My first job out of college in the early '80's.

[LuckyCharms]

3-piece suit. Everyday. No exceptions.

Drove a '72 Pontiac Catalina to work. It had a huge hole in the floorboard on the driver's side that I just covered with a rubber floor mat. If I drove to work in a rainstorm, I would usually walk in with soaked shoes and pants because I drove through a puddle of water. The water would shoot up into the car, blast the mat to the side, and soak me.

The car was a hard top with a vinyl cover. This one day when I was driving to work, the wind got under a hole in the front of the vinyl cover and ripped the whole thing off in one sheet, but it was still adhered in the back so it looked like a queen sized blanket and flapped loudly as I drove. Like a huge flag.

On my first day on the job, I was handed an electronic adding machine and a phone book. I was told to add up the numbers in the phone book without looking at the keys. 3 finger method. Hit the "+" button by rolling your hand to the side. By the end of the day, I could add up numbers on spreadsheets with lightening speed, without looking at the adding machine. I can still do it.

Bet you young punks with your cell phones never had experiences like this. We didn't have "apps". We didn't even have personal computers yet.

Get off my lawn.

Punks.

[Wicked Blue]

1. That car sounds a bit like the one Fred Flintstone had

Were you able to use foot power?

[LuckyCharms]

2. Drove with the right foot and put the left foot way to the side

where there was still some metal. But yes, I could get my feet through the hole.

[Wicked Blue]

6. like this?

[LuckyCharms]

5. Loved the car, even after it rusted out.

Got me through college...

[grumpyduck]

4. Ah, the good old days.

My first two years in college I worked in a movie theater evenings and weekends. This was in the mid-70s, and we had an old-style cash register that didn't work, so we had to do the math in our heads.

There was this young lady who worked with me sometimes, and we got to be an awesome team during intermissions when the lobby and the concession stand were jammed. We handed stuff to each other, cashed each other out if needed, and whatever it took to get the customers fed and back in the house. Sometimes it was a like a ballet back there.

Yeah, I'd love to see that nowadays.

[JenniferJuniper]

7. Same here. '73 Country Squire Station wagon,

big hole in the floorboard, heat didn't work, bumper tied on with rope.

Which I drove to my first post-college job wearing my red power suit with shoulder pads in both the blouse and the jacket. For extra power!

[cyclonefence]

8. Some time in the seventies

I went to work for a local accountant and his partner in our little town. I was the only employee. I was surprised by the slowness with which they used the adding machine, so one day I took it home and taught myself to "touch type" on it. They were so impressed that they told me that whenever a client was in the office, I should start adding things up, no matter what.

I think they were trying to convince the client that this was a professional office.

[Cirque du So-What]

9. My 10-key skills are still top-notch

A.couple of years ago I was assigned a task that included entering a gargantuan amount of numerical data into spreadsheets. I convinced my boss to hire an intern for the summer. The lad was gobsmacked at the quantity of data to be entered, commenting, ‘how are we supposed to do all this?’, to which I replied, ‘the same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time.’ After demonstrating 10-key technique, he got off to an inauspicious start, and whenever I assisted in the effort, I worked rings around him, even weeks later.

[chia]

11. I started out age 18 doing data entry for 3.20 an hour, 8 hours a day of

10-key numeric on the right side of the computer keypad. Wasn't long before I was averaging 16K keystrokes an hour, often hit 18K-low 20K on easy jobs. Rubber finger cover on my left thumb so I could turn the pages of the reports easier - key with the right hand, turn the pages with the left hand, talk to my coworker about where she went to dinner the night before at the same time.

[drmeow]

14. one of my favorite skills

like riding a bike, you don't unlearn it.

[soryang]

10. An old International Classic I drove for a while had a hole in the floorboard

You could see the road through the hole underneath the tractor. When i first saw the truck, I asked another driver, a woman and a long time friend, who got me the job after I left another company, was surprised I didn't know what the hole was for. The truck wasn't rusted out. The whole was deliberately made, so the driver could put a catheter through it, and obviate the need for "unnecessary stops." "You don't know what it's for, really?"

[woodsprite]

12. My first job out of high school was for an AMC Jeep dealer

I was hired to do filing and clerical work. Found out a good number of interesting things from working there.

Next job out of college (2 yr secretarial school) was for a local Subaru dealer. What's scary is that I hated numbers (actually lost $30k on my Accounting final) but needed a job since my college loan was coming due. I was hired as an accounting clerk since I was the one that passed their math test. My job was payroll, figuring commissions, bank deposits, window cashier, receivables intake and billing. Again, I learned a lot about car deals and sales people that has served me well over the years.

I couldn't drive any of their vehicles to do my daily errands because I couldn't drive a manual and nobody offered to teach me. Automatics at that time and at their dealership, were special order. First bank run after hire, my car (Pontiac Ventura) broke down and I walked to finish my errands carrying a bank deposit of $40k in cash. Talk about being a nervous nellie. One of the shop guys towed my car and picked me up.

[Foolacious]

13. My first job out of college was about the same time... and my ride was a '61 Rambler Classic...

... with water coming up through the floorboard holes just like your Pontiac! Three-on-the-tree transmission, power nothing.

[Marthe48]

15. Oh the cars

My husband bought a Plymouth Duster that the owner had converted from standard to automatic, with the shifter on the floor. It was held in place with a piece of 2x4 and you could see the ground through the hole around the shifter. It didn't shift well. We lived on a graveled road and if we hit a high spot in the middle, the car shifted into neutral. He bought it for parts for our other Duster.

And another time, I was driving in town with my Mom, behind someone, and their hood sailed right off their car. I was far enough back, so it hit the pavement and I was going slow enough I got into the other lane so I didn't run over it.

Your story made me laugh

[elleng]

16. I carried my 'portable' Olympia manual typewriter EVERY DAY

on the bus from my apartment in Hyde Park (Chicago Obama's then or future neighborhood) to the Cook County Jail, and from there many stories (and my life!) arose!

[malthaussen]

17. Who you calling "we," Kemosabe?

I got my first Apple computer in 1980.

-- Mal