For me, the first noticeable encroachment of bleakness was when we stopped having offices and started having to work in cubes.

My dad had a private office, and his secretary had one too. Both offices looked out over a lake, and were large rooms. My dad had an informal sofa area by the window, and the secretary's office was slightly less grand but still had plenty of space. He earned about the same as me inflation adjusted. His secretary obviously far less, though they both got a gold-plated final salary pension on top.

What are the chances of that happening today for anyone not in the C-suite?

I never had a private office until I started working from home. My pension comes out of my salary and all the risk of markets falling etc falls on my shoulders.

Looking at the early scenes in the matrix, I think it must be nice to have a little cubicle, rather than the hot desk situation we have now

My first few white collar jobs were miserable experiences - stress, temperamental bosses, lack of agency, etc. It got better but that took years of effort, at which point I was already thinking about leanFIRE, compelled by AI (this back in 2018) and climate concerns.

You mean the 80s?

I also miss smoking my pipe in the office, surrounded by rich mahogany.