It's the early 1980s, and this outsourcer's mainframes have to run 24/7 -- and one computer operator pilot fish finds out just what that means when he's scheduled to work on Christmas Day.
He's depressed when he walks into the sterility of the computer room for his evening shift. A good old-fashioned Christmas looks like it's not in the cards this year.
Then a co-worker spots him and calls out, "Hi -- do you want a drink?"
What do you mean? asks fish?
"He didn't reply, but he took a floor puller and removed one tile from the raised floor behind the console," fish says.
"Under the floor, nestled in the cables, were bottles of liquor and mixers. This had the dual effect of keeping the bottles cold and keeping them from the prying eyes of management.
"It was a merry Christmas that year in the computer room."
Sharky's busy raising a glass to pilot fish everywhere, so this is a holiday-themed tale from the Sharkives. Send me your own true tale of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll get a stylish Shark shirt if I use it. Comment on today's tale at Sharky's Google+ community, and read thousands of great old tales in the Sharkives.
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