Work then / Work now
11 watchers
May 2022
11:33am, 18 May 2022
14,103 posts
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Sigh
I've started a thread with my colleagues where we compare our typical working day from around the time we first started work, to our typical working day now. It's been quite interesting to see how things have changed for folks; so I'm starting the same thread here, if it takes off - great. If not, it can join the archives of abandoned threads 
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May 2022
11:34am, 18 May 2022
14,104 posts
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Sigh
A typical working day, Autumn 1986 I wake up with the alarm at 5:50am. I’ve shaved and showered the evening before, so I just have time for some breakfast before leaving home. I haven’t passed my driving test yet, so I get the first bus out of my home village, then a train, then another bus to get me to work – which is in a portacabin on a building site, about 30 miles away. I’m supposed to be there for 8am, but public transport won’t get me there any earlier than 8:25am. I work my lunch at my desk, but I can tell my lateness is still an annoyance. It adds stress to every driving lesson. I share a small room in the portacabin with my boss, who chain smokes Hamlet cigars all day with the window shut and the heater on. I’m expected to wear a shirt and tie to work even though I’m then spending all day on a building site. The site furniture is all worn and the splinters on the desk pull the threads on my clothes on a regular basis. But, I’m 18 years old, this is my first job and I’m trying to hang on to it, so I don’t complain. All my work is by hand, there are no computers, no internet, no mobile phones, no broadband. Carbon paper and the photocopier are my only means of backup. I finish at 5pm, and repeat the bus-train-bus journey, getting home just before 7pm. Time at work: 8½ hours Time spent travelling: 4 hours Breaks during the day: none. A typical working day, Spring 2022 My alarm is set for 5:55am, but I wake up naturally before then at about 5:30am; after 36 years my body clock is now hard wired. I tiptoe downstairs, turn on my personal mobile, reboot the home laptop, and check my personal emails, before switching devices to my work laptop at about 6am and checking the overnight mail on that. I respond to anything that just needs a quick reply, delete the spam and add anything more complex to my task planner in Office. At 6:30am I go back upstairs, wake my wife and daughter, shave and shower, and I’m back at the work laptop by 7:30am, eating my breakfast. My wife and I both work for the same company and we’ve been working from home now for just over two years, on either side of the dining table. We’re both casually dressed which helps for a relaxed atmosphere. My boss is also working remotely but we can easily contact each other by video call when we need to. All my work is on the laptop, I print very little and everything is automatically backed up into the cloud. I work through until about 11am, and then I go for a run for about an hour along the canal towpath which is just 400m from our front door. I don’t run every day, sometimes it’s for less time and sometimes I just go for a few short walks – but they all add to a break away from the ‘desk’ and I return feeling refreshed. Back for lunch (eaten at the work laptop), then I carry on working through until about 4:30pm. Note that all the times are ‘about’; my focus is on output rather than attendance, some days I work longer, other days less. Time at work: 8½ hours Time spent travelling: none Breaks during the day: 1 hour |
May 2022
5:26pm, 18 May 2022
42,362 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I'd like to do this, but I've worked in so many different jobs, it would have to be Then and Then and Then and Then and... Now! Might jot some down though, just for comparison and giggles. Yours is really interesting. Presumably not the same company and job all those years?! G
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May 2022
5:49pm, 18 May 2022
14,114 posts
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Sigh
I'd like to do this, but I've worked in so many different jobs, it would have to be Then and Then and Then and Then and... Now! Might jot some down though, just for comparison and giggles. Yours is really interesting. Presumably not the same company and job all those years?! G No, different jobs and companies. The idea is to compare how your working day has changed from when you first started work as an adult, to today. |
May 2022
5:55pm, 18 May 2022
8,246 posts
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Surrey Phil
