Not work orientated, but your combination of college and cars reminded me. Back in the 80s, Leyland cars only had about 50 door/ignition keys - and you could buy replacements. One girl at school was given a secondhand mini by her parents as an 18th birthday present, and would proudly drive it...
Back in the old days, things that were done on a set timetable (such as standing orders and so on - it was a bank) were put on notecards and stored in a diary-style filing system. You'd get out the cards for that day and do whatever it was, then put it back in the diary system for the next...