Truth but I actually miss that. Of 70 reps at my company, 65 refused to go back to in-office after Covid peaked. We had been sent home for 6 months. My company flinched when nearly everyone refused. It got kinda quiet so I left after 22 years with the company.
@@geraldboykin6159 having no tattoos or body piercings has nothing to do with the way in which her environment allows her to better fulfil her work from day-to-day.
Working with people and children my mother had a great antidote, overworn and overused, but still very true Never judge a book (or a situation) by its cover…. You have to crack it open.! and cover to cover front to back top to bottom
Girls took commercial or business courses in high school to be able to get jobs like this. Most of us only worked until we got married. Things were so different then.
Today, it would be almost impossible in many towns to only live on the husband equals 'provider's' income. Prices of many home appliances might have gone down due to the use of cheaper plastics and overseas production, the prices of houses and appartments have gone up so fast, a double income is generally needed. Not sure which of the two models is best, and of course, it depends on whether one is a man or a woman. More options for women for sure, but unfortunately, every change comes with a price tag. So I guess it is a mixed result....
@@dwightpowell6673 They don't but they also don't need to nowadays. Back then few people had experience of typing outside of school. I am 32 now and learnt to type thanks to years of using MSN Messenger with friends 🤣
I wish more people would recognize the absolute essential role admin assistants, secretaries etc, play. Nothing would function and companies would be out of business without them.
Alas, in many companies, being an admin is a dead end job. You might start as a receptionist, and, maybe move into an admin position, but moving up and out of that, and staying in that company may not happen.
Lisa Miller, I’d say ur at the wrong companies. I’ve worked for numerous major companies where many admins move up & it’s quite commonplace for it to b a stepping stone to advancement within the company.
It is that sort of arrogance that "only they" do work that is critical to business, that's the cause of much of the disrespect. There should be noone working at a company if they don't perform an essential role.
I am the Office Manager and I would kill to have a leisurely day like that!! My diary is on Outlook and I have so much more work because everything is instant with emails. In those days you had the phone calls but no computers so you had to wait for responses to letters. A much less hectic pace. Jealous!!!!!
I was a secretary in the late 1970's and 1980's with the same sort of routine as this woman has in the video (slightly more up to date equipment). Each day involved doing one task at a time, having a lot of time to do each one and having lapses in work altogether where my inbox was cleared. Believe me, a slow work pace like that is extremely boring after a while. Having a fast paced job might be hectic, even exhausting if you have to multi-task several things at once- but the day must go quicker. You are definitely experiencing the 'grass is greener' syndrome.
Customer service supervisor here... I feel you with outlook! Meetings, trainings, task, follow ups, projects, even with outlook I usually have a notepad (yeaahh a physical one) were I write my 1:1s with my manager, questions, notes from meetings and trainings or call outs from certain topics or things during the day and week, small ideas for projects ongoing, calls or emails to make, everything passed on the week? If I need I back it up in OneNote... So I feel you
I was never a secretary, but while I was an accounting clerk, I was given the additional duty of arranging travel for sales shows. I had to use several hotel books, and maps to see if it was close to the venue. It took less time than using the internet.
Wow, those really were the days. The message is still relevant. Organization, attention to detail, time management and a professional attitude are always important.
In law school, they emphasized to get a damn good legal secretary, bc she’s going to teach you everything you didn’t learn in law school, which was everything. 😂xo
Lol! I was a CCU nurse at a teaching hospital our attending physician always told his new batch interns and residents to treat the nurses very kindly and with respect because we had probably been there longer and had more experience and would probably at some point save their careers. 😂
That is just to make the legal secretaries feel good about themselves and make them feel important. This is necessary because the pay is appalling for the stress they have to endure.
@@nope_n0pe pay pajama salary, get pajamas. If you expect a suit, you had better be paying suit salary. I actually had to point that out when I was younger. They actually thought that a part time bank teller was going to spend my college fund on old lady clothes... nope!
@@chiarac3833 I don't wear pajamas. I'm thrifty and take care of my clothes and shop sales. A suit is not required for many jobs, but it's more prudent to not show up in pajama bottoms...which I have seen before.
@@hollyb6885 The seller had a $300.00 price tag on it and had to move to another booth and didn't want to so they let us have it for $60.00 I have been known to flip this over and over again in fascination to marvel at this feature. Sometimes it doesn't take much to entertain myself LOL.
This is so interesting! The office supplies and equipment has changed drastically but the overall efficiency stays the same. I used to be an administrative assistant for IBM and then Glaxo and I’m amazed at how I kept things together for my boss. I scheduled meetings, office events, made travel arrangements overseas and I still don’t know how I did it. That’s such an incredible responsibility that should never be taken for granted. 🙂
In the many years I've had my small business, I've had four assistant managers. Each had their various strengths, but only one was a secretary. That secretary worked for me for about half a decade, and was truly invaluable. The level of organisation and efficiency was really high-just like in this video
@@tj921able I just saw this. Indeed, I really did appreciate her. And now that I don't have anyone to do what she did, I see that I couldn't thank her enough. (I always told her how much she was appreciated) In addition to her many other responsibilities, she was the one to do my advertising. In fact, a few of her videos are on my youtube channel (go back to the very beginning)
OMG that desk is awesome! Look at how the desk rose out of it! I wish I could have this kind of work. I watch all these old videos and wish I was born in that time instead of this one. I'm old fashioned, it would suit me well.
Of course; these old videos were "somewhat" idealized. Everything in it looks just a little bit too nice, too smooth, too perfect. For sure, there was more style and elegance in those days. On the other hand, I'm glad the policies concerning smoking at the office have changed, that noisy typewriters have been replaced by more quiet computers etc. The gap between the average boss and secretary was much wider in these days. It's a somewhat mixed picture. But having said that, yes, it must have been quite a thing to live in those days, the suits, the cars, the stylish restaurants, the Film Noir in the cinema in stead of at home on a flat screen...