August 1987 Woken up by my mum. Breakfasted, shaved and wear a suit. Twenty minute walk to work. Day spent trying to focus on a number of tasks despite being interrupted dozens of times by customers ringing the bell and on the phone. Colleagues are a mixed bunch. Manager smokes cigars in his office and very much old school. Assistant manager is a bit strange. A few friendly people but there are others who think that they have their own coat hook as in pre-school or just less accepting of school leavers. Prefer to have lunch out of the building rather than to socialise with this group. Work is by hand and computer. So long as everything tallies up at the end of the day. Should finish at 5.00 pm but could on longer if there are discrepancies. Overtime is handy but I'd rather get home in good time too. Time at work: 8 hours or more Time spent travelling: 40 minutes Breaks during the day: 1 hour May 2022 Get up at 7.30 am, either on my own accord, my wife making too much noise downstairs or the children getting up for school. Throw on a pair of jeans, go downstairs and switch laptop on. Have breakfast once everyone has left the house. Apart from planned meetings and the occasional request, I am able to do my work without interruptions and dictate what I do and when. Miss seeing colleagues face-to-face as they're a nice bunch who look out for each other and are concerned for everyone's welfare. Apart from a paper diary to note everyone's absence and my own working hours, everything is electronic. A good chunk of the day is spent sorting out others' computer and processing issues and supporting my line manager. Time at work: 7 hours Time spent travelling: Zero Breaks during the day: Varies but usually to make a tea/coffee, hang out the washing, personal e-mails, etc. All offset against a much shorter lunch break. |
May 2022
8:22pm, 18 May 2022
35,834 posts
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LazyDaisy
I've had several completely different jobs, but I can say: 1976 -1988 Tax Inspector. Started work by 8:15 (never later than 8:30 barring some sort of road accident closing the road - which in itself was far rarer in those days as there was much less traffic); mid-morning coffee brought to me in my office by one of the clerical assistants; lunch break usually less than an hour but I always left the building for some fresh air and a break from my desk; cup of tea provided mid-afternoon by CA; leave work anytime between 5 - 6pm, depending on amount of work on my desk / where I was in an investigation. Never did and was never expected to, do any work at home. 2012: Teacher. At school by 7:30am to get stuff out ready for tutor time and first lesson. Kids start arriving from 8am for breakfast which all teachers supervise. Teach/supervise non-stop (including break-times - it was a school for children with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties so there was always some sort of pastoral care needed in break-times, and (contractual) non-contact time often lost to covering for staff absences. We were paid separately as 'dinner staff' as we had to eat our lunch with the kids. And so on til 3:30; supervise children into their taxis then daily staff review meeting to discuss incidents that would have arisen. Home by 4:30. I was part-time, 3 days a week, but because of the state of affairs at school I had no text books for French, and the English resources were inappropriate for children who had often been excluded from several Primary schools and had poor literacy skills, so I would usually spend easily three of my four 'non-working' days preparing bespoke resources for my pupils. Of the two careers, give me the 'olden days' every time!! |
May 2022
9:26am, 19 May 2022
7,729 posts
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minardi
I can remember starting work but I'll be buggered if I can remember how I got there! It was pre driving days but I don't remember if I got a lift or bus or train or anything - it's just a big black hole! Now I WFH and run a lot.
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May 2022
9:31am, 19 May 2022
69,871 posts
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Diogenes
1987 - Get up about 7, leave at 7:30 to drive to work to start by 8. Eat sandwiches for breakfast, get another sandwich around mid-morning when someone did a run to the sandwich shop, at lunchtime either go out for lunch or go to the pub. Although due to finish at 8, there was often a lot of overtime which I was keen to do as I was paid by the hour. It seems that what I remember most about work at that time was the eating and drinking. |
May 2022
9:35am, 19 May 2022
58,095 posts
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Velociraptor
I can't get far into describing my typical working day in 1986 without getting symptoms of anxiety.
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May 2022
9:43am, 19 May 2022
916 posts
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stilldreaming
[Great idea for thread!]. 1978 - general assistant in a touristy village pub in North Yorks Moors (gap year post 'A' levels!). Lived on site, split shifts (pubs shut in afternoon in those days!), 5.5 day week, £24.50 a week plus free board and lodging and tips. Learned more about life in that one year than in the previous 18!! Now - retired (voluntary work, plus a lot of doing what I want while I still can!). |
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