Almanac Life: Work/Life Balance

Note for readers in a different age group to myself: the following contains terms that you may not have heard before; they are designated with an *; please refer to glossary.

 

They sent a telegram*, I guess that was how it was done in those days:

 

PLEASE CONTACT GRAHAM RING URGENTLY ON 669 2660* RE POSITION WITH THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE IF YOU DO NOT RING BY MIDDAY THURSDAY 11TH I WILL ASSUME YOU ARE NO LONGER INTERESTED
PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD

 

And so my full-time working career with the Australian Public Service began. My degree was in Statistics and Maths and I had preferenced the Australian Bureau of Statistics first but, even in 1983, jobs were hard to come by, so I was happy to accept a position with the Australian Tax Office, as a Clerk, Class 1, annual salary $12,425.

 

I remember that part of my induction as a new employee was to go to Level 1. Level 1 consisted of the computer, yep, the whole of Level 1 was the computer. Kind staff members showed me how to use my clock-on card and, when leaving at night, wait for the second click to ensure you got the extra minute.

 

I worked in Defaults, 70 plus people dealing with taxpayers who, for whatever reason, had not lodged their tax return. Our job was to read letters* from taxpayers and assess whether the reason provided for not lodging was acceptable. If not, we would have to draft a response (templates were provided) for the typing pool* to type up and return to us to then put in an envelope and put in the out mailbox.

 

Later in 1983 I managed to obtain a job at the ABS. I had applied for a promotion to what was known as a Clerk, Class 2/3*. Although I was unsuccessful, I asked at the interview if I could transfer across at my current level. I learnt quickly about the unusual nature of the Public Service. I was told that I would go on a list and it may take several months. Two days later they rang me and said I could start the following Monday!

 

In the early 1980s you could still smoke at work! In a group of six desks which were all connected, there were at least two smokers. The stale smell of exhaled smoke hung like a persistent fog, like Canberra on a cold winter’s morning, over the whole floor. For non-smokers, it was worse than mistakenly getting in to the old smokers’ carriage* on a red rattler*.

 

By 1984, technology had developed to the point that we were given a computer terminal on our floor which we could book in 45-minute sessions.

 

I ended up in the ABS’ Statistical Consultancy section, eventually becoming the Manager*. This group serviced other Government departments and non-profit organisations providing statistical advice and designing surveys. For my initial few years, we were a free service but customers were limited. As soon as upper management decided that the service should be charged at $45 an hour, customers started streaming through the door. When the price went to $85 an hour we were inundated and, at $120 per hour, customers were being turned away. It was the exact same people providing the same service! But perception is an amazing thing, ‘if they are charging that much, they must be good’.

 

The 1991 Census was a definite highlight. Seven of us organised the Census for the whole of Victoria. I had never worked so hard. The main part of my job was to organise the pays for the 6,000 temporary staff.

 

After 13 years at the ABS we did a seachange (which was one of my early pieces for the Almanac). A career change saw me working at Deakin University for five years, overseeing the admin side for a group of professional, fee-paying, off-campus students. A much higher-level decision saw that group leave Deakin and link up with Latrobe Uni, if I remember correctly, which meant five or six of us were no longer required. On the wrong side of 40 and with three young children, I urgently needed to find a job.

 

After a brief sojourn in a call centre at Telstra, where for the first time I felt old in the workplace as there were people there half my age, I spent the next 18 years at the Child Support Agency dealing with separated parents and providing legislative advice to staff. It was a stressful but rewarding job, helping parents at a time of need. At the same time a small minority of customers could lose it and start yelling. There were some hilarious moments as well. “What you’ve said makes sense, it’s obvious, everybody knows that, you don’t have to be Frankenstein to work that out.”

 

Since 2012 I have taken seven opportunities to manage a whole election process, each time taking eight weeks leave to work full-time with the VEC managing either a Council Election or State Election District. I have never worked so hard!

 

So, after nearly 40 years in the full-time workforce, I have just started a heap of long service leave.  I don’t expect to return to work full time.

 

Time flies. Nearly 40 years. Wow, huge changes. Technology. I have more gigs in my mobile phone than in that huge computer on Level 1 in the ATO.

 

What’s next? More time for writing (!), some house improvements, travel maybe, more elections, bit of reading, gardening, some volunteering at our Church, work on the fitness (especially the running), connect with people again… I’m 8 weeks in already – I love the non-routine.

 

Glossary

 

TELEGRAM: prior to mobile phones, if you wanted to contact someone urgently you sent a telegram. I think you rang up and gave your message to the Post Office and someone typed it on a funny yellow bit of paper and then the postie delivered it, usually on the same day. Since I first drafted this piece, I have become aware that there is App* called telegram which the internet* tells me is “a new era of messaging” (!?);

 

7 digit phone numbers changed to 8 digits approximately mid 1990s;

 

Letter: prior to emails, people and businesses used to write or type things on pieces of paper which were put into a postbox and delivered the next day (if posted prior to 4pm) by Australia Post;

 

Tea lady: pushed a metal contraption on wheels that contained pre-made tea and coffee; the coffee in particular tasted really bad. NB: I am woke* enough to know that “tea lady” is not politically correct but, in the 1980s, that is what they were called so it is historically correct; also, as best as I remember, only females performed this role in my workplaces;

 

WOKE: just google* it;

 

RED RATTLER: a Melbourne train that used to rattle to the point that it was hard to have a conversation with the person sitting next to you. The windows were meant to open. If you found a window seat on a hot day then almost certainly the window would not open and, on a cold and wet day, there would always be one window that would not close;

 

Typing pool: a group of staff, mostly or possibly entirely female. The job was to type letters on a typewriter*;

 

Clerk Class 2/3: two three, not two thirds; somewhere in history prior to 1983 the public service must have combined two work classifications;

 

Manager: these days usually called a Team Leader;

 

Smokers’ Carriage: On a Melbourne train of seven or eight carriages, at least one would be designated with a sign on the side as ‘Smokers’. Smoking was not allowed in the other carriages. For a non-smoker, getting in this carriage had a similar impact as driving past the old abattoirs in Flemington before the West Gate Bridge was built and which I as a six year old re-named the Vegemite factory as the smell was equivalent;

 

App just google* it;

 

Google: especially for those with maths and statistics as a background, not to be confused with googol – a number consisting of 1 followed by 100 zeroes, in other words a very large number;

 

Typewriter: contraption that has letters on keys in an unusual format, looks similar to the keyboard on a laptop but you don’t have to push as hard. When the keys were pressed, a piece of metal with that letter on it would cause that letter to appear on a piece of paper;

 

Internet: just google* it.

 

 

More stories from Noel McPhee can be read Here.

 

 

We’ll do our best to publish two books in the lead-up to Christmas 2021. The Tigers (Covid) Almanac 2020  and the 2021 edition to celebrate the Dees’ magnificent premiership season(title is up for discussion at the moment!). These books will have all the usual features – a game by game account of the Tigers and Demons season – and will also include some of the best Almanac writing from these two Covid winters. Enquiries HERE

 

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click HERE

 

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