I too love the desk! What I love even more are traditional, old fashioned women. As a small business owner I sorely wish I had a secretary who had such skills, attention to detail and a desire to always stay neat, orderly, and on top of her job. These aren't just work skills - they're life skills, and skills which are useful in married life too. Hopefully I can find such a woman to call my own some day. Such classy ladies are a rare find these days.
The Architecture of the buildings back then were a work of art. Most have been torn down and replaced by modern building Architecture that lacks the artistic beauty.
It wasn't just a single generation - previous generations to this one also took pride in the little things and had VERY strong work ethic and little to no reliance on welfare. Then, that began to fade with each new generation. Now, Gen Z is unrecognizable as civil people. There are exceptions, of course.
I took typing, shorthand, accounting in high school to become a secretary as a career. But I ended up using those skills to earn $$ to pay my way through college and became a dentist! I never regretted learning those administrative skills!🙂
My story is similar. I left high school after taking secretarial courses and could type 90 wpm and take steno at 100 wpm. The typing skills really came in handy in college and grad school. Between college and grad school I worked as a legal secretarial temp in New York City in the 1980s. There was so much of this work back then if you were good, you were always busy. This helped pay the bills until I was established in my career as an occupational therapist.
A good admin can never be replaced. I have been doing this for over 30 years and technology has made our day to day much easier. We have become our bosses partners. They depend in us to help him run his department. Unsung heroes.
You're kidding, right? I've been doing this for over 30 years as well and the workload has at least quadrupled, in addition to the minute-to-minute pressure of e-mails as well as phone calls from people saying "I just sent you an e-mail" and then proceeding to tell me everything that they just sent in the e-mail. Thanks to technology, I'm running 150 miles an hour from beginning to end, and because admins are considered "overhead", we're not allowed a single minute of OT.
Mike Peterson Make sure you tell her that. We are so under appreciated. Being able to do eleventy billion (Yes that’s a number we secretaries use) tasks at once, with constant interruptions, and do it well and with a good attitude, goes unnoticed more times than not. So underpaid is another story for another video. 😃😉
I do everything. 50 calls and arrange thing for my employer. Still at the end when i saw him my work report he says, this is not work, u just fillup the work report with anything.
faa world .....and HE then just fills up space on the planet with hot air. What a waste of skin. What a jackass he is. Don’t settle for his BS. I suspect he treats his wife the same way, and if he’s not married.....it’s no wonder. What a poor excuse for a decent human being. Probably has deep-seeded Mommy issues and is taking them out on you, because Mommy didn’t do enough for him. As soon as possible, find another job, and just use this current suffering with the A-Hole as a learning experience of what NOT to put up with. Remember, we teach people how to treat us with what we are willing to tolerate. Best of luck.
@@fatema5733 - time to send-out your resume's to as many companies as you can, also use 'temporary' agencies, because many good companies use them for screening potential full-time employees. After that, the next serious thing that you document will be when you notify your "Boss" in writing of your having ALREADY accepted a BETTER position and that he should get a replacement ASAP so that *as a professional courtesy* you can train them before you leave.
My grandmother was the head secretary of a children's psych hospital for 20+ years. From the late 60s to the late 80s if I remember correctly. And let me tell you, she was indispensable. She literally won awards for this shit.
Had this secretory. She was great, she would make office policies, generate documents, schedule meetings without telling me. Her decisions made sense, so i never questioned her, she even hired her own replacement.
I found this film on Prelinger Archives and played it for my secretaries back in 2005. They threw paper wads and laffed in my face. Snotty things secretaries have become.
@@colonialbuckeye2288 And look what we have today, an utter d*generate society having no bounds. Kids and teenagers cussing left and right, and acting like adults.
Fountain pens... love them. I have several and use fountain pens regularly... my contribution to minimizing landfill. Also, this was likely filmed in 1946 as June 11 was on a Tuesday :)
@@garywilliams6124 Indeed. I've used this for so long I can't remember when I uploaded it. I use the same 1938 RCA test pattern photo elsewhere on social media as well.
I was a medical secretary and a legal secretary. I found the medical to be more to my liking. Law offices have high pressures and can be sort of unprofessional at times. Medical offices have stricter guidelines which makes sticking to rules much easier.
This is a brilliant video. I spent the second half of my career trying to explain what an executive assistant can do to free up their boss’s time and help them be effective. It is an invaluable set of skills.
This is so wholesomely motivating and encouraging. It's one of my highest ideals to be so efficient and organised. It's wonderful to see images like this! Thank you so much for sharing.
My retirement job is a secretary for a small nonprofit organization. Because of it, I have begun collecting vintage office supplies. I am retired from my career as a librarian and my first desk at the library was just like the ones pictured but a computer sat atop mine. That desk was perfect. Later it was replaced with a newer one but it was not as organized as the old typewriter desk.
Thank you so much for these videos. I realize that these were not the happiest of times, and I know that as a people we still have a lot of growing to do, but my hope is that the courtesy, common sense, good will, merriment and social grace of this era will soon return and become the order of the day. We live in one of the most divisive times in the history of our young nation and I look forward to the day when we can all just get back to being good to each other (for the most part.) I pray that whomever reads this will be blessed richly. K. P. Cross
These times were much better then current. People actually knew their jobs, were paid a more fair wage, and their day was over at 5. This is talking about white collar work of course.
@@thejpkotorNot any different than current day. At least people had more respect back then for both themselves and others, did not have a drug epidemic, schools taught education and parents and adults were able to correct children. You must be of modern upbringing where anything before your generation is bad and scary and unknown....
I used to work in the church office assisting the secretary. Her desk was messy & she never kept appointments straight. I was surprised our minister kept her as a secretary. One of the things mentioned in the film was something she NEVER did. Writing down what her duties would require day to day. I always did that at home for my job. I have a desk & keep everything organized & within reach. That is important in day-to-day affairs. Thank you for sharing this, God Bless You & stay safe.
