Historical Deep Dive - "Video Game Crash" Pay Stubs (paystubs)
Hi Everyone!
I haven't posted in some time, so I hope you all are well. I'm back looking for some help from the community! I tried reaching out to AtariAge, but to no avail, so I'm hoping my Nintendo Community colleagues might provide some insight.
I'm here because I recently found an interesting trio of items, and I'm hoping to learn more if anyone knows more. These are Atari employee pay stubs from '82-'83, which include a regular pay stub, severance package stub and a "sick bonus" stub which I'm assuming was a PTO payout of some kind.
These are interesting enough on their own, but what makes them even more unusual is the fact that they came from right around the time of the crash. Even more unusual is that the "severance" stub was from '82 and the others from '83, possibly meaning that this employee was terminated in '82 and brought back to work in '83 only to be met again with termination most likely due to the crash.
That's about as much as I know about these, hence my reason for starting this post. I can't find any information on the employee (name is in the photo). I don't know anything on the timeline of this person's employment besides the tale the stubs tell. Did/Do any of you possibly know her, or recognize these? Any information you all may know would be appreciated. I'd love to know more about this person's story if it's out there.
Thanks in advance!
OldStuffJunkie
Comments
Even if it's a little tidbit of info. Thanks for any help!
I don't know, something just seems weird about having another person's pay stubs. Personally, if someone had my pay stubs, I would be kinda pissed because what I make (or made) is none of anybody's business regardless of what organization I was associated with. On top of that, pay stubs can have sensitive information. I have no clue how you would get a hold of the person who this belongs to other than doing something like a facebook search. The only issue is that it seems like it would be a common name. I guess one place to start would be to question who you got these from, and just work your way back.
Hey thanks for your reply! I did inquire about the source and it was direct from the employee herself, along with a bunch of other Atari-related items she was selling. Unfortunately there's an extra degree of separation, though, so I'm filtering through a couple people to get some more info.
I figured maybe with some luck, a member here might have been a former employee around that same time, or maybe even knew her personally.
And I agree, this is a very weird set of items, but that's the stuff I specialize in. Don't judge me too much lol.
EDIT: P.S. Just saw your edit regarding the privacy concerns. Rest assured, these were sold by the employee themselves. They were not acquired through any nefarious means. I'll also note that I took care to redact anything that appeared to be highly sensitive. Regarding the revelation of compensation, I respect your position on this. That said, if the employee did not want that information out there, they would not have actively turned their personal property into a collector's item. We don't have to agree on that point, I just want to be clear that I'm not going out of my way to harm another person.
One thing, I might suggest obscuring her name in the images. Just so some crazy doesn't decide to go on their OWN scavenger hunt.
Hi there! My reason for leaving the name unobscured was to see if anyone recognized it. That said, I understand your point.
If there is an insistance from the community that this information be further redacted, I'll oblige.
One thing, I might suggest obscuring her name in the images. Just so some crazy doesn't decide to go on their OWN scavenger hunt.
Then that defeats the purpose of tracking her down then!
I don't know, something just seems weird about having another person's pay stubs. Personally, if someone had my pay stubs, I would be kinda pissed because what I make (or made) is none of anybody's business regardless of what organization I was associated with. On top of that, pay stubs can have sensitive information. I have no clue how you would get a hold of the person who this belongs to other than doing something like a facebook search. The only issue is that it seems like it would be a common name. I guess one place to start would be to question who you got these from, and just work your way back.
EDIT: P.S. Just saw your edit regarding the privacy concerns. Rest assured, these were sold by the employee themselves. They were not acquired through any nefarious means. I'll also note that I took care to redact anything that appeared to be highly sensitive. Regarding the revelation of compensation, I respect your position on this. That said, if the employee did not want that information out there, they would not have actively turned their personal property into a collector's item. We don't have to agree on that point, I just want to be clear that I'm not going out of my way to harm another person.
I'm not saying to stop, if it was sold by the person on the stub, that kind of changes my opinion on it, at that point its fair game. I was just saying, that if it was obtained through illegitimate means, it would probably not be a good to do it. I just wanted to point that out, not necessarily objecting or anything.
Other than that, I dunno. I was born around this time, so I have no clue what went on during all that. You could try and find someone who worked at Atari's CA office, but that's not gonna be easy since it was a big company that housed hundreds if not thousands of employees.
For me, I'm all about the history and backstory. If there is one, especially given the significant dates on these, I'm anxious to know it!
Well, the net pay and the months do tend to match when they laid off a lot of people at Atari and started to move production overseas. https://www.landley.net/history/m...
Other than that, I dunno. I was born around this time, so I have no clue what went on during all that. You could try and find someone who worked at Atari's CA office, but that's not gonna be easy since it was a big company that housed hundreds if not thousands of employees.
Thanks for the link! Yeah the timeline seems to match up, but the odd timing of the "severance" stub is what really makes this person's story unusual. I knew this was a longshot, but hopefully someone can help me put the pieces together.
I thought I had struck historic gold with this link: http://www.jmargolin.com/history/adir83.txt
They posted the 1983 phone directory of the Atari corporate office, but the date is November, which is sadly just outside the timeframe of when this person was possibly employed there. Unfortunate dead end, but maybe there's another one of these somewhere for 1982.
