before the internet
what did people do at work before the internet was around?

I refuse to believe that everyone worked hard, all the time
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:51, 27 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

ym
Right, I've done my day's worth of b3ta work.

*clocks out*
( djtrialprice, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:52, Reply)

Dial-up bulletin boards
Before that, hoop and stick.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:52, Reply)

Well I certainly didn't exist
I did wonder that the other day actually. People must have played solitaire or some other shit.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:52, Reply)

Or actually worked.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:53, Reply)

what about before computers?
I manage to get all my work done well, and on time, and yet I still spend 60% of my time procrastinating. I would've gone nuts I reckon.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:54, Reply)

When I was 18...
...my first proper office job was as a receptionist at a law firm. I didn't even have a computer but managed to fuck around - I wrote a book and drew cartoons on my note pad... ah memories.
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Tue 26 May 2009, 17:01, Reply)

They fucked each other in the stationary cupboard

(PsychoChomp, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:56, Reply)

The cupboard that stays still?
What won't they think of next?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:57, Reply)

Pah, you youngsters can't remember pre-interweb.
I used to disappear off to the bogs with some reading material.

No, not that kind, you filthy lot! A scientific journal or other such educational literature.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 26 May 2009, 16:59, Reply)

I'm so bored at work I'm having to intersperse b3taing with reading
Starting with To Kill A Mockingbird coz 1 - I've not read it yet and 2 - someone left it in my office... handy.

I'm doing less work than I normally do because I'm pissed at the boss's missus for cracking the whip, so I'm showing 'er by doing even less.
(Psyche finishes work at the end of June! Yay!!!, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:07, Reply)

I couldn't stand To kill a mockingbird
This may have been due to studying it for GCSE english and being made to pore over every fucking line trying to inexpertly wring meaning from it.

It annoys me a great deal that people (english teachers) assume that just because someone has written something that there is meaning behind it. Same with art to be honest. Sometimes it's best to take things at face value, because that is how they were intended.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:14, Reply)

Oh yes
I couldn't agree more. And further to that, how the hell do those same English teachers know that their interpretation of the what the writer meant is correct?

And that mine is wrong? As it frequently was, apparently.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:20, Reply)

their interpretation is usually what is told to them by the curriculum
other problems I have with To kill a mockingbird:

What sort of name is Scout? ffs
I really really hate the band the Boo Radleys
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:23, Reply)

This bugged me about Shakespeare at GCSE
Why do I have to specifically understand every single intricacy of meaning of every line of Hamlet? Can't I just appreciate the story and the prose?

Put me off Shakespeare for life.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:21, Reply)

Try doing a degree in English.
Load of old cobblers.
( thealternativefact, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:23, Reply)

I considered it.
I LOVED English lessons before we were forced to read Shakespeare. It occurred to me I might be forced to spend three years reading and 'understanding' lots of classical shit I really didn't identify with, and didn't bother.

A bit of a waste, probably.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:25, Reply)

I loved doing the English Language stuff
and my degree involved a lot of creative writing.
Oh, but the minute study of poems from a gillion years ago - yaaaawn.
( thealternativefact, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:30, Reply)

Erm....
*whisper*

I teach that stuff. In a university. I love it.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 26 May 2009, 18:06, Reply)

I would slope off for a fag every hour on the hour
with a book in my pocket. That's 10 minutes.

At quarter past I'd make a cup of tea.

At half-past I'd nip to the loo (with my book).

At quarter to I'd get a drink of water (hence the pissing every hour).

Repeat until hometime.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Tue 26 May 2009, 17:45, Reply)

I've just spent the last couple of days watching Mad Men
as I'm lying in bed with the lurgy.

That's set in the early '60s, all they seem to do is smoke fags, drink spirits and shag in their office.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 26 May 2009, 18:08, Reply)

In reality the shagging in the office was pretty rare.
At least for me, I only did it once and that was in the early 1980's.

Smoking was ever present but those of us who had to be around heavy equipment would generally think twice about drinking before the end of work.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 26 May 2009, 20:18, Reply)

they had to go all the way to Nigeria
to get fleeced in person
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Tue 26 May 2009, 19:04, Reply)

this got a proper laugh
:-)
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 May 2009, 8:34, Reply)

I wonder
If things keep going the way they're going, will it mean that we become so addicted to the Internet that soon, work will do itself or there will be no work to be done any more?
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Tue 26 May 2009, 19:17, Reply)

most people smoked or had looong liquid lunches
or read the paper
or phoned their mates
or wanked in the toilets

you know, al lthe stuff we do these days when the internet is down
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Tue 26 May 2009, 20:02, Reply)

Yes we all smoked but we did it in the office and didn't have to go outside.
Smoking was not an excuse to get out of the office in the 1970's.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 26 May 2009, 20:12, Reply)

We used to spend a lot of time making projectiles.
Its amazing what weapons you can make out of standard office equipment: blow guns with drafting mylar that shoot push pins hard enough to stick in walls (or people's butts) at 10 feet, pencil missile launchers with engineers scales and rubber bands, etc. (Plus when I was in the mines or doing geophysics, I got to use dynamite, drive loaders and trucks, and generally have fun).
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 26 May 2009, 20:11, Reply)