My mother began as a secretary for a local insurance company in 1947, and was the same age as the woman featured in the film. I tried my hand at the job out of high school, and discovered that I didn't have the interest or skills for it. Thus ended my one week of torture. LOL
Wonderful video. I took a typing class in high school in 1961 on a MANUAL typewriter just like “Jean” used in this video. I, a 17 year old male…in a class with mostly females…could type an impressive 40 words per minute. :) CCHS ‘61. :)
I wish we still had secretaries. They think because we have computers, they are supposed to somehow take the place of a secretary, and we must do everything ourselves. But, Siri doesn't take the place of a real life secretary! And, the next generation won't even know what it was like to have a secretary. I am still best friends with my secretary from years ago. She is retired now, but we have kept in touch.
I had a professor who told us not to piss off the secretary. She was the head of the program and trusted her secretary. The professor let us know if we treat her well we can get in quickly to see her but piss her off and we won't see the professor in question. My interactions with her were professional and respectful since I knew she held the power for my education.
By mid-morning we were already exhausted, being overwhelmed with work and interruptions....all to be done with a good attitude and no errors. So unappreciated and underpaid, but I loved being a secretary/ administrative assistant/corporate Goddess. OCD plays a wonderful role in this type of organization and conscientiousness. A must to run a tight ship. Anything less is just a mess. 😃😉
I dont know you Nancy, however, I appreciate you. In my service business Ive found secretaries can be valuable in jumping through hoops with purchase orders etc.
I loved being a secretary too. I was one right out of HS. 1974 to 1987 for the federal government. I resigned to raise my kids and go back to school. At the time it was hard to advance unless you had a college degree. I went to school to become a teacher. I was a secretary for 13 years and a teacher for 22. I loved both careers. Favorite was teaching third graders for 14 years. The organizational skills I learned as a secretary helped me in the classroom.
I don't know. An on-screen scheduler is pretty handy. Easy to post appointments and rearrange them. An pleasant alarm can go off at certain times when something is supposed to be done. Color coded however you want.
@@jayfielding1333 Jay, Thanks for your comment. However, many people do not agree with you. "In-depth" must mean attending D.E.I. and E.S.G. indoctrination meetings.
I think up until the 2000s was an ideal time to work at an office. I remember being a File Clerk and an Office Assistant at a brokerage firm, always looking presentable even when I came from college, at that time I wanted a degree in Business Admin so when I was done at school in the morning/ early afternoon I'd go straight to work.
In 1942 my mother received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business. What that meant in 1942 was that she was a secretary. She took dictation in “shorthand,” typed, with almost no mistakes ever. She filed. She got coffee, donuts or lunch for him. She filed. She stayed late when she was asked and did about anything else her boss needed, just like a good secretary was supposed to do.
"The way she receives this caller is a direct reflection of the business"...it's crazy how many people don't realize how important the front office staff are, especially for things like doctors offices. Bad reception and that'll be my last time there.
...and invested her meager savings in the International Business Machine Corporation. Twenty years later she ran a hippie crash pad in her San Fransisco mansion.
I had an older coworker say something like this the other day… ‘we didn’t used to have to work as fast’ and I think to myself, Jesus what did you do all day, fuck around and wait for someone from another department to come with a piece of paper to tell you what to do next? 😂
Jean will likely keep an eye out for a young rising executive in the company and marry him. She will be expected to quit and stay home in the suburbs and have children.That was the reality of the 1940's, and 50's. This could have been my mother in 1947. I was born in 1950. My mother never worked outside the home again.
@Time4Truth no it's not. It is companies unwilling to pay a living wage. Their CEOs run their businesses into the ground then pay their board millions of dollard and leaving their workers penniless and jobless. Immigrants do job no one wants and pay nothing... Unless you want to go harvest apples, oranges, strawberries.....for a pittance....
My career spanned the phase out of secretary's and the beginning of voice mail, email etc. A good secretary was such a benefit to an organization that all the electronic successors could never fill. Interestingly, it seemed that the best ones always smoked
So much simpler back then. I miss paper and pens.....and books and newspapers..... I still love my paper dayplanners. Technology moves much too quickly; you seem never to be caught up on the latest software. Geniuses miss out on jobs because they haven't been taught one program, like Quickbooks or whatever. It's not right. Computers have complicated the world as much as they've simplified it.
I know what you mean. I miss out on Typewriters. Yet the narrarator was so right on about The Desk and your area being clean and neat. I always made sure that I had Wipes to clean my desk not to mention turning over My Keyboard to get the debris out that can collect. I have Hand Gel, as well.
I don't know what business they were in but the margins must have been great, the building is magnificent and the boss strolls in at 9.15! Jean keeps it all together. I started working at the tail end of secretaries when senior managers would have their emails printed out for them! They often acted like guard dogs for their boss, its when I learned to read upside down.
Yep, exactly what my mum said and she sent me off to do a two year secretarial course ... and I was never out of work if I didn't want to be ... worked in lots of offices for 44 years - from a manual typewriter to electric, then finally to a computer.
Office work is incredibly stressful now that so many of these secretarial tasks are now done by office workers themselves, including scheduling meetings and doing correspondence (now e-mail). Even managers have to waste time on these tasks that take them away from their main duties and add to their stress.
I'm sure her compensation package was commensurate with the critical contribution she is shown to play. Ditto for her opportunity to rise to position of greater responsibility. Yes I am joking.
Wait until Jean learns about quiet quitting. Then, the unexpected caller will wait on hold for an hour due to 'unexpected call volumes. And when answered will be hung up on since they didn't have an appointment anyway.
In the film "The Secretary's Day" you see a secretary handling the correspondence. She opens the letters with a letter opener. After opening it for the first time, she puts the letter opener aside and takes the letter out of the envelope. Then she takes the next envelope and picks up the letter opener again to open the second envelope. This is a very inefficient way of working. She can save herself several steps by opening all the letters first and only then removing the correspondence from the opened letters. If a lot of letters have to be opened in the morning, then that saves an enormous amount of time and a lot of fewer actions.
