Flashback Friday - Spring 1985

In the early to mid '80s I was a clerical worker at a company that was kind of a good ole boys club. It was a very, very successful, privately held organization that didn't always treat its employees all that well. Some things I remember from that job (besides the mind-numbing work):

• If you were not sitting at your desk within three minutes of your starting time you were docked pay.
• You were only allowed to talk on breaks and at lunch.
  
• No phone calls were allowed unless extreme emergencies. This was a hard one for moms who wanted kids to check in with them after school.
  
• No job transfers within the company were allowed. If you had the misfortune of being hired into a lousy department, well that was your tough luck.
  
• You were not allowed to clean up your workspace until the bell had rung announcing the end of the day.
  
• No sick time was given to you until after your five year anniversary and then with the warning that usage of the sick time would be monitored very closely.
  
• And my all time favorite - you were not allowed to leave your work floor during your break. However there were no break areas provided so people sat on the bathroom floor and talked for fifteen minutes. Cross my heart, hope to die this is not a lie. Besides you know I couldn't have thought that one up if I tried.

I know, I know. You're thinking "why in the world would you work for a company like that?" Well, let me tell ya. Because I had two young children to support, had no child support coming in, and times were tough and jobs were hard to find. As lousy as it was I was thankful to have a regular paycheck and benefits.

The company did do some positive things.

• Free fruit, coffee and milk during the lunch break.
  
• Free car starting service for those bitter cold winter days when the car battery just didn't have enough oomph to get the car engine going.
  
• Free shuttle service from parking lots to the building. (But I lost pounds by walking instead of riding the shuttle, so in a way they offered a free health club membership!)
  
• A great family oriented Christmas party for the kids with lots of costumed characters, refreshments, Santa and toys. All free.
• A fantastic company picnic held at a local zoo with lots of food, door prizes, and carnival rides for the kids. All free.
  
• A wide variety of after hours activities scheduled through out the year offered at no cost to employees.

That brings me to today's Flashback Friday photo. One of the activities was a women's party held every year in early May. It was a catered sit-down dinner with entertainment and lots of great door prizes. All free. Plus it was an excuse to get all dolled up.

So here I am. 1985. Big hair, heavily made up eyes, frilly, fluffy purple satin dress, dangly earrings, and a great pair of purple polka dot shoes.

And to keep this sewing related. Yes, I sewed the dress. It was a Brooke Shields pattern - McCall's 8950 - and I loved wearing it. Actually I never wore it again, because, really, how many times does a working gal need to wear a frilly, fluffy purple satin dress?

But those shoes? Well, I wore those purple with white polka dot shoes until the soles wore out.

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