A few Insco stories that didn’t fit anywhere else
Henry
In my layman’s opinion, Henry offers a good example of what stress, competitive pressure and overwork can do to a brilliant mind. Henry was a proud member of Mensa who also played chess and bridge competitively.
He was also a talented programmer, and late one summer night he was summoned to work to solve a production problem. He arrived wearing flip-flops, a bathing suit and a bathrobe, probably what he was wearing when the phone rang.
A guard who went to check on him found him at play in the second-floor men’s room. He had filled the sinks, and was splashing in them like a child, scooping water from one to the next.
His family got him into the Carrier Clinic, a well-regarded behavioral-health hospital. Friends who visited him during what he called his “vacation” reported he was feeling fine, and in few weeks he was back at work, with a reduced workload.
Sunny
The company hired a records clerk who was flashy and sexy and wore short skirts. The men loved her, the women not so much. Someone, probably a fellow female, gave her a nickname that I won’t repeat here. It wasn’t dirty, it was just mean. Let’s call her Sunny, that’s a nice nickname.
When Sunny was hired, space was short, and she had to double up in a cubicle with my friend Fran, who formed an instant dislike. Fran tried to engage me in an anti-Sunny discussion, trying to get a rise out of me, trying to get me on her side.
Fran (to me): She’s not a lady, you know.
Me: (Silence)
Fran: You know how I know?
Me: (Silence)
Fran: She lifts her leg to fart!
As for the other women “seeming” to dislike Sunny, she once exited the ladies’ room with her skirt tucked into the back of her pantyhose and her butt showing, and none of them said a word.
Maddie
During the search for new branch-office computers, I was promoted to head up a new unit, which meant the unit and I rated our own secretary. This would be a one-person net increase in the site’s secretary count. The woman in charge of managing secretaries wanted to assign me one, a sweet girl named Maddie, but I wanted to interview more-experienced candidates from the outside world. I did eventually hire someone from outside, and I apologize to Maddie, who was next in line for a promotion, for causing her to miss out.
Sandy
Sandy was a computer operator and a breath of fresh air. When the evening shift began at four o’clock, she’d send a message to everyone on the system, “Hi, anybody need a tape mounted or anything?” She was super helpful and pleasant, and instead of replying “OK” to requests, she charmed us with a happy “OKEYDOKEY”.
Carl
Carl was also a computer operator. If you didn’t know him, he could be scary. Carl was a deaf mute, but not entirely deaf and not entirely mute.
Programmers brought jobs to be run to the computer room, filled out a ticket, and left the deck of punch cards on the job table. When your job finished, Carl would phone you to come and get your output. As I said, Carl could hear a little bit, and when he heard your phone pick up, he did his best to say “Your job is done.” We all knew Carl ‘s voice, so there was no mistaking the message. In addition, we could always tell when another programmer’s job was finished, by hearing that person shout into the phone, “OKAY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”