Dollond and Aitchison - Congratulations, You've Got the Job!

Dollond and Aitchison - Congratulations, You've Got the Job!

*special thanks to jay strange for this gem

Sometime back in the 1970s, if you were hired to be a receptionist at Dollond and Aitchison, a UK (United Kingdom) chain specializing in eye glasses and eye tests, you were given this record to listen to as your orientation to working for this company. A male narrator is your guide throughout this record which may or may not be interesting since you were most likely a young female if you had the job of receptionist back then. This narrator explains how customer service is done in the company and a little bit about the company's background. Several work situations are played out depicting examples of what not to do and how to correctly handle the situation.

I was told by jay that companies in the UK often made orientation records although most of them were 7 inches and very few 12-inch records were produced by companies. This is one of those 12-inch records. These records were made apparently before everybody could afford the technology to produce orientation videos which is the norm now.

The founding of Dollond and Aitchison dates all the way back to 1750(!) as a company founded by Peter Dollond as Dollond & Co. In 1927, Dollond & Co. merged with Aitchison & Co. which was founded by James Aitchison in 1889. In 2009, Boots Opticians merged with Dollond and Aitchison which Boots bought a controlling share in D&A. D&A/Boots are one of the four big companies that have around a 70% share in the eyeglasses and contact lenses market in the UK.

If it's cool to have vinyl now at least according to the hipsters, it would be cool if some enterprise produced an orientation to working on vinyl. That would send a message that the company is cool meaning the cool kids want to work there and/or buy its products and services. If I owned a company, that's what I would do. Forget the orientation video on DVD and VHS. Since I have been wearing glasses since childhood, of course, I would choose to own an optical company. (Now you can tell how this record resonates with me.) I know something about the glasses market and I am a customer of optical stores so I know the mindset of the customer base. Anyway, I think I need all the help I can get attracting the cool kids (to increase market share) since I am uncool and unhip. I bet this record once stodgy years ago is now cool.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Congratulations, You've Got the Job! {13:44}

Side 2

1. Congratulations, You've Got the Job! continued {13:13}