My company was founded in 1977.

Not by me. (I didn’t get hired by CTP until 1981.) But that makes 2017 our 40th-anniversary year!

Whoot, whoot! Cue the confetti!

I confess to being a bit of a hoarder, particularly about sentimental or nostalgic things. I have a file drawer filled with stuff that’s marked: “SAVE: NOSTALGIA!”

But for every year that goes by, I realize that I’m more and more like a dinosaur. That would get no argument from my team who chuckle when they hear me in my office bemoaning logins, passwords, or Box.com. “There she goes again,” they say with just the slightest hint of condescension.

Following are a few recollections from Memory Lane . . .

Way back when, I used to attend meetings of an organization called Sales & Marketing Executives of Los Angeles. (I was a two-term President, in fact! Mostly because nobody else would do it.)  We had speaker after speaker making presentations to us about the future of technology – and this thing called the “world wide web.” I had a hard time grasping what they were talking about and I remember thinking that it was certainly nothing that my company would ever need.

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When I joined CTP in 1981, we had a massive box in the middle of the office which resembled a deep freezer (remember those?). This is how we used to process an airline ticket:

1. We’d look up air itineraries – using the 3-letter codes for the originating and destination airports – in a thick-as-a-phonebook (remember those?) publication that was mailed to us every month. It was our bible – the ARC (Airline Reporting Corporation) Manual.
2. We’d write down the all the flight details and the published airfare on special forms designed for this purpose.
3. When we were ready to issue a ticket, we’d call the airline (remember when there were real people working the phones at the airlines?), give them our ARC number, the passenger name and all the details of the flight we wanted. We’d tell them to issue the ticket.
4. Soon the “deep freezer” would rumble into action, printing onto multi-part ticket stock with red carbon backing. (Remember carbon paper?)
5. Every Friday, we had to reconcile the ARC report. We had to account for every ticket number (which were kept locked in a safe) and add up all the transactions on an adding machine tape.This report needed to be mailed and postmarked before Sunday. If we were ever off – for any reason – ARC could come down on us – mercilessly – and really cause a problem.

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Speaking of obsolete machines, can you identify what this is for?

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At the company’s 30th anniversary party (could it possibly have been 10 years ago?), we encouraged table-mates to take a quiz about events that happened in 1977:

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Do you remember when the designated smoking section on an airplane was the back 4-5 rows? No separation – not even a curtain! Back then there were no TSA security checkpoints, no fees for checked luggage and no charge for meals. You could even choose your entree! And there always were peanuts or pretzels!

Do you remember PanAm, Northwest Orient, Freddy Laker, TWA, Eastern, Western, PSA, National, Republic, Braniff . . .?

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Going back to memory lane wasn’t all fun and games. I perused some old correspondence that brought back painful memories of a certain employee who tried to sue me in the early 2000s for discrimination and wrongful termination. There are probably few business owners who don’t face this kind of situation at least once in their history. As I had nurtured, mentored and supported this young woman – even hosting her wedding in my backyard – it was especially painful for me. The good news is that after a lot of legal wrangling – during which I was represented by lawyers from my insurance company – she got next to nothing as a final settlement. (She seriously underestimated me!)

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So, if CTP is still around in 40 more years, will they look back and wonder how we ever managed to do business with ancient technology like TripAdvisor, Google or iPhones? Will there be a better way to transport ourselves from place to place than on an airplane slicing through the sky at 35,000 feet? Will unscrupulous employees still try to sue their employers for wrongful termination?

I wonder . . .

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