A Person out of Time...

[seawasp]

Over on the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written, a poster postulated the following:

"Take a guy from the 50s and drop him into a new car and he'll almost certainly be able to drive to the same sort of office he knew and perform the same sort of sales job, just like he's used to doing.  All that's substantially changed is computers, which he'd probably be quickly be able to learn just as well (aka, poorly) as people do these days."

My reaction to this -- and that of several other posters -- was "what are you smoking?"

In my opinion, drop a guy (in sales or marketing) from the 1950s into a 2013 model car, cold, he'll have a hell of a time figuring out how to work the CAR, let alone drive to work. And he'll be utterly at sea with respect to doing his work. As far as I can make out, sales and marketing jobs today are *LIGHTYEARS* different from those done 60 years ago. He'll be having to deal with things ranging from the startlingly annoying ("What do you mean, I can't smoke at my desk?") to the potentially career-ending-in-one-day ("What's wrong, toots? I slapped your ass, sure, it's a nice ass, take it as a compliment, babe!") to the incomprehensible ("Why is there a skinny TV on my desk? Where's my Rolodex? What happened to my PHONE?")


So, fellow readers... what would YOU think will happen to Mr. 1950 Dagwood Bumstead or even Freddy Fastlane salesman/marketer when he steps into his car and finds... he's in the year 2013?

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

So, fellow readers... what would YOU think will happen to Mr. 1950 Dagwood Bumstead or even Freddy Fastlane salesman/marketer when he steps into his car and finds... he's in the year 2013?

"Oh I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't realize a little bitty car like this would accelerate like that! Let me just get untangled from this bag-thing that popped up -- hey, what happened to your trunk? And my engine? I was only going ten, fifteen miles an hour, tops!"

"I'm sorry, officer, why did you pull me over ... huh? What's a seat-belt?"

"Why are there six cigarette lighter sockets but no lighter and no ash-tray in this pile of plastic junk?"

[kengr]

Clothes may be a shock. Especially what teenagers are wearing. His brain may explode before he even gets to work.

Filling up at the gas station "What's a debit card?"

Picturing him trying to figure out the radio.

"What do you mean the speed limit on the freeway is 55?!"

More career enders: the co-worker talking about their same-sex partner. Or the one who's trans.

Heck, the black or asian coworkers.

Oh god, his reaction to the *President*!

and unless he's selling dish soap or food, he likely won't understand the products. "What's an MP3 player and why would anyone care how many giggle-bites it has?"

Even with food or soap he'd have problems. "Heart-Healthy? Omega-3?" "Why are we saying the soap is green? It's *orange*!"

The ad copy that talks down to the "little woman" if it's a household product.

And if he's doing floor sales the number of complaints he'll get regarding the way he talks to almost everybody.

[kengr]

"I'm sorry, officer, why did you pull me over ... huh? What's a seat-belt?"

We had seatbelts in our car back in 1958 or 59.

Then again, on many cars he won't even be able to *start* it. "Why is it beeping? And what's that funny picture that's flashing on the dashboard?" (the seat belt icon).

And even if he was familiar with seat belts, the shoulder hardness is a whole different thing.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

"This is a phone? No handset. Doesn't even have a dial!"

"Dagwood wants a Rolodex? What's a Rolodex? Where's my little black book?"

"That's an oven in the lounge? Where's the coffeepot? Put a paper cup in the oven?!?"

Manager: "Look, if I have to train someone from the 50s, can't it at least be Dick Tracy?"

[kengr]

Obviously the original poster has never done tech support. Or had to train people who've never used a computer.

Heck, the lack of a dial (if he even has a desk phone).

And even if he survives the first bit, and starts to internalize the "weird" new rules about behavior, he's gonna get a real shock if he tries something and then pulls the "what are you gonna do? It's your word against mine." and gets confronted with cell phone pics, video or even just audio recordings.

cubicle farms will be a shock if he's an "in the office" type. Not a bit like the old row after row of desks. Mind you, in some ways, that'll be a good shock. In others it may encourage him to bad habits, not realizing how the bosses can track his activity (number of calls per hour, call lengths, etc)

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Huh -- on digging, it turns out that seatbelts were optional equipment on Nash (from 1949) and Ford (from 1955); the first manufacturer to ship them as standard, though, was Volvo in 1958.

So he might have known what one was, but would probably (Mr 1950 here) never have owned a car fitted with them.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

If he's got a car with the key-that's-not-really-a-key (as is increasingly common over here) he's not even going to be able to start the thing. Possibly not even get into it.

I don't think the physical mechanics of driving once you get the car started are too much different.

Lord help him if he runs out of petrol, though and has to figure out how to open the cap.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I just want to say how much I love the phrase "giggle-bites"

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think my Dad (born 1924, died 2003) would have done a little better than that. For one thing he was an FCC engineer, so he would have at least have an inkling of the possibilities of an electronic computer and touch tone phone. (and he was married to my Mom, the ex-Marine, so treating women with due deference was an ingrained survival trait)

The car though... "Where's the shift pedal?!"

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I'm not actually convinced that he'd recognize the monitor as a TV unless it was turned on, and maybe not even then. It's in color!

[odanu.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the first time he 'flirts' with the 'secretary' (who is actually the head of Marketing) he'll be out on his ass in a hurry. It's the social conventions that will really trip him up.

