Office Life in the 1970s

What did office desks look like in the 1970s? There were no personal computers or mobile phones back then, so desks typically held a desktop telephone, writing utensils, and a few work-related reference books. There were also various forms for daily work logs, draft sheets, and communication forms as per the manager's instructions, as well as carbon paper for making copies. Most work was done via phone and paper in those days, so this setup was sufficient.

 

How did they handle calculations? When I worked in the Business Department as a new employee, there were around 20 staff members, and they all shared a prized possession. At the back of the office, there was a round table with the latest model of an electronic calculator chained to its leg (to prevent theft). Though we called it an electronic calculator, it only had basic functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Despite its simplicity, it was considered valuable, so there was only one in the office, and we had to wait our turn to use it. When we left work, the tall employee in charge of the calculator would unlock it, put it in the cabinet, and lock it away.

 

A few days after I started working, a senior employee called me over to the round table when no one else was using the calculator. He kindly explained how to use it, saying, "Kim, learning how to use this will be helpful for you." It was so simple that it took less than five minutes to learn.

 

One evening, after most of the employees had left, the manager and the senior employee returned from a business trip to the Ministry of Economy and Planning. They were trying to urgently report the results of their trip to the department head and needed to organize their papers but found the calculations odd. They searched for the electronic calculator but found the employee with the key had already gone home. The manager was flustered, so I offered to calculate the figures with an abacus. The manager looked doubtful and said, "How could you? We need multiplication and division."

 

That evening, after successfully reporting to the department head and dining together, the manager, a law school graduate from Seoul National University, marveled at my skills with the abacus. He asked, "When did you learn how to use an abacus?" My abacus skills also helped the manager navigate other crises on several occasions. However, since my days as a new employee, I haven't touched an abacus for a long time, and I can't remember where my cherished Japanese abacus went. I used to rub it in the rice jar to keep it smooth and well-maintained.

In fact, I started learning the abacus as an extracurricular activity in the fifth grade at an elementary school in the countryside. I practiced diligently all summer vacation, and in middle school, which was combined with a commercial high school, I continued to hone my skills. My abacus skills were quite good. In college, I learned to use a slide rule for specialized calculations in engineering, but such tools have since become obsolete. Do these items still exist in the age of widely used personal computers?

 

It might be hard for younger colleagues who are used to personal computers and mobile phones and rely on them for work to believe, but back then, everything moved slowly and leisurely. Without social media for work, most tasks involved meeting people face-to-face or using the phone, fostering a sense of personal connection. I wonder if human relationships have become a bit desolate these days.

 

(August 19, 2021)