before I retired in 2000 I’d finally learned to ALWAYS put on my anti-static wrist strap before starting to work on the equipment – my retirement was occasioned by me finally getting tired of things ALWAYS changing underneath me – I never had a chance to appreciate the pleasure of a job well-done…

What is she doing NOW?

Omg this is me

Pre-Cubicle days. Pre-Sticky Notes. Shoes with a high shine. Typewriter ribbons by the carton. Carbon paper to make copies.

I miss the good ol’ days of work. Everybody around doing stuff, nobody on their electronic devices or social media. Days when you could socialize for real and do stuff. I worked for a place one time where you could get your shoes shined either by a real person or machine, people selling newspapers, vendors on the streets, a meaningful work life. Maybe giving you a sense of accomplishment or something.

I know just how she feels…