I genuinely do not know what people did to look busy all the time before the internet.

No kidding!! I remember playing a lot of free cell, at one point...

I haven't always worked in offices, but when I have I was usually actually busy. There was always filing or something to be done. Or it was understood that reading on the job was okay.

I think if I had a full hour allotted for lunch I would be more likely to take it away from my desk. Half an hour isn't really enough time to go to a restaurant and get served, or run errands or whatever. Half an hour is what we are legally entitled to (10 minutes paid break after 2 hours, half-hour unpaid after 4 hours unless the full day will be less than 6 hours, and another 10 minutes paid break two hours after lunch IIRC. I should make more of an effort to take those 10 minute breaks)

No kidding!! I remember playing a lot of free cell, at one point...

Yep. Or solitaire.

I got really good at hitting Alt-Tab very quickly back then.

On another note entirely - pomegranate seeds in spinach salad, does that sound good? Does the presence of blue cheese make a difference to your answer?

Why is it that whenever I go to the post office, I'm behind people who aren't familiar with mail? There was one woman who handed the clerk a pile of things to find out what it would cost to mail them, then occupied about a quarter of a tiny post office stuffing piles of things into about 10 priority envelopes. Another woman handed the clerk a letter and an envelope. The clerk handed them back and told her to put the letter in the envelope. Then she was trying to seal the envelope by licking her finger and then wetting the glue, until the clerk couldn't stand it anymore and took it away from her.

I could not do that job.

Not annoyed enough to say it twice.

Why is it that whenever I go to the post office, I'm behind people who aren't familiar with mail?

My boss complains about that. He was once stuck behind someone who did not address the package he was trying to mail because he had no idea how to do it.

I worked in publishing before the internet, and there was *always* a manuscript to read. Or a book I wanted to read, hidden behind a manuscript. I do remember a lot of talking and laughing with coworkers, though.

I was once in the post office behind someone who had a box they were mailing. Somehow, they put the "to" address in small letters in the upper left hand corner and the "from" in larger letters in the center. There was also the time I was behind some people who were - as far as I could tell - sending their entire library to Hawaii. They literally brought in a handtruck piled high with boxes of books.

You think people know how to function at the post office less since e-mail?