1950s Office Etiquette and Social Rules

“Mopsy” explaining her office etiquette for when the wife of her boss dropped by.  Mopsy was a comic  strip by Gladys Parker, who was said to have created the character after herself and her mop-like head of hair. Parker was one of just a few female cartoonists of her era. The strip's run was over three decades, from its inception in 1937 through the 1960s.  

Q. & A. With Amy Vanderbilt…

Special Social Rules Apply In Business Office Conduct

Does business etiquette differ from social etiquette in regard to a gentleman's treatment of a lady? Yes, in many cases it does.

A subordinate woman employee, for example, usually rises if a top male executive approaches her desk to give her some instructions. She does not do this for her immediate superior, as it would mean she would be jumping up and down all the time. She rises for a superior woman executive, too, under the same circumstances – that is, if her desk is visited by a superior with whom she is not in constant contact. And she rises for an important client or customer of the firm to whom she is introduced, whether male or female.

Following is a question on office etiquette: 

“Dear Miss Vanderbilt: I am a secretary who works for two men. We all work in one office. Is it correct for my bosses to introduce me to an outside visitor? 

Recently we had a visitor from England who spent an afternoon with my bosses. He sat no more than three or four feet away from me I felt embarrassed at not being introduced, particularly when they left the room and I was alone with him. What do you think? -JM, Detroit, Mich.”

You should have been introduced to him. In a case like this, which concerns business, a subordinate woman worker is introduced to a male superior. Socially, of course, a man is always introduced to a woman. – By Amy Vanderbilt, November 1954

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia