Thread by @PulpLibrarian

Today in pulp... I work from home!

In 1976...

Now the good news is the office of 1976 has everything you need to be productive: lever arch files, a tea lady, Players No 6 King Size etc.

So now the bad news: how am I going to replicate this at home?

Well first up I'm going to need a home office, which means heading straight to IKEA! Alas they only have children's desks in stock in 1976, so instead I'm going for a sturdy coffee table and a striped sofa.

It'll do.

A phone is of course a business essential, and in 1976 there is only one choice for the modern professional: the rotary trimphone! Futuristic, funky and with a pleasant trill when it rings.

And of course being an executive in 1976 I have my own home phone line, rather than sharing a 'party line' with the neighbors!

I'll need an answering machine of course, and the 1976 Phone Butler looks easy to set up. Better use a C90 cassette though: my co-workers do like to yackety-yack!

Another home office must have is a pop-up telephone index book. Just dial the appropriate letter and - pop - the cover flies open and displays an index card with all your key numbers: mum, Woolworths, Rumbelows, Bernie Inn, etc...

Now in 1976 home computing was in its infancy, and unlike America my company can't provide me with a swish IBM 5100 to work from. Weighing just 50lb it's the latest in portable computing and very versatile - just ask John Titor!

So I'm going to need a typewriter, which is fortunate because that's what most office workers are used to in 1976.

And I have my eye on one model in particular...

...the brand new Olivetti Lexikon 82! Stylish, electric and portable I still think it's one of the prettiest machines they ever made!

Just listen to it...

No home photocopier for me in 1976: instead it's good old carbon paper for all those CCs. Careful you don't get it on your fingers.

And speaking of smudging ink I'm playing it safe with a cheap and cheerful Stypen for signing all my documents. It's made in Cumberland you know!

Of course working from home I'm going to need plenty of stamps! Hopefully I can claim them back on expenses: those halfpennies all add up.

As it's 1976, and I'm an executive, I must of course have an electronic calculator - the more expensive the better. And I know what I want...

The Sinclair Sovereign. Discrete and luxurious it uses tiny button batteries to power its many functions: add, subtract, multiply and divide. I'm going for the silver version rather than the gaudy gold plated one - after all I'm not a vulgarian!

The Queen may have sent her first email in 1976, but as I'm not on the ARPANET my online activities are rather more limited. I do have one advanced networked technology though...

Ceefax! All the latest news and information at the touch of a button through my TV.

Tell them how it works Ian Morton Smith...

So that's homeworking sorted for 1976. Except... it's the year of the heatwave, and I don't plan to be stuck indoors whilst the sun's shining! So I'll do what any good executive does. Delegate.

More business advice another time...