u/A-J-A-D

I read this book as far back as the 1970s-80s, and it probably wasn't new then. A man (in a bar?) is complaining to a main character (also male) about how companies don't keep employees any more, how back in his day you could expect to go to work for a company at, say, fifteen and get a gold watch after fifty years. It was a serious book for adults, but I can't remember any more about it.