REMEMBER WHEN (only a very few will) Memories of a 16-year-old Mail boy

Transcription

1 REMEMBER WHEN (only a very few will) Memories of a 16-year-old Mail boy From John A Crennan (Sales and Marketing) As I reflected on my various stages at GMH / HOLDEN, one of my highlights was the fantastic memories I had of my start-up year at Fishermens Bend Head Office which at that time was one of the largest and most important corporations in Australia. In particular I recall what were the essential services within the Organisation. Naturally all these gradually disappeared 5, 10 and 20 years after I started with the evolution of technology and social change. - The TEA LADY who at mid-morning and afternoon would appear with her tea trolley and we would all get in line for our free cup of tea. It was tea only (no coffee) and I recall our English lady Chloe like yesterday. There were at least 20 tea ladies in the catering section of the Fishermens Bend precinct doing the morning and afternoon rounds in all the office areas. - The huge MEDICAL CENTRE where any employee could sit in the waiting room to be called by the Sister or Doctor Bill Cooper and be treated for anything from a cut hand, a sore throat or a hang over. The main Medical Centre was mainly for Factory staff and between 10-3 pm office staff could see a delightful Irish lady named Sister Doherty in her mini medical centre in the main administration building. - The MAILING ROOM where 3 supervisors, 10 mail boys and Mac the mail van driver handled all inward and external mail with 3 pick ups and deliveries each day to every boss in GMH. - The FILING ROOM where a supervisor and 3 staff would file or find all vital finance records for the company. - The CASHIER, a slightly grumpy but efficient Scot named Ron Parish where you would line up and be forced to wait without any acknowledgement for at least 15 minutes before getting served for the various payment services he provided. - The State / Commonwealth GMH BANK located alongside the Personnel department where all employees could do their banking during business 1

2 hours and even talk to the Manager about a home loan. The Bank also operated in the Plant 6 cafeteria for factory payroll staff during the lunch break. - Every Friday the GMAC reps would man their office in the main admin building and assist employees with subsidised rates should anyone wish to purchase a new car, an ex-company car or white goods from the Frigidaire range. - THE CITY LUNCH BUS. There would be two daily trips for the 12pm and the 1pm female staff lunch breaks. A station wagon would cram 6 ladies in (there were no seat belts then) and take the ladies to Myers in Bourke St for a half hour shop and each Friday it went to the South Melbourne market. Bookings for the wagon were essential. -THE CABLE ROOM. If you needed a telegram or cable sent you would have one of the secretaries type it up and you would take it to the cable room wait for it to be transmitted and come back with the receipt.the volume of cables that all the Departments had to send daily to head office in Detroit and in those days New York was staggering. -THE SWITCHBOARD Nearby the cable room was the telephone switchboard room housing 4 lady operators including one of the loveliest ladies in GHM...the supervisor Jean Boland. They were needed to receive and connect all phone calls outside the Bend. -Then there was the PRINT ROOM. Well before the photocopy machine was introduced, whenever you had to have multiple copies of anything like a Dealer Bulletin done, you had to subject yourself to the many moods of the Supervisor Jim Kennedy who on a good day would tell you to pick up the job in 24hours or if you got him on bad day the job would be 3-4 days. There were 3 operators running the presses in the Print room. - Alongside the Print Room in Plant 8 was the STATIONERY STORE which opened for a hour both in the morning and in the afternoon where you would wait at the counter for a considerable time and hand over the Stationary requisition which had to be first signed by your boss and countersigned by his boss for your paper clips or writing pads or pencils. -TRAVEL AUTHORISATIONS. If you had to take a flight interstate the protocol was horrendous. The travel requisition had to be signed by your boss then counter signed by the Director of the Department...this alone could take 3 days of following up the secretaries. You then took one copy of the 2

