I worked for a long established family business.
The entire empire consisted of three shops over which Mr Proops (not his real name) had total sway despite being in his eighties. He was a very impressive octogenarian: first in in the morning, last home at night. I can only hope to be so energetic at his age. Sadly, however, he also had some octogenarian attitudes which did not sit well in the 21st Century.

It was all a bit Grace Brothers - the boss had to be referred to at all times as Mr Proops while his sons who also worked for the business had to be called Mr Insert-Son's-First-Name. This made my soul writhe so I would perform the most ludicrous feats of syntax to avoid using any names whatsoever. All the female staff were girls, be they 16 or 60. He wanted to tap into the local teenage customer base and would hire young, grungy Saturday staff to lure them in. After a couple of weeks he would then take exception to their grungy appearance and nag them constantly to smarten up. As he favoured bow ties and suits, he thought this should be the norm. It was his business and up to him so it was all amusing enough not bother me until he needed to hire a new department manager.

Up went an advert in the shop window asking for applicants to bring in their CVs. One morning a man came in with an exceptional raft of experience and, as Mr Proops liked to grasp the bull by the horns, I thought he would want to speak to this paragon straight away. I belted up to the office with the CV and said the man was waiting downstairs if Mr Proops would like to chat to him. He followed me out to the head of the stairs and I pointed out the candidate. He was black which is something of a rarity in the town. Mr Proops took one look, shook his head and said "I'm not hiring one of those" and stomped back into his office. I was completely shell-shocked and have never felt so awful in my life as I headed back down and mumbled something about the manager getting in touch later. Suddenly the olde-worlde stuff was no longer funny and I left very soon afterwards.
(Innogen, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 12:41, 7 replies)

Wasn't a Trago was he?

( Peej, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 15:34, closed)

No. Not Trago.
It's one of those places though that if you'd worked there you would probably recognise the description.
(Innogen, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 18:08, closed)

Nicely done.
*where's your footnote?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 16:39, closed)

Ha!
Forgot and put it in brackets instead. I shall take it out.
(Innogen, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 18:06, closed)

This reminds me of my time in the pottery industry in the 1980s
There had been a slight reorganisation in which the General Manager had taken on responsibility for design, so leading to the appointment of a Works Manager to take on day-to-day responsibility for the factory.
Paul, the guy who got the job, was promoted from within and was very clued up, but out of politeness asked the General Manager if he could offer any pieces of advice about running the factory.
"Just one," replied the General Manager, "Keep it white, Paul. Keep it white."
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Sun 10 Jul 2011, 16:39, closed)

"All the female staff were girls"
Did you check to make sure?
(Sum Gai My dog is a racist lesbian, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 20:53, closed)

"he also had some octogenarian attitudes which did not sit well in the 21st Century."
Which means his attitudes were correct, and the 21st Century is wrong.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Mon 11 Jul 2011, 0:43, closed)

like racism?

( chenobble rocking his explorer beard on, Mon 11 Jul 2011, 15:22, closed)