Posted on 07/13/2018 7:45:15 PM PDT by 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?
(Excerpt) Read more at metallicman.com ...
For the record, only the tops and bottoms were metal. The walls of the container were paper. (IIRC, that is)
In 1965 I took an overseas assignment for the Navy. On return in 1969, I reported where and when directed to an office where an overweight young black woman continued to read her paperback rather than address my presence.
At that moment I made the decision to resign
I still have both of those here in the house. Sometime this summer I hope to show the grandsons how the slide rule works... it may not go well. ;-)
Yes things have changed. I was working at Florida International University for $135 per week as an admissions couselor. we did have a rocking Christmas party every year.
Then I went on to work at a mortgage company as an underwriter for $1200 per month. A really good job at the time. We all got a frozen turkey and a $50 bonus at Christmas.
I grew up 35 miles outside of NYC. I started my career there in the early 60’s. Mad Men was my favorite show of all. Hated to see it end, although they jumped the shark at the very end.
Once it got to the later part of the 60s, it took the predictable SJW turn.
Aerospace has not been offshored, as far as I can tell.
I was 11 when I had my first job. Summer job working at a restaurant. I’d be out by 12:30pm and would head to the beach with my friends.
My first pay check was $236 for 40 hours. I’d figured around $280 and was expecting it. I took my paycheck to the manager. I explained to him there were several deductions on it which I felt deprived me of my due compensation for the work I’d done. He explained how it was normal and everyone had it on their paychecks. He even showed my his pay stub with much larger deductions. I was shocked. It was theft. How could all these people put up with this?
I concluded -who steals from an 11 year old?
This is the point at which I became a conservative.
My daughter had the same experience as you.
I remember her coming to me really upset about what was taken out of her paycheck...her exact words were “...and what is this FICA s**t?”
I’ve noticed that in our neighborhood...people stay in their homes ...even in summer. We have a young couple with 2 young kids next door..we love their delightful screams.
Thanks grey_whiskers.
Interesting.
The tax code reforms done under Reagan changed a lot of things. The rates used to be astronomical. So companies would offer a lot of things that could be expensed and were thus nontaxable to the employee. When the rates were dramatically cut but a lot tax deductions were also eliminated, those entertainment and other perks were doomed. At that point it made a lot more sense to just pay employees more directly.
Coffee...the banks I work for have it for free and its pretty good actually. Generally a Keurig machine. I worked for a medical equipment manufacturer that also offered free coffee. I worked for a retailer with much tighter margins that offered nothing for free and you even had to take out your own trash.
Vacations...from my experience 2 weeks is common. Yes Europeans get more but they can’t take it whenever they want, they have to take it in August. They have opted for more vacation time since governments tax the bejeezus out of their income while leisure time is untaxed.
American companies are indeed puritanical about drinking even during lunchtime. I do find the vast majority of European companies much better about this.
Office romances...better be careful neither has a reporting relationship to the other. At least in Eastern Europe, porking the secretary is still no big deal. From what I’ve heard they’re more accepting of this in Asia as well.
Unless you’re meeting with clients/customers, just about every company’s dress code is casual.
I’ve worked for a few companies and been a consultant to many many more. I’ve only been drug tested once or twice.
I can’t speak to what was common in the workplace before the 90s and I’ve only got limited experience from the late 90s really. It sounds like some things used to be better before. Not everything but on balance, I think I would have liked the work atmosphere of an earlier generation before HR blandness and fear of liability and of course “meeting diversity goals” became commonplace in companies.
I was working at Triple XXX Drive in! In 1965! I thought 1.25 hour was great.. Never got paid by the hour before. Before long I was night manager $1.50 an Hour..
Quote a lot actually. Starbucks doesn't charge near $8 for a "cup of coffee". A Frappucino or some other frilly drink is not the same as a cup of coffee, which Starbucks also sells. For much cheaper.
I worked at a gas station from 76-80 while in High School.
Did all that and then some.
We had a regular woman customer that would pull in to get her car fueled up and checked out. While I was cleaning her windshield, she would pull her skirt up her legs a bit to give us a show. There were four us working the pump islands and it became a competition to see who got to her car first.
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