Looking Back at Old School Technology

Do you remeber these things?

Old school copiersPhoto byCartoon by Lambert-King

Things have changed mightily in office over the years. A lot of things we took for granted in offices are no longer there. Things like office workers. In addition to office workers, lots of other office stuff has gone the way of the dinosaur. Let’s return to those days of yesteryear.

1: Rolodex.

Remember when it was a status symbol to be on someone’s Rolodex? Or you would check your Rolodex for the important people in your life? At least you didn’t worry about your Rolodex being hacked, or forgetting your password.

2: Laser pointers.

While cool, these things ultimately fell out of favor. It was such a power trip to be able to use a laser to point instead of a finger or stick. Itmight be a good idea to have one on hand just in case you have a meeting with cats.

3: PalmPilot.

The PalmPilot was a device that in many ways acted as a personal secretary, keeping notes, tracking contacts, etc. Like Harrison Ford’s days as a pilot, the PalmPilot eventually was no longer the state of the art.By the way, love Harrison Ford the actor, not thrilled with Harrison Ford the pilot.

4: Sticky notes.

That was a reliable way to transmit information. Maybe the intended party would see the sticky note. Maybe some unintended party wouldn’t see it. At this time, intraoffice communications could be handled by sticky notes. Other branches could be handled by carrier pigeon.

5: The three-piece suit.

If you wanted to look like a young guy on the way up, you could signal that desire was by wearing a three-piece suit.As it turned out that’s about the only way you could get vested at some companies.

6: The rotary phone.

It was such a hassle to dial a rotary phone, but there was an upside. The accidental butt call was almost impossible.To butt dial with a rotary phone took real skill.

7: The interoffice envelope.

Do you remember seeing this big, yellow rascal come along and then seeing your name on it? After reading the contents you would then cross your name off the envelope and pass it on to the next person.

It might have actually been easier to have an office cryer scream out the contents of the envelope to the recipients.

8: The adding machine.

It’s hard to imagine the days when adding machines was a thing. I think it would have been much cooler to hire Jethro Bodine and have him do the office cyphering.

9: Carbon paper/onion skin.

The combination of the thin onion skinned paper and carbon paper was used to make copies of letters and other documents. This could be a tricky endeavor if you didn’t have your papers properly aligned or had a piece of carbon paper wrong-side up.

Back then, as Dirty Harry said, “Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?” Sure things were tougher then, but making duplicate copies could be an adventure.

10: Cubicles.

Ah yes, they were like miniature prison cells for office workers. After a while, cubicles gave way to the “open office” concept. The open office concept had its own problems.

I remember working in the AAA office in Oklahoma City and we had an open office. On one occasion a large, beltless man was seated at an insurance agent’s desk. Then came the perfect storm of butt exposure. The combination of the configuration of the office, the physique of the insurance customer, the wrong-sized pants, and the lack of a belt conspired to give most of the office an unobstructed view of both sides of the great divide.

Giggles ensued.After the customer left the office I approached the insurance agent.I told her, “I don’t much about insurance, but that guy needed more coverage.”Ah, the open office.

So do you miss any of these things? Maybe a better question is do you remember any of them?