My father would tell a story about an IBM tech from back in the pre-PC days. She had one of those Dick Trickle kind of names, where the name parses as a phrase? To not outright dox her I’ll call her Robin Banks.
Robin would be at a customer’s site working on an IBM minicomputer or unit record equipment, when a secretary would flag her down and ask her to adjust the “tension” or “weight” or something on a Selectric typewriter. IBM Selectric typewriters don’t have any kind of adjustment on the key travel or typing feel. What she would do is walk up to it, type a little, agree that it felt off, take a small flathead screwdriver, stick it through an opening in the side or back of the case, pretend to adjust something, she’d take a cloth, damp it with some of the light oil they used on all the intricate little mechanisms in old computer hardware, wipe the key caps with it. Then say “Okay, try that” and inevitably they were happy with it.
Another story from Robin, in an office with a good size secretary pool, one of the secretaries kept bitching about her typewriter. It doesn’t type right, it doesn’t work right. Robin noticed that this particular secretary had been issued a blue Selectric, all the other secretaries had red ones. She swapped out the case with one of the other typewriters, just the shell, same machine, and wouldn’t you know it typed much better!
What she would do is walk up to it, type a little, agree that it felt off, take a small flathead screwdriver, stick it through an opening in the side or back of the case, pretend to adjust something, she’d take a cloth, damp it with some of the light oil they used on all the intricate little mechanisms in old computer hardware, wipe the key caps with it. Then say “Okay, try that” and inevitably they were happy with it.
50% chance that this actually changed something, namely the smell of the device. the machine would have an unpleasant smell and people would complain about it without knowing what it is. she goes over it once and now it smells nice, and people are happy. doesn’t need any screwdriver for that, that’s just for show.
My father would tell a story about an IBM tech from back in the pre-PC days. She had one of those Dick Trickle kind of names, where the name parses as a phrase? To not outright dox her I’ll call her Robin Banks.
Robin would be at a customer’s site working on an IBM minicomputer or unit record equipment, when a secretary would flag her down and ask her to adjust the “tension” or “weight” or something on a Selectric typewriter. IBM Selectric typewriters don’t have any kind of adjustment on the key travel or typing feel. What she would do is walk up to it, type a little, agree that it felt off, take a small flathead screwdriver, stick it through an opening in the side or back of the case, pretend to adjust something, she’d take a cloth, damp it with some of the light oil they used on all the intricate little mechanisms in old computer hardware, wipe the key caps with it. Then say “Okay, try that” and inevitably they were happy with it.
Another story from Robin, in an office with a good size secretary pool, one of the secretaries kept bitching about her typewriter. It doesn’t type right, it doesn’t work right. Robin noticed that this particular secretary had been issued a blue Selectric, all the other secretaries had red ones. She swapped out the case with one of the other typewriters, just the shell, same machine, and wouldn’t you know it typed much better!
50% chance that this actually changed something, namely the smell of the device. the machine would have an unpleasant smell and people would complain about it without knowing what it is. she goes over it once and now it smells nice, and people are happy. doesn’t need any screwdriver for that, that’s just for show.