Well, the net pay and the months do tend to match when they laid off a lot of people at Atari and started to move production overseas. https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/atari/museum/Atari-Ti...
Other than that, I dunno. I was born around this time, so I have no clue what went on during all that. You could try and find someone who worked at Atari's CA office, but that's not gonna be easy since it was a big company that housed hundreds if not thousands of employees.
Thanks for the link! Yeah the timeline seems to match up, but the odd timing of the "severance" stub is what really makes this person's story unusual. I knew this was a longshot, but hopefully someone can help me put the pieces together.
I thought I had struck historic gold with this link: http://www.jmargolin.com/history/...
They posted the 1983 phone directory of the Atari corporate office, but the date is November, which is sadly just outside the timeframe of when this person was possibly employed there. Unfortunate dead end, but maybe there's another one of these somewhere for 1982.
It may not be a dead end, you have to look to the agnatic side of things. Meaning she may have still been employeed during that time, but she could've have her last named changed. So it's not out the realm of possibility.
Well, the net pay and the months do tend to match when they laid off a lot of people at Atari and started to move production overseas. https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/atari/museum/Atari-Ti...
Other than that, I dunno. I was born around this time, so I have no clue what went on during all that. You could try and find someone who worked at Atari's CA office, but that's not gonna be easy since it was a big company that housed hundreds if not thousands of employees.
Thanks for the link! Yeah the timeline seems to match up, but the odd timing of the "severance" stub is what really makes this person's story unusual. I knew this was a longshot, but hopefully someone can help me put the pieces together.
I thought I had struck historic gold with this link: http://www.jmargolin.com/history/adir83.txt
They posted the 1983 phone directory of the Atari corporate office, but the date is November, which is sadly just outside the timeframe of when this person was possibly employed there. Unfortunate dead end, but maybe there's another one of these somewhere for 1982.
It may not be a dead end, you have to look to the agnatic side of things. Meaning she may have still been employeed during that time, but she could've have her last named changed. So it's not out the realm of possibility.
Yup, and that's the other seriously confounding part of this story. She absolutely could have changed her name. There's ONE "Barbara J" in that list with a different last name, but there's no way for me to know if it's her.
Others might not agree but since it's a critical piece of data we keep for our entire lives and this doc has about all that you need for identity theft, I'd find a way to permanently obscure that number in an unrecoverable manner.
Just my two-cents, even though I can about condition considerably, if I acquired these in a legit manner, even directly from the person on the pay stub, I'd probably take a hole punch to 2-3 digits of the SSN.
Others might not agree but since it's a critical piece of data we keep for our entire lives and this doc has about all that you need for identity theft, I'd find a way to permanently obscure that number in an unrecoverable manner.
^This. Doesn't even necessarily have to be a hole punch, but rather a pitch black permanent marker to cover that up.
Just my two-cents, even though I can about condition considerably, if I acquired these in a legit manner, even directly from the person on the pay stub, I'd probably take a hole punch to 2-3 digits of the SSN.
Others might not agree but since it's a critical piece of data we keep for our entire lives and this doc has about all that you need for identity theft, I'd find a way to permanently obscure that number in an unrecoverable manner.
Hi RLH! I reviewed these thoroughly before posting, and even redacted what appeared to be a sensitive piece of data (even though it wasn't anything, likely internal recordkeeping info). Am I missing something, or is there actual sensitive information still visible in the photo?
However, if you could verify she was deceased because you picked these up from a family memer (just as an example), I'd probably not consider it worth changing.
I won't be posting the full image at any time, so there should be no concerns. Additionally, the information I redacted was mixed with letters, so they are likely not anything sensitve, but I did it just in case. Thanks for looking out!
very interesting collector item. do you have anything else to go with it? like a lock of the employees hair or family photos?
Lol totally. I have a lab running DNA matching right now in fact.
I take it you object to this being posted?
Just my two-cents, even though I can about condition considerably, if I acquired these in a legit manner, even directly from the person on the pay stub, I'd probably take a hole punch to 2-3 digits of the SSN.
Others might not agree but since it's a critical piece of data we keep for our entire lives and this doc has about all that you need for identity theft, I'd find a way to permanently obscure that number in an unrecoverable manner.
^This. Doesn't even necessarily have to be a hole punch, but rather a pitch black permanent marker to cover that up.
I thought that but considering printers of that era, it might still be readable. Looks like it was printed using a Dot Matrix, which might have left impressions for each number. We are a bit im the weeds though, considering OP said it wasn’t an SSN he blocked out.
I'm guessing she was in HR, accounting, or some non-programming position since Google doesn't say anything?
That's gonna be a tough one. Even if you did find somebody that was an Atari employee at the time, there's no guarantee they would know this lady.
I'm guessing she was in HR, accounting, or some non-programming position since Google doesn't say anything?
I thought the same, maybe an administrative position of some kind considering the rate of pay and their odd tenure.
Yeah, Google was not helpful at all in this case, which confounded me even further. I'm throwing out a line, a hope and a prayer on this one. AtariAge has been no help unfortunately, but it's still early. Thanks for all your responses here!
Still pretty cool items!
Thanks! Yeah these were a first of their kind for me.