OH, Pleeeeease !

[Toril]

I once had a holiday job as a secretary to a manager of a company while his usual one was off sick. He recorded, everything that needed to be typed out, on a dictaphone. That was fine except that he had a strong Scottish accent. It took me a while to tune in to it.

 

[Lilo Lil]

Dictaphone - oh the joys! Also the Gestetner duplicating machine - what a palaver …

 

[Grizelda]

My beautiful mum died 8 years ago. Every minute of the day is sad when I think about my loss. Nothing in the world prepares you for losing your mother. She was my rock. My best friend. My guiding star. My everything. I wish I could be with my mum again. But I can't x

It is a beautiful thought that maybe we will be with our mother one day. I don't know what form my mother would take. I think it would be her spirit. I want my spirit to join my mother's spirit. The joy of imagining that moment is overpowering. It helps me with my sorrow. Imagine it too, Boffy. I think you will find yourself smiling.

 

[donna255]

I had a boss who used the Dictaphone, he never used full stops or commas when using it. It was up to me to put it in. I used to see on TV it being used with the full stop and comma said by the user.

 

[Brissles]

My first foray into audio typing - wasn't with tapes, but with 'records'. Technology was such back then, that the dictator would message into his microphone while sat in his office, which would then be recorded onto a disc on a bank of machines in the typing pool, then the supervisor would hear it 'click' and take the record off and put it into a sleeve, popping another record onto the machine. There must have been a dozen machines in my section with around 15 typists. The same amount in other sections, so around 50 typists in all.

This was at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Sandwich. Great grounding for future secretarial work. AND we used Snopake !!!!! I think the company bought it in bulk, long before Tippex was introduced.

 

[stratobuddy]

I remember Snopake, I used loads of it on handwritten reports I had to write, before they were eventually typed.

 

[Snowstorm]

Dear old RSA, who remembers hanging paragraphs?

and fully blocked….

 

[Snowstorm]

I remember Snopake, I used loads of it on handwritten reports I had to write, before they were eventually typed.

The joys of waiting for it to fully dry before attempting to type over. Trick was how to apply. Layer too thin and it didn’t cover the error or too thick and you ended up with a blob.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

And before that the old typing rubber and you had to muck around with carbon paper as you couldn’t take it out of the typewriter as it would never line up again. Remember having to manually rewind the ribbon spool if the boss was a cheapskate and wouldn’t order more.

I remember when the tipped sheets appeared we thought we were in heaven except it didn’t work on carbon.

When the electric typewriters had a double ribbon, ink and a separate tippex band sure it was money for old rope!

I remember being one of the first people I knew who used the space age golf ball electric typewriters- we had different balls which could be changed to give a different font but this was only used for specific documents as it was a bit of a pain.

 

[madaunty]

And before that the old typing rubber and you had to muck around with carbon paper as you couldn’t take it out of the typewriter as it would never line up again. Remember having to manually rewind the ribbon spool if the boss was a cheapskate and wouldn’t order more.

I remember when the tipped sheets appeared we thought we were in heaven except it didn’t work on carbon.

When the electric typewriters had a double ribbon, ink and a separate tippex band sure it was money for old rope!

I remember being one of the first people I knew who used the space age golf ball electric typewriters- we had different balls which could be changed to give a different font but this was only used for specific documents as it was a bit of a pain.

Who says this forum isn’t educational. I knew nothing about “golf ball” typewriters. So I’ve been for a Google to learn.
Also found this, may being back some memories for some

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Ha ha!

You know what they say, every day is a school day!

It’s one problem was if you were a very quick typist the ball couldn’t spin fast enough thus causing mistakes.

 

[Anna]

And before that the old typing rubber and you had to muck around with carbon paper as you couldn’t take it out of the typewriter as it would never line up again. Remember having to manually rewind the ribbon spool if the boss was a cheapskate and wouldn’t order more.

I remember when the tipped sheets appeared we thought we were in heaven except it didn’t work on carbon.

When the electric typewriters had a double ribbon, ink and a separate tippex band sure it was money for old rope!

I remember being one of the first people I knew who used the space age golf ball electric typewriters- we had different balls which could be changed to give a different font but this was only used for specific documents as it was a bit of a pain.

I thought I was the bees knees when I got my golf ball electric typewriter. After using a manual, it was like another world.

One of my many bosses used to write down what he wanted to dictate, then walk behind me as I took shorthand. Unfortunately, he would walk so far away that sometimes I couldn't hear what he was saying, so would wait for him to throw the piece of paper in the bin, whereby I would retrieve it and type it out that way. Ah, happy days.

Another boss would take so long thinking what to say, that I would find myself nodding off in the chair.

 

[stratobuddy]

It was well before anyone had even thought of word processors, so I typed my CV onto computer paper tape so I could print it out on the golf ball whenever required, and easily edit the paper tape if neccessary. In a way, you could say I invented word processing 50 year ago lol.

 

[Muttley]

In one job I had an electronic typewriter where you would type and see the words on a small narrow screen and when you were happy with your work you could print it out. I thought that was amazing as you could edit before printing. It was like a mini computer.

I worked for the police for years as a typist and did a lot of audio typing using a foot pedal to control the tap. When you lifted your foot iff the pedal the tape stopped and went back a couple of seconds. The trick was timing it so that you pressed the pedal again just before you had finished the last sentence so there was no gap in what you heard and it would flow well. When we eventually had computers I loved typing "no comment" interviews as you just "cut and pasted" the same sentence!

 

[Brissles]

Remember Tomorrow's World ? well they presented a 'new' typewriter with an inbuilt system, which had a screen above the keyboard that showed what you were typing as you were doing it. Two years later the bosses got us one - it didn't make us type any quicker, but it was a spellchecker cum auto reader - in fluorescent green text !

 

[Brissles]

OMG Muttley we were typing up the same thing at the same time - s p o o k y

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

My dad had that typewriter with the tiny screen (were you able to save it to a tape/disc?) but it really was only a line at a time, still revolutionary.

 

[Muttley]

OMG Muttley we were typing up the same thing at the same time - s p o o k y

Our brains are definitely connected, very spooky and it's not even Hallow'een!

 

[Snowstorm]

Who says this forum isn’t educational. I knew nothing about “golf ball” typewriters. So I’ve been for a Google to learn.
Also found this, may being back some memories for some

Oh they were amazing!

 

[AndiK]

I hope it doesn’t sound patronising but do you think there are so many older ladies (and gents) on here because they did typing in the 1960s and 70s? What I mean is, to be on the forum you’ve got to be at least a bit computer-literate and if you were used to typewriters then, probably moving on to computers later, you are more likely to have a computer or tablet now and be at ease with it, or at least a smart phone you use for messages with no problem. On the other hand, a lot of older people who didn’t have such careers don’t/won’t use computers at all, are even afraid of them. While there’s many a person in their 70s and 80s, 90s even, getting on with the internet just fine (I suspect in many cases because of that office background), I know a couple who are in their late fifties who are terrified of having to do online banking, say, because anything with a keyboard is so daunting.