Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

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Know Your Etiquette

At The Office

Should I stand up when an executive of my firm speaks to me socially at my desk?
Well, this is one of those questions that can have a million answers. It depends on just who the boss is, how old you are, and how long you’ve been with the firm.
It’s always better to err on the side of too much courtesy rather than too little, so if in doubt, stand.

When I start working in an office, should I be the one to make friends first?
No. Be pleasant and friendly, but don’t be too familiar. If the other people in the office want to be friends, they’ll let you know. Remember, they’ll want to see what sort of a person you are.

Is it correct for me to give the boss a present at Christmas?
No, definitely not! In fact, you should keep present-giving to

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Machines In The Office.

Practising with science is far from being limited to work in shop, field, and mine. One of the most remarkable phases is seen in office improvements. Telephones, typewriters, cash registers, and the like are only a few of a long list.

Taken as an event in economy, the introduction of the typewriter was at least equal to that of the sewing machine. From the moment that its keys clacked for the first time it began to spell out the doom of the written office letter.

The latest typewriter is a marvel of ingenuity, as it has attached to it a calculating machine. To put brains into a conglomeration of levers, screws, wheels, and keys meant genius. In his all-accomplishing march man found it just when it was most necessary.

To continue reading visit:
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 25 June 1913

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Original layouts for the first few mechanical typewriters were in alphabetical order (ABCDE ect.) but the frequent jams suffered by experienced typists forced the manufacturers to change the layout of the letters, placing keys that are often pressed in a sequence as far as possible from each other.

This allows engaging the second printing bar of the typewriter before the first falls down, increasing the speed of the mechanism. Equal distribution of the load over most fingers also increased the speed as the keys of the mechanical typewriter are more difficult to press.

The calculations for keyboard layout were based on the language being typed and this meant different keyboard layouts would be needed for each language. In English speaking countries for example the first row is QWERTY, but in French speaking countries it is AZERTY.

On July 25, 1888, Frank Edward McGurrin, who was reportedly the

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In The Office.

Before you can become a general manager, or even a partner in the firm, it is considered the proper thing to work your way through the office. Then in later years, should you become bankrupt, you will know enough to be able to lecture on: “How to Succeed in Business,” and make pots of money.

All sorts of people work in an office, and they are so graded that everybody has someone else to blame when anything goes wrong – except the office boy; but he can always get his own back by whistling.

Office work looks very complicated, and it is. To do it properly a lot of desks and letter-baskets are necessary. Someone – usually the office boy – starts by rushing around with a lot of papers and slamming them in the various baskets.

Then Mr. Snooks takes a letter out of his

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Rules of this Office.

1. All persons entering, or departing, will kindly leave the door wide open.

2. Those who have no business to transact should stay as long as possible, take a chair, lean against the wall, thereby preserving both chair and wall; besides it looks well, and shows a careful “bringing up.”

3. All persons are requested to smoke and drink in the office, especially in business hours, also to remind the “boss” of his remissness if he forgets to supply tobacco and beer. If you don’t see anyone indulging in the “fragrant weed,” begin at once without inquiring if it at all offensive.

4. Always spit on the floor; spittoons are for ornament only.

5. Talk loudly, or whistle, especially when the occupants are deeply engaged; if this has no effect, hum, “I am a Pirate King” or “A Policeman’s lot is not a happy one.”

6. Put

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Office workers ignore cheap, hygienic lunches

Many city office workers have ignored a sandwich lunch delivery service, which offered them good quality food at low prices.

The service was forced to close on Friday after operating for eight months.

The service was operated by a former Sydney radio announcer Bern Davis, who put £1200 into the venture.

He says he is now almost “broke.”

Mr. Davis said yesterday, “I started the service as a challenge to the many shoddy sandwich shops operating in the city.

“These shops have for years exploited thousands of city workers, who rely on a sandwich lunch for their midday meal.”

Description source:
The Sun, 28 September 1952

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Digital Image ID 4965

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Office Workers Should Not Be Tired

Mental work uses up so little of the body’s energy that a piece of banana no longer than the end of your little finger will support steady concentration for nearly half an hour.

This is the scientists’ latest discovery, and now they are trying to discover what it is that makes office workers bodily tired. Their only explanation is that the strain of the eye muscles in reading, the ear muscles in hearing, and the body muscles in maintaining the same position produce the fatigue.

A number of people have been helping these scientists with their discoveries. In order to do this they have worked at various tasks with their heads enclosed in helmets that would gauge the amount of oxygen they used. Some even lived for days in glass houses.

To continue reading visit:
Sunshine Advocate, 29 June 1934

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Office Workers.

Comfort For Girl Clerks.

Why do so many employers still cling to the old fetish that it is unbusinesslike to make an office comfortable? It is a mystery to every woman who goes to work in the city (writes a correspondent in a London newspaper).

When she enters a business office she is prepared to put up with a long day’s work in a stuffy city atmosphere. She even expects, in consequence, to get a bad headache now and again. But why, in the name of common sense, should she also have to put up with a continual backache from sitting on a hard, wooden, straight-backed chair the whole day long?

Many office workers are worse off still; they frequently have to sit at high desks on tall stools without any backs to them at all. The chief himself usually has a handsomely-furnished private room, with a

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Long Trousers Worn By Most Office Workers

Although the male staff of the Commonwealth Department of Social Service, Sydney, are wearing knee-length shorts to work, the majority of men in Government offices in Rockhampton seem to prefer long trousers.

This was indicated yesterday when only a few were seen in shorts. In the local Social Services office, all men were wearing long trousers, but they said they thought shorts ideal for this climate.

…

A preference for shorts for the work-room staff, but not for the office men, was expressed by Mr. E. L. Dickson, Acting postmaster. Shorts had the advantage of being cool, he said, but were not fit attire for men constantly coming in contact with the public.

…

Bank policy prevents the staff of the Commonwealth Bank from wearing shorts, even if they wanted to. “But” said the manager (Mr L. McIntyre), “they may take off their coats.”

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Office Workers “Mondayitis”

Why should so many people suffer from “Mondayitis”? One would think that after a week-end rest people would be eager for work.

Of course it is office-workers who are the chief victims of this complaint. Certainly housewives don’t suffer from it, as Monday is their busiest morning of the week.

It is difficult to know why so many people are bright and cheerful on Saturday morning, and are exactly the opposite on Monday morning.

Mrs. Daly, Devitt Place, Adelaide.

Description source:
The Australian Women’s Weekly, 2 November 1935

View the original image at the Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 17422

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