I am not sure if the good old days you describe were really that good. Or
rather, I am pretty sure they were awful.
At our office we have several social clubs: the ski club Avalanche, the wine
club Bacchus, etc. The ski club organizes trips to ski resorts in Sierra Nevada
and Andorra, the wine club has a monthly wine tasting like the one tonight. It
starts at 6 pm, usually it is a wine merchant or producer who comes to show its
wines to an audience of well-paid winos. Afterwards, we eat and finish the
bottles. It is all very Mediterranean and very civilized.
Thanks for looking!
Nathan
On 22 Apr, 2010, at 23:48 , Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> I have to smile when I see something like a "wine tasting at our
> office". I started working for IBM in 1965 when the company (at least
> in the US) could rightfully be called a "tee-totaler". Even serving
> alcohol at a company sponsored social function (let alone the office)
> was totally verboten. It was different in Europe and elsewhere but it
> remained that way in the US at IBM facilities until I retired in 1995.
> But at least it had softened to the point of serving beer or wine at
> social functions sometime, IIRC, in the 80s.
>
> I still have very vivid memories of attending an awards ceremony in a
> large hotel in New York City about 1974. The speaker was an IBM
> vice-president everyone called "Buck" Rodgers. Before Buck arrived the
> hotel decided to open a cash bar in the back of the dining room. When
> Buck arrived he strode immediately to the podium, pointed at the cash
> bar and said: "If this is an IBM function you'd better close that bar.
> If this is not an IBM function I have better things to do." Needless to
> say, the bar was closed down immediately.
>
> The reason that IBM was a tee-totaling company was that the founder, Tom
> Watson Sr., was a tee-totaler. My father-in-law (an IBM'er also
> starting from the late 30s) used to tell me that in the 1920s (when IBM
> was still very small and had no facilities outside of Endicott, NY) Tom
> Sr. used to review the employee's canceled pay checks. If he found one
> that had been cashed in a bar he'd fire the guy.
>
> I have many more stories like that but no way to tell if they're really
> urban legend. Ah, the good ol' days.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
>
> Nathan Wajsman wrote:
>> We have had some conversations about bokeh on both the Leica and
>> Olympus lists recently, so today's picture from a wine tasting at our
>> office seems a propos:
>>
>> http://www.greatpix.eu/Other/Picture-A-Day/4253606_netUM#844840551_byxLv-O-LB
>>
>>
>> The wine was from Catalunya, from the mountains near Andorra, and was
>> absolutely fantastic.
>>
>> Nathan
>>
>> Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu
>> http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com
>>
>> Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0
>> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Image licensing:
>> http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman Blog:
>> http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog
>>
>>
>>
>>
> --
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
>
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Image licensing: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog
--
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