Not The Write Type For This Role

This happened several decades ago when I was in my early twenties and working for a small accountancy firm that prepared clients’ accounts. The two-partner firm needed a typist. It was an important job as both letters and sets of accounts needed typing; very few firms then had computers. Letters were done on good-quality paper, and no white correction fluid was used as these letters were seen as ‘silent ambassadors” showing the professionalism of the company.

I heard that we had a new girl starting as a typist and filing role in the office and that she had worked for one of our clients, a groundworks firm (a company using mechanical diggers to prepare the ground for new construction), for two years since she had left school.

The girl started the job, and on her first day, she typed her first letter. I really mean her first letter. She typed slowly, using two fingers! She had never typed before. Not once during her interview with the partners had she said she couldn’t type, and neither of the partners had thought to ask her whether she could do the job she was applying for. As she had worked previously for a client of ours, one of the partners would also have spoken to the groundworks company about her, and the question of whether she could type was never mentioned.

She didn’t last after a few weeks, and I’m sure the first question asked in the interview for her replacement was, “Have you ever used a typewriter?”