Understandable, but as the married widow drowned, the propane tank sang to the porpoise. When the helicopter proposed lunch, the propeller saw the midnight daylight yesterday at you. Laughingly, the robin gasped, while moonbeams ate marshmallows inside the deer. Aware of pencils, aroma heard floor tiles selling whales. Branded as lost is the umbrella, as it elopes at tires. Wherein the thesis seams chicken openly, it only missed the elevator by rainfall. Quietly, fires argue as to when the crow sounds popcorn afternoon today. Heavy borrows irrigate crime with ice cream whelps instead of Krylon drips.
@@rinwesley3092 Hmm, yeah. Though this isn't necessarily a sort of "How to" video, it's more of a day in a life of a secretary, so it's kinda odd they didn't even mentioned lunch haha
“Minimises the danger of tearing the contents” I got flashbacks to all the times I’ve taken out a letter to realise I sliced it when I sliced the envelope 😅
Notice how Jean isn't bombarded with emails, texts, obnoxious people milling about or music playing over everything. I envy Jean.
Me too
She has no tats or body piercings! 🤣
Truth but I actually miss that. Of 70 reps at my company, 65 refused to go back to in-office after Covid peaked. We had been sent home for 6 months. My company flinched when nearly everyone refused. It got kinda quiet so I left after 22 years with the company.
@@govinda102000 ok boomer
@@geraldboykin6159 having no tattoos or body piercings has nothing to do with the way in which her environment allows her to better fulfil her work from day-to-day.
This is such a respectful and honorable way to describe this profession.
I agree.
I liked that desk with the folding top.
Yes is wonderful you said that 🙏🏽
As a secretary, I love the part says "a good secretary doesn't rely on memory" 😂 so true
I think this statement is more correct “… a good office( manager, admin or personal assistant) doesn’t rely on memory alone”
True? ;-)
@@erflingnot As a teacher, I can tell you "A good teacher doesn't rely on memory"
🥰
@@BigOMag I agree you need a lot more than memory, and rote recitation…. it takes heart guts and love thank you for being a teacher.🫡
Working with people and children my mother had a great antidote, overworn and overused, but still very true
Never judge a book (or a situation) by its cover…. You have to crack it open.! and cover to cover front to back top to bottom
These old narrations are relaxing.
Yes yes
no no
@@garywilliams6124 Quiet Gary. We’ll call you when we want you. 🤫
As a kid in school they were boring
Seriously I had some tea before I found this video and thought why am I watching this! But it is relaxing!
Girls took commercial or business courses in high school to be able to get jobs like this. Most of us only worked until we got married. Things were so different then.
Today, it would be almost impossible in many towns to only live on the husband equals 'provider's' income. Prices of many home appliances might have gone down due to the use of cheaper plastics and overseas production, the prices of houses and appartments have gone up so fast, a double income is generally needed. Not sure which of the two models is best, and of course, it depends on whether one is a man or a woman. More options for women for sure, but unfortunately, every change comes with a price tag. So I guess it is a mixed result....
I don't think they teach typing and other secretarial courses like stenography in high school anymore
@@dwightpowell6673 They don't teach those, but they do teach office and administrative skills. Just updated with technology and computers.
@@EmpressMermaid thank you for the update.
@@dwightpowell6673 They don't but they also don't need to nowadays. Back then few people had experience of typing outside of school. I am 32 now and learnt to type thanks to years of using MSN Messenger with friends 🤣
I wish more people would recognize the absolute essential role admin assistants, secretaries etc, play. Nothing would function and companies would be out of business without them.
Alas, in many companies, being an admin is a dead end job. You might start as a receptionist, and, maybe move into an admin position, but moving up and out of that, and staying in that company may not happen.
@@lisamiller8174 Very True
Lisa Miller, I’d say ur at the wrong companies. I’ve worked for numerous major companies where many admins move up & it’s quite commonplace for it to b a stepping stone to advancement within the company.
@@reginafallangie2867 I am not at the wrong company. That's just the way they do it in some industries.
It is that sort of arrogance that "only they" do work that is critical to business, that's the cause of much of the disrespect.
There should be noone working at a company if they don't perform an essential role.
I am the Office Manager and I would kill to have a leisurely day like that!! My diary is on Outlook and I have so much more work because everything is instant with emails. In those days you had the phone calls but no computers so you had to wait for responses to letters. A much less hectic pace. Jealous!!!!!
I was a secretary in the late 1970's and 1980's with the same sort of routine as this woman has in the video (slightly more up to date equipment). Each day involved doing one task at a time, having a lot of time to do each one and having lapses in work altogether where my inbox was cleared. Believe me, a slow work pace like that is extremely boring after a while. Having a fast paced job might be hectic, even exhausting if you have to multi-task several things at once- but the day must go quicker. You are definitely experiencing the 'grass is greener' syndrome.
@@woofiedog7452
And you aren't? Lol
reenougle Exactly what I thought....
Customer service supervisor here... I feel you with outlook! Meetings, trainings, task, follow ups, projects, even with outlook I usually have a notepad (yeaahh a physical one) were I write my 1:1s with my manager, questions, notes from meetings and trainings or call outs from certain topics or things during the day and week, small ideas for projects ongoing, calls or emails to make, everything passed on the week? If I need I back it up in OneNote... So I feel you
Woofie Dog I would take the slow paced day with 5 hours instead of 8. 🙂
Ahhh, the days before the internet when you had to look up hotels in a book...
I was never a secretary, but while I was an accounting clerk, I was given the additional duty of arranging travel for sales shows. I had to use several hotel books, and maps to see if it was close to the venue. It took less time than using the internet.
i worked at an auto dealership parts dept... had to use books on the counter and the wall phone, no internet back in the day
I can’t even imagine trying to do all the things we do easily do on computers & phones by hand. Especially math.
Yeah probably a lot quicker
Wow, those really were the days. The message is still relevant. Organization, attention to detail, time management and a professional attitude are always important.
