Five years after quitting a job, developer’s former boss asked for rapid tech support
Connecting a single power cord turned into a lucrative all-nighter
Five years after leaving a job, a former developer received a call asking for immediate technical assistance. In the mid-1980s, Wade was a programmer who specialized in Pick, a minicomputer operating system with integrated database functions. Wade wrote the software that managed a mail order business, but later moved on to new opportunities.
In early 1990, Wade's former employer, frustrated with a clerk who had quit, demanded that Wade come over immediately. The reason for the abrupt termination was the clerk unplugging the computer while it was printing out customer orders, causing the system to crash. Upon arrival, Wade quickly plugged the system back into power, rebooted it, and restored the print job.
The developer was paid for his services, despite his surprise at being summoned so late at night. Wade encourages readers to share their own stories of unexpected tech support requests, promising not to "sabotage" the submissions.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Software's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
