Thanks to my special powers, I know it's more or less Buttertubs' birthday, some time around now. And that it's a very special one!

Happy birthday. Remember 40 is the new 30.

I don't have much to give by way of a present, but here're small collection of Argos catalogues I stole from a Guardian article found in a box at the back of the cupboard.

1975-76



1976-77



1978-79



1979-80



1980-81



1981-82



1982-83



1983-84



1984-85



1985-86



1986-87



1987-88



1988-89



1990-91



1995-96



1997-98



1999-2000

I love how the first two genuinely look like charity shops.

They liked their Dunhill lighters didn't they?

I think I was totally unaware of the existence of Argos until the 1990s.

I on the other hand was aware of it from its inception, when the Green Shield place turned into it.

I don't think I went into one until I actually got a job there - working in the stockroom of the Shepherds Bush branch in 1989.

I still didn't really know how the shopping experience was supposed to work even though I was collecting the orders and putting them on the conveyor belt.

I got fired for showing a lack of enthusiasm.

In 1989.

I can smell those Argos catalogues right now.

I do believe it has been a certain person's birthday in the past few days.

Happy birthday.

Nightjar wrote:

I don't think I went into one until I actually got a job there - working in the stockroom of the Shepherds Bush branch in 1989.

I still didn't really know how the shopping experience was supposed to work even though I was collecting the orders and putting them on the conveyor belt.

I got fired for showing a lack of enthusiasm.

In 1989.

It was a department store of dreams, in three or four relatively easy steps. Fill out the codes, have the codes approved at one till, move on to pay at another and get a number, wait to be called. Not a hint of a smile would ever be returned by a staff member. If you were buying something heavy and taking a few seconds to work out how to pick it up they’d shout helpful things like ‘MOVE’.

I dread to think how lacking in enthusiasm or charm you’d have to be to actually get fired.

Charm?

Who mentioned charm?

I suppose that’s correct. You can be ruthlessly efficient but charmless (Argos) or charming but useless (you in retail). You might’ve been better suited to one of the antique shops in Kensington Church Street, occasionally deigning to look up to see if the person ringing the bell was worth letting in, and invariably deciding no. A world of charm awaits the lucky few in the market for a side table that Empress Meishō used for tea ceremonies.

Did anyone else used to draw floor plans, and then cut out all the furniture, hifi, and labour saving appliances they wanted from Argos when they grew up (hence my needing two copies of the latest catalogue), Pritt Sticking it into its best place onto the floor plans.

Then a separate box, to represent a safe, at the side with all the jewellery you’d want/need for adult life that had been cut out from the same?

Before sitting back and admiring all the things you’d have. You used to get these big A1 or A2 white card/paper sheets which were ideal.

Hours of satisfaction pre-internet.

I used to jazz it up with more upmarket things cut out from airline magazines, holiday brochures (the James ones were my favourites - always lovely villas with gorgeous pools to do a collage for the ‘garden’), and wallpaper samples from shops.

I never did that.

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:

I never did that.

Oh. You don’t know all the fun you missed.

Actually I needed three catalogues (two to cut up, and you needed two in case there was something on the other side of the same page the first cut had ruined), and one actual one to remain intact for the household.