Yup! And all still relevant principled lessons for today! 😁
In law school, they emphasized to get a damn good legal secretary, bc she’s going to teach you everything you didn’t learn in law school, which was everything. 😂xo
Lol! I was a CCU nurse at a teaching hospital our attending physician always told his new batch interns and residents to treat the nurses very kindly and with respect because we had probably been there longer and had more experience and would probably at some point save their careers. 😂
That is just to make the legal secretaries feel good about themselves and make them feel important. This is necessary because the pay is appalling for the stress they have to endure.
Today we have office people working trapped in small cubicles on prescription medications staring into computer monitors all day.
Cause squinting and re-writing hand written notes all day is MUCH better, right? 😂😂😂
Who basically wear pajamas to work, with a top knot.
@@nope_n0pe I’m good with it, as long as shit gets done. As long as no ones genitals are exposed who gives a fuc?
@@nope_n0pe pay pajama salary, get pajamas. If you expect a suit, you had better be paying suit salary. I actually had to point that out when I was younger. They actually thought that a part time bank teller was going to spend my college fund on old lady clothes... nope!
@@chiarac3833 I don't wear pajamas. I'm thrifty and take care of my clothes and shop sales. A suit is not required for many jobs, but it's more prudent to not show up in pajama bottoms...which I have seen before.
Those desks they were using where the typewriter flips up were kinda cool.
Of course. I've never seen one before
I have one of those exact desks works perfectly and still looks new! Purchased at local antique store for $60.00
knarfggor Wow. I’m kinda jealous.
@@hollyb6885 The seller had a $300.00 price tag on it and had to move to another booth and didn't want to so they let us have it for $60.00 I have been known to flip this over and over again in fascination to marvel at this feature. Sometimes it doesn't take much to entertain myself LOL.
knarfggor 😁👍👍
This is so interesting! The office supplies and equipment has changed drastically but the overall efficiency stays the same. I used to be an administrative assistant for IBM and then Glaxo and I’m amazed at how I kept things together for my boss. I scheduled meetings, office events, made travel arrangements overseas and I still don’t know how I did it. That’s such an incredible responsibility that should never be taken for granted. 🙂
Well Said👏👏👏
"Jean takes control of her orderly desk, Jean loves her orderly desk, don't f**k with Jean or touch her orderly desk!"
Love it
In the many years I've had my small business, I've had four assistant managers. Each had their various strengths, but only one was a secretary. That secretary worked for me for about half a decade, and was truly invaluable. The level of organisation and efficiency was really high-just like in this video
It's those secretaries that make an office pleasant & organized. Thankful you are grateful for your secretary.
@@tj921able I just saw this. Indeed, I really did appreciate her. And now that I don't have anyone to do what she did, I see that I couldn't thank her enough. (I always told her how much she was appreciated) In addition to her many other responsibilities, she was the one to do my advertising. In fact, a few of her videos are on my youtube channel (go back to the very beginning)
OMG that desk is awesome! Look at how the desk rose out of it! I wish I could have this kind of work. I watch all these old videos and wish I was born in that time instead of this one. I'm old fashioned, it would suit me well.
Of course; these old videos were "somewhat" idealized. Everything in it looks just a little bit too nice, too smooth, too perfect. For sure, there was more style and elegance in those days. On the other hand, I'm glad the policies concerning smoking at the office have changed, that noisy typewriters have been replaced by more quiet computers etc. The gap between the average boss and secretary was much wider in these days. It's a somewhat mixed picture. But having said that, yes, it must have been quite a thing to live in those days, the suits, the cars, the stylish restaurants, the Film Noir in the cinema in stead of at home on a flat screen...
Me too. I'm old fashion as well.
I too love the desk! What I love even more are traditional, old fashioned women. As a small business owner I sorely wish I had a secretary who had such skills, attention to detail and a desire to always stay neat, orderly, and on top of her job. These aren't just work skills - they're life skills, and skills which are useful in married life too. Hopefully I can find such a woman to call my own some day. Such classy ladies are a rare find these days.
You are what would be considered an 'old soul'.
Just don't get sick. Not a lot of remedies for some diseases.
The Architecture of the buildings back then were a work of art. Most have been torn down and replaced by modern building Architecture that lacks the artistic beauty.
Because in that time the space is wide on the other hand today the employee are many and the space is small 🙃
@@jackdotblue
People have a difficult time committing suicide out of high rise office buildings.
The windows don’t open..😄😄😄😄
A generation who took pride in the little things...what a concept!
It wasn't just a single generation - previous generations to this one also took pride in the little things and had VERY strong work ethic and little to no reliance on welfare. Then, that began to fade with each new generation. Now, Gen Z is unrecognizable as civil people. There are exceptions, of course.
I took typing, shorthand, accounting in high school to become a secretary as a career. But I ended up using those skills to earn $$ to pay my way through college and became a dentist! I never regretted learning those administrative skills!🙂
My story is similar. I left high school after taking secretarial courses and could type 90 wpm and take steno at 100 wpm. The typing skills really came in handy in college and grad school. Between college and grad school I worked as a legal secretarial temp in New York City in the 1980s. There was so much of this work back then if you were good, you were always busy. This helped pay the bills until I was established in my career as an occupational therapist.
A good admin can never be replaced. I have been doing this for over 30 years and technology has made our day to day much easier. We have become our bosses partners. They depend in us to help him run his department. Unsung heroes.
You're kidding, right? I've been doing this for over 30 years as well and the workload has at least quadrupled, in addition to the minute-to-minute pressure of e-mails as well as phone calls from people saying "I just sent you an e-mail" and then proceeding to tell me everything that they just sent in the e-mail. Thanks to technology, I'm running 150 miles an hour from beginning to end, and because admins are considered "overhead", we're not allowed a single minute of OT.
My secretary is invaluable. She does a wonderful job, and is so organized.