[fengi.livejournal.com]

In terms of essential operation structure, Cars have changed very little. The internal engineering, some design aspects and additional features have evolved, but the position of ignition key, steering wheel, pedals and turn signals were all established by 1950, including automatic transmission as an option. What confuses 1950s guy would be just a bit more than someone using an unfamiliar car.

If Dagwood was a car mechanic, the decades he missed would leave him barely functional but it would be a lack of current knowledge rather than not knowing where to start.

User interfaces tend to evolve in a coherent fashion. The computer may be a huge leap, but Qwerty is 150 year old. I think 1950s guy might struggle to master new devices and be more astounded by them, but the feeling might linger longer than the ability.

On the other hand, I've dealt with a 30 year old who could barely use an iPhone because it wasn't exactly like whatever device he was used to. Some people mentally reject change no matter how immersed they are. That, however, is a timeless human failing rather than 60 years of change.

Now, each decade prior to 1950 increases the likelihood of inchorence, because so much modern standard practices and technologies were still being decided. Those from before autos became the dominant mode of transit would be overwhelmed for sure.

I agree the thesis conflates the ability to adjust to technology with cultural changes. I can imagine 50s guy having problems with new social conventions, but less with office manners as the changes to time, personal interaction and functionality. I can see him being completely stumped by having to write his own emails, make his own appointments, replying within hours or minutes, fulfilling orders the next day and making sales to basically faceless others and having to make a persuasive argument in a single sentence.

[fengi.livejournal.com]

Automatic transmission was introduced in 1940 and by 1950 were a standard option. They were used in tanks during WWII and advertised as battle tested. I learned on a shift, the transition was unsettling for a day at most.

[fengi.livejournal.com]

What? This guy is from the 1950s, not brain damaged. Using a device which fits into the same place a key goes is not going to be difficult. Nor is figuring out a latch release - at least no more than anyone who has to use a car where certain switches and latches are in unfamiliar places.

Reading these comments, I think people are relying on "fish out of water" movie cliches instead of actual history and human behavior.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

There is no physical slot for the key to a lot of modern cars. It's a tag that just physically needs to be in the car when you press the button on the dashboard. (My ex-GF keeps hers in her purse and I think my Dad keeps his in his pocket).

And eventually you'll find the latch release if you think to look for it. And possibly be able to turn the cap if you think to press in once you've release the cover.

It won't be impossible, but it'll be difficult.

I *think* you can manually adjust the wing mirrors, but not well.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

He'd probably heard horror stories about people being stuck in them and drowning/burning after a crash... there was a lot of bad info out among the driving public back in the '50s on safe driving practices.

-- Steve recently heard his Mom complaining about how easily fenders got crumpled these days, not really understanding the concept of "crumple zone".

[dewline.livejournal.com]

People were playing the "Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt" card on seat belts back then?

Wouldn't surprise me, as people were playing that card when I was a kid, too. Only about 10-15 years' difference.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

His reaction to items 5 thru 7 may depend on what sort of closet(s) he himself might have had to hide in back in 1958.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Detective Tracy was at least forward-thinking in technological terms.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

cars
where is the choke?
how to you trip the reserve tank?
the key goes in the dash, and where is the AM/FM radio?

office
men dont type, where is my secretary to take dictation?
honey, I like my coffee black.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember the source but I saw a long list of bad driving habits people talked about in the '50s; the "trapped in a wreck" thing started then (and was regurgitated in the '70s,), the "one for the road" to "loosen you up" and drive more calmly, the protective powers of a heavy, rigid chassis... they really didn't allow physics, medicine, and/or statistics to intrude into the domain of driving back then.

-- Steve misses the esthetic of that era's cars, a little bit anyway, but the rest can go hang.

[moth-wingthane.livejournal.com]

I think a lot will depend on the guy picked as well. Pick the 50's equivalent of a tech-nerd and he'd probably fare better than the average. Either way, I'm sure there will be things he understands, things he doesn't and plenty he'll pick up quickly. Either way though, I'd like to be a fly-on-the-wall and see how he gets on. I suspect the thing he'd find hardest to adjust to is the modern-day interpersonal relationship in the office; everything being quick and as impersonal as possible isn't something that many would like, I'm sure.

[kateshort.livejournal.com]

Depending on the model, he could be okay with a car. If it's a key start and not a push-button start, probably could figure it out eventually once it got started and in gear. If it's a push-button start or one of those where you push somewhere on the outside mirror to open the door, then he's screwed.

I think the biggest drawback right off the bat in the actual office would be email and the web. It's one thing to watch a movie or television. It's another to have to type Boolean search terms into Google or Yahoo and to have to get the email address exactly right for whomever it is you're sending something to.

Outside of the physical office, I think the next most difficult thing would be the smartphone. It's part computer, part radio, part telephone, but it is very much unlike any of those from the preceding eras. I've had mine for a year and a half and I still have trouble remembering how to access some of my apps. :P

[kateshort.livejournal.com]

I agree with that-- I have an Android Samsung Galaxy smartphone and I can't figure out the iPhone. Or most apple products. :P

[dsrtao]

If he was in The War, he may have driven a jeep or a truck in the Army.

Guess what? Push-button or flip-switch ignition, no keys.

(Because if you need that vehicle now, you need it now, not after you sort through the pockets of the driver on the side of the road.)