3 requisition to traffic department and waited a few days until advised that your ticket had arrived then with the other copy you took that to the cashier to get the cash advance to cover costs of hotels taxis etc. -The SOCIAL CENTRE or Canteen, which was mainly for the use of the white-collar employees, was best known as the GMH Social Centre. Monday lunch also had massive queues as few people took their lunch to work on Mondays, as you could not buy bread on a Saturday or Sunday in those days. For 2 Shillings and three pence you got a superb Scotch Fillet Steak, Gravy, Chips and Vegetables. The catering manager was a very eccentric guy named Russ Carson who in the 50s came to Australia from Canada to coach the Victorian Ice Hockey team at Saint Moritz in St. Kilda. The same meals were also available in the Plant 6 Cafeteria, which was only for factory payroll who had to clock on and off each day. - PLANT TOURS Around 3 days a week a large group of people, often school children, would assemble outside the THREATRETTE to undertake a tour of the Fishermens Bend plants. The tours were per booked through the PR department and the lead tour host, Lance Mc Keon was a fine gentleman and ex Supply department retiree named Chris Stafford. He had a team of 6 GMH retirees conducted this fantastic program. -The STAFF MAGAZINE, named "PEOPLE". This would be produced every month by the PR department and would cover stories and photographs from every GMH location around Australia. It was the 60s version of today s social media communications. It was distributed to every employee and was read cover to cover by staff and their families. It covered promotions, weddings, births, gold watch presentations, retirements, details of suggestion box winners including their rewards and details of the suggestion and feature stories on employees. -What about the SUGGESTION BOX. These were located everywhere throughout the factories and the Administration offices. In my first few months I made a recommendation that the door of the mailing room should be sign written the same way as all the other doors and offices in the admin building in a classy gold leaf finish. It was like winning tatts when the suggestion box committee awarded me 3 pounds for my idea On the subject of publications there was another magazine produced at Fishermens Bend. It was called" POINTERS" and the editor was Alex Hillhouse, a fantastic person who I got very friendly with given his interest in fitness. Alex represented Australia in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in the 100 3

4 and 220 metre hurdles. This magazine was the voice of the Dealer organisation covering all the news from the Dealers. -There were two sets of rules when it came to SECURITY. Factory workers were required to have their hand baggage opened and inspected by the security guards as they departed their shift at the exit gate while white collar staff walked out the facilities with bags etc without any security inspection except occasionally company car operators other than Directors had their boot checked at the Guard House -STAFF DISCRIMINATION between factory and white collar EMPLOYEES was not restricted just to security checks and canteen facilities, but also staff discounts on products and Staff Parking. Senior executives were allowed to park inside the plant and in many cases pull up only 20 steps from their office while the further down the ladder of importance you were the further you got to walk to your work station in the four tier parking protocol for employees -Twenty pence was deducted from our weekly salary for membership in the GMH SOCIAL CLUB and not for one moment would anyone begrudge that contribution, as the social activities were many and varied. The big one was the annual black tie Ball at St Kilda town hall. The social club were also very active with sporting events such as golf days, social football matches and cricket games and the very popular squash team as well as a debating team of which my father was a keen member. -The other 60s version of Social media was the STAFF NOTICE BOARD where amongst many other information pieces was the most popular posting of all... the Staff Vacancies in various departments of the Organisation. -After enduring the torture of sweating the summer of and we finally started to see the installation of window mounted AIR CONDITIONING units. Fans gradually commenced their long awaited exit as the revelation of air conditioning units hit our hot offices in the mid 60s. -SMOKING. As a non-smoker when starting (and for life) I was in the minority of what I would estimate the 10% of the workforce who did not smoke. You were seen to be a little ' unusual' if you didn't smoke 40 cigarettes a day in the office, in the canteen, in the toilet, filling up your fuel tank in your car at the company bowsers and of course during every meeting. -The SLIDE RULE.My final memory dates me more than anything else above. It was the training I received when I joined the Sales Analysis after 3 months in the mailroom. There were 7 of us working in the Analysis 4

5 Department compiling all dealer sales from every location in Australia and preparing charts of GMH verses Ford, BMC, Rootes, Chrysler with only 3 huge big electric button calculators. The training I received was to operate a Slide Rule where you nearly required a pilot s licence to work these beasts, but they were a big part of my working life for at least the first 3 years As a mail boy you were an essential link in all the above communication processes. Things have changed a lot in the past 56 years at GMH / Holden headquarters in Fishermens Bend!! ****************** 5