Mike Peterson Make sure you tell her that. We are so under appreciated. Being able to do eleventy billion (Yes that’s a number we secretaries use) tasks at once, with constant interruptions, and do it well and with a good attitude, goes unnoticed more times than not. So underpaid is another story for another video. 😃😉
I do everything. 50 calls and arrange thing for my employer. Still at the end when i saw him my work report he says, this is not work, u just fillup the work report with anything.
faa world .....and HE then just fills up space on the planet with hot air. What a waste of skin. What a jackass he is. Don’t settle for his BS. I suspect he treats his wife the same way, and if he’s not married.....it’s no wonder. What a poor excuse for a decent human being. Probably has deep-seeded Mommy issues and is taking them out on you, because Mommy didn’t do enough for him. As soon as possible, find another job, and just use this current suffering with the A-Hole as a learning experience of what NOT to put up with. Remember, we teach people how to treat us with what we are willing to tolerate. Best of luck.
I wish my boss was like you
@@fatema5733 - time to send-out your resume's to as many companies as you can, also use 'temporary' agencies, because many good companies use them for screening potential full-time employees. After that, the next serious thing that you document will be when you notify your "Boss" in writing of your having ALREADY accepted a BETTER position and that he should get a replacement ASAP so that *as a professional courtesy* you can train them before you leave.
My grandmother was the head secretary of a children's psych hospital for 20+ years. From the late 60s to the late 80s if I remember correctly. And let me tell you, she was indispensable. She literally won awards for this shit.
I worked at a psych center, it's a hard job at times, and much busier than people might think.
Late 60s to late 80s is 20 years
Actually saving lives! in the background I’m really glad someone noticed
@@erflingnot and it’s not “shit” as mentioned on original comment.
the good old days when they lobotomized indecend kids?
Had this secretory. She was great, she would make office policies, generate documents, schedule meetings without telling me. Her decisions made sense, so i never questioned her, she even hired her own replacement.
Not sure why I like playing these types of videos in the background while I work. It's a little soothing.
Same!
I found this film on Prelinger Archives and played it for my secretaries back in 2005. They threw paper wads and laffed in my face. Snotty things secretaries have become.
Jean gets an award for taking dictation at 4:55pm without uttering one f*** under her breath!
LOL my thoughts exactly.
Part of the job....
@ColonialBuckeye that's why I dislike her 🚮 comment.
@@colonialbuckeye2288 And look what we have today, an utter d*generate society having no bounds. Kids and teenagers cussing left and right, and acting like adults.
Fountain pens... love them. I have several and use fountain pens regularly... my contribution to minimizing landfill. Also, this was likely filmed in 1946 as June 11 was on a Tuesday :)
Thx :)
you have the same profile picture as the channel who uploaded the video
@@garywilliams6124 Indeed. I've used this for so long I can't remember when I uploaded it. I use the same 1938 RCA test pattern photo elsewhere on social media as well.
1947, according to the very bold date on the opening credits.
@@jb6712 It is copyrighted 1947, but filmed the previous year.
I was a medical secretary and a legal secretary. I found the medical to be more to my liking. Law offices have high pressures and can be sort of unprofessional at times. Medical offices have stricter guidelines which makes sticking to rules much easier.
That's why mia khalifa quitted her office job in legal firm for just few months. Its stressful!
This is a brilliant video. I spent the second half of my career trying to explain what an executive assistant can do to free up their boss’s time and help them be effective. It is an invaluable set of skills.
This is so wholesomely motivating and encouraging. It's one of my highest ideals to be so efficient and organised. It's wonderful to see images like this! Thank you so much for sharing.
My retirement job is a secretary for a small nonprofit organization. Because of it, I have begun collecting vintage office supplies. I am retired from my career as a librarian and my first desk at the library was just like the ones pictured but a computer sat atop mine. That desk was perfect. Later it was replaced with a newer one but it was not as organized as the old typewriter desk.
Hey Kentucky! Do you need an ANCIENT check printer??
Thank you so much for these videos. I realize that these were not the happiest of times, and I know that as a people we still have a lot of growing to do, but my hope is that the courtesy, common sense, good will, merriment and social grace of this era will soon return and become the order of the day. We live in one of the most divisive times in the history of our young nation and I look forward to the day when we can all just get back to being good to each other (for the most part.)
I pray that whomever reads this will be blessed richly.
K. P. Cross
These times were much better then current. People actually knew their jobs, were paid a more fair wage, and their day was over at 5. This is talking about white collar work of course.
Amen. I agree.
Happier than now !
@@StereoMike06oh boy… sexism and racism what great times indeed… 🙄
@@thejpkotorNot any different than current day. At least people had more respect back then for both themselves and others, did not have a drug epidemic, schools taught education and parents and adults were able to correct children. You must be of modern upbringing where anything before your generation is bad and scary and unknown....
I used to work in the church office assisting the secretary. Her desk was messy & she never kept appointments straight. I was surprised our minister kept her as a secretary. One of the things mentioned in the film was something she NEVER did. Writing down what her duties would require day to day. I always did that at home for my job. I have a desk & keep everything organized & within reach. That is important in day-to-day affairs. Thank you for sharing this, God Bless You & stay safe.
I work in accounting, and if I didn't write myself notes, I'd be completely lost!
My mother began as a secretary for a local insurance company in 1947, and was the same age as the woman featured in the film. I tried my hand at the job out of high school, and discovered that I didn't have the interest or skills for it. Thus ended my one week of torture. LOL
Wonderful video. I took a typing class in high school in 1961 on a MANUAL typewriter just like “Jean” used in this video. I, a 17 year old male…in a class with mostly females…could type an impressive 40 words per minute. :) CCHS ‘61. :)
A desk job does not get the respect it deserves. It’s not easy .
Even to this day, I have a newfound respect for office people, secretaries and receptionists, tougher job than I thought!
I wish we still had secretaries. They think because we have computers, they are supposed to somehow take the place of a secretary, and we must do everything ourselves. But, Siri doesn't take the place of a real life secretary! And, the next generation won't even know what it was like to have a secretary. I am still best friends with my secretary from years ago. She is retired now, but we have kept in touch.
I had a professor who told us not to piss off the secretary. She was the head of the program and trusted her secretary. The professor let us know if we treat her well we can get in quickly to see her but piss her off and we won't see the professor in question. My interactions with her were professional and respectful since I knew she held the power for my education.
What?! 😂😂😂
By mid-morning we were already exhausted, being overwhelmed with work and interruptions....all to be done with a good attitude and no errors. So unappreciated and underpaid, but I loved being a secretary/ administrative assistant/corporate Goddess. OCD plays a wonderful role in this type of organization and conscientiousness. A must to run a tight ship. Anything less is just a mess. 😃😉
I love being a secretary too been one for 13 years
I dont know you Nancy, however, I appreciate you. In my service business Ive found secretaries can be valuable in jumping through hoops with purchase orders etc.
Then go home and raise children. You'll be the boss 24/7 and your time will be your own. Serious.
I loved being a secretary too. I was one right out of HS. 1974 to 1987 for the federal government. I resigned to raise my kids and go back to school. At the time it was hard to advance unless you had a college degree. I went to school to become a teacher. I was a secretary for 13 years and a teacher for 22. I loved both careers. Favorite was teaching third graders for 14 years. The organizational skills I learned as a secretary helped me in the classroom.
Ahhh! Totally loved this upload! Thank you so much for giving tribute to times long gone!♥
I'm old enough to remember the pre-internet days and I miss the simplicity of them
I don't know. An on-screen scheduler is pretty handy. Easy to post appointments and rearrange them. An pleasant alarm can go off at certain times when something is supposed to be done. Color coded however you want.
Ignoring the old office equipment, this entire film is useful and relevant information today.
It's not
Hardly. The job today isn't remotely like this. It's far more in-depth.
@@jayfielding1333 Jay, Thanks for your comment. However, many people do not agree with you. "In-depth" must mean attending D.E.I. and E.S.G. indoctrination meetings.
If your office still uses typewriter and stenography machine thing, yeah this is useful 🙃
@@Agent-ie3uv Agent, Look beyond the hardware to the communication, organizational, and professional aspects of the job.
I love their desks. I had to cover my Typewriter with a plastic cover before going home.
I think up until the 2000s was an ideal time to work at an office. I remember being a File Clerk and an Office Assistant at a brokerage firm, always looking presentable even when I came from college, at that time I wanted a degree in Business Admin so when I was done at school in the morning/ early afternoon I'd go straight to work.
Always dress for the job you want.
So what changed from 2000 onwards ?
In 1942 my mother received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business. What that meant in 1942 was that she was a secretary. She took dictation in “shorthand,” typed, with almost no mistakes ever. She filed. She got coffee, donuts or lunch for him. She filed. She stayed late when she was asked and did about anything else her boss needed, just like a good secretary was supposed to do.
"The way she receives this caller is a direct reflection of the business"...it's crazy how many people don't realize how important the front office staff are, especially for things like doctors offices. Bad reception and that'll be my last time there.
I love the people that work behind the scenes ❤
I need this kind of support
Don't we all Hoss
Wow. That brings back such memories. I worked my way through college and law school as a secretary.
I love these old videos.
Jean is a classy bird. Mr Williams can count himself lucky.
Bird ? Is that a classy description ?
@@Retroscoop Sure.
@@MalteWilsen British expression
Amazing how efficient we are when people know what’s expected of them
Common sense is like a super power nowadays
Then the office computer doubled Jean's workload, so she quit
...and invested her meager savings in the International Business Machine Corporation. Twenty years later she ran a hippie crash pad in her San Fransisco mansion.
Lol
I had an older coworker say something like this the other day… ‘we didn’t used to have to work as fast’ and I think to myself, Jesus what did you do all day, fuck around and wait for someone from another department to come with a piece of paper to tell you what to do next? 😂
Jean is very lucky to work for a great man like Mr Williams.
"Jean" is Nancy Saunders, a B-Movie actress, she just passed away last year.
The Lakeshore Hotel is still there, but condos!
And the opening street scene features the Wrigley Building -- still beautiful on north Michigan Avenue
I sincerely wish more businesses still operated this way.
Looks like a pretty laid back job from today's point of view.
This was likely an a-typical example of a secretary's day. Some days were busier than others
Her 'Invaluable Calender Pad' - So much nicer than 35 emails when i arrive at 8am
Jean will likely keep an eye out for a young rising executive in the company and marry him. She will be expected to quit and stay home in the suburbs and have children.That was the reality of the 1940's, and 50's. This could have been my mother in 1947. I was born in 1950. My mother never worked outside the home again.
@Time4Truth no it's not. It is companies unwilling to pay a living wage. Their CEOs run their businesses into the ground then pay their board millions of dollard and leaving their workers penniless and jobless. Immigrants do job no one wants and pay nothing... Unless you want to go harvest apples, oranges, strawberries.....for a pittance....
Her best choice, condering Jean will only be employed whilst she's young and pretty.
That company doesn't look like prime hunting grounds. Mr Williams seems to be the only man around.
Not all secretaries worked in lucrative companies though. Yes, hard to make a living alone as a secretary
@@YTistooannoying Socialist propaganda: Free enterprise is evil, but the state can tax and regulate everyone to death and that is some sort of utopia.
So much better than today's over stressed complicated world.
As a secretary many moons ago, I truly enjoyed this video.
My career spanned the phase out of secretary's and the beginning of voice mail, email etc. A good secretary was such a benefit to an organization that all the electronic successors could never fill. Interestingly, it seemed that the best ones always smoked
I like how he says "our modern world"
What?! Since when were a secretary and a stenographer 2 separate jobs? Since NEVER, that's when!
I really want one of those desks! Would be so nice to "hide" your laptop if you're not using it
Excellent video! How things ought to still be!
So much simpler back then. I miss paper and pens.....and books and newspapers..... I still love my paper dayplanners. Technology moves much too quickly; you seem never to be caught up on the latest software. Geniuses miss out on jobs because they haven't been taught one program, like Quickbooks or whatever. It's not right. Computers have complicated the world as much as they've simplified it.
I still use paper and pens daily. As well as books and magazines.
I know what you mean. I miss out on Typewriters. Yet the narrarator was so right on about The Desk and your area being clean and neat. I always made sure that I had Wipes to clean my desk not to mention turning over My Keyboard to get the debris out that can collect. I have Hand Gel, as well.
If you cant use a simple program you're no genius.
Desagree completely. Technology isn't complicated, on the contrary, it makes thinks easier.
@V RL I'm 56 and I agree with you!
I don't know what business they were in but the margins must have been great, the building is magnificent and the boss strolls in at 9.15! Jean keeps it all together. I started working at the tail end of secretaries when senior managers would have their emails printed out for them! They often acted like guard dogs for their boss, its when I learned to read upside down.
The business was probably a government contractor😄
Back then, most secretaries and their bosses still worked six days a week.
No they didn’t… but they would almost have to to get anything done since they have to hand write and manually file everything on bits of paper.
Heart and soul of any organization.
The hotel room prices were $1.25 - $2.00 a night! Loved this.
Yes and you can smoke in the room. 😆
빵하나에 1~2센트?🤔🤔🤔
I hope Jean had a good long life.
It would be interesting to know what happened to her? Although this is probably an actress playing secretary. Just my guess.
An era that is long gone.
Jean has beautiful handwriting. She's classy too.
She could certainly make my day.
this is the exact opposite of someone who suffers from ADHD
Caelidh Goode i have adhd and am a secretary 😂
My aunt use to say “Learn shorthand, and how to type, and you’ll always have a job.”
Great advice
Is shorthand used today?
Yep, exactly what my mum said and she sent me off to do a two year secretarial course ... and I was never out of work if I didn't want to be ... worked in lots of offices for 44 years - from a manual typewriter to electric, then finally to a computer.
Also sitting on the boss lap.
Lol idiot🤣🤣
Great job Jean. Well done.
Office work is incredibly stressful now that so many of these secretarial tasks are now done by office workers themselves, including scheduling meetings and doing correspondence (now e-mail). Even managers have to waste time on these tasks that take them away from their main duties and add to their stress.
I could have used a training manual like this some 10 odd years ago, instead of being thrown in cold water working as an assistant.
I'm sure her compensation package was commensurate with the critical contribution she is shown to play. Ditto for her opportunity to rise to position of greater responsibility. Yes I am joking.
Yes, secretaries sometimes got opportunities to rise but their bosses usually did the rising.
In her case, back then progressing had to do with ‘taking dictation’ and ‘fulfilling requests from the boss’ 😅 Even then, not guaranteed anything
Wait until Jean learns about quiet quitting. Then, the unexpected caller will wait on hold for an hour due to 'unexpected call volumes. And when answered will be hung up on since they didn't have an appointment anyway.
Ah, the good old days before computers. :) Wow! real books and analog clocks!
In the film "The Secretary's Day" you see a secretary handling the correspondence. She opens the letters with a letter opener. After opening it for the first time, she puts the letter opener aside and takes the letter out of the envelope. Then she takes the next envelope and picks up the letter opener again to open the second envelope. This is a very inefficient way of working. She can save herself several steps by opening all the letters first and only then removing the correspondence from the opened letters. If a lot of letters have to be opened in the morning, then that saves an enormous amount of time and a lot of fewer actions.
Understandable, but as the married widow drowned, the propane tank sang to the porpoise. When the helicopter proposed lunch, the propeller saw the midnight daylight yesterday at you. Laughingly, the robin gasped, while moonbeams ate marshmallows inside the deer. Aware of pencils, aroma heard floor tiles selling whales. Branded as lost is the umbrella, as it elopes at tires. Wherein the thesis seams chicken openly, it only missed the elevator by rainfall. Quietly, fires argue as to when the crow sounds popcorn afternoon today. Heavy borrows irrigate crime with ice cream whelps instead of Krylon drips.
I hope they had good lives
watching this on Tuesday June 11
Myriam That’s my sister’s birthday - except that this film was a few decades before my sister was born!
Ha, it just happens to be June 11 today :) But it's a Thursday this year...
Jean is a very attractive woman.
She was a model. She was picked for the role out of other contestants.
@@billiebobbienorton2556 Nope.
She ded now bruh
@@billiebobbienorton2556 Your an idiot!
@@billiebobbienorton2556 How would you know that? Even if there's a sliver of truth to that, she was very elegant and professional.
That's funny she doesn't have a flask in her desk.
Yeah. And they didn't show/mentioned her lunch break lol
@@clasiusclay I think we all know how to have lunch.
@@rinwesley3092 Hmm, yeah. Though this isn't necessarily a sort of "How to" video, it's more of a day in a life of a secretary, so it's kinda odd they didn't even mentioned lunch haha
Most secretaries are fat cause all they do is eat & drink
Anyone catch the calendar is 1946 ? also Jean is a working class hero :)
1947
Filmed in 46. Released in 47
Jean is kickass! Give that girl a pay raise!!!
When I was an elementary school principal, I knew that my secretary could run the school.
Now we have interns for that!
Oof
NO COMPUTER NO ADVANCED TECNOLOGY AT ALL!!! JUST BRAIN PROFISSIONALISM AND A HELL OF A MEMORY! 👏👏👏
In 1994, we listened to classic rock, in the office, and ate Hot Pockets for lunch. Casual Friday-flared jeans and platforms. :)👖
The mail room clerk is nicely dressed, well groomed and handsome!
it's so weird not seeing a computer at a desk
Not for some of us it isn't. :)
“Minimises the danger of tearing the contents” I got flashbacks to all the times I’ve taken out a letter to realise I sliced it when I sliced the envelope 😅
For me it brings a lot of funny memories in my first job as a secretary 😂