Chapter 7 - On the Job

New Sites

As mentioned, there was only one computer site for me to service when I first came to the Wilson area. That gave me time to work on the addition to the house. The first major problem I had at Imperial Tobacco was with main memory. It happened to be the day before my birthday. I did the proper procedure to locate the problem without success. After working all night, Bob (my boss) sent Larry Boggs (a specialist from Charlotte) to give me a hand. It took him most of the day to find the bad selection switch. After the problem was fixed and Larry had left, I went over the pile of notes I had made the first day, and pin-pointed the selection switch in about twenty minutes. Oh well. At least I had company on my birthday.

It wasn’t long before I had two sites to install, one in Kinston (Lenior Hospital) and the other in Rocky Mt. (City of Rocky Mt.) The were both small systems. I was trained on larger systems, but these were similar.

The hospital was brand new. The false floor of the computer room was two feet above the permanent floor. The computer sat on the false floor and cables ran beneath the false floor. The air conditioning for the building was designed to bring in outside air if the temperature was below a certain amount. That didn’t work for the computer room. The computer generated more heat than the outside air could compensate. The temporary fix was to put a window unit in the ceiling with the warm air going above the false ceiling.

The City of Rocky Mt. was getting their first computer. It replaced an old Tab System. It had a problem to start with. It would run fine for a while and then it would change mode or just stop for no apparent reason. I suspected static electricity and wrapped the signal cables with aluminum foil. That didn’t help. With the help of Larry Boggs, we found that a ground wire had been left off at the factory. Problem solved.

As time went on, more sites were added, mostly key tapes and small systems for Saving & Loans. My work load still seemed light.

The Savings & Loan systems were not made by Honeywell but Honeywell contracted with Incoterm to install and service their computers. The system included a small processor, two eight inch floppy disk drives, a small monitor and a pass book printer. The pass book printer caused most of the problems, but I don’t remember having much trouble making them work again.

Systems were scattered from Clinton to Henderson. That made for a lot of travel. By this time I had a company car.

The Honeywell Level 6 mini-computer came on the scene. They were used mostly for communications and linked to a main-frame computer. I installed some Level 6 computers in Financial Brokerage firms. By now, my work load was full time.

Of course, I had to fill in for the Raleigh and Wilmington service men when they were on vacation or, maybe, just plain busy.

Normally, the computer at Seymore Johnson Air Force Base would be serviced from Raleigh, because Raleigh had two service men. The service man that usually went to Seymore Johnson for preventive maintenance would wait until eight o’clock to leave Raleigh and get back late, drawing overtime. We were instructed to allow thirty minutes travel time each way since we worked from our homes. If he left at seven thirty and allowed thirty minutes return time, the trip would not require overtime. Thus, I was given the job of taking care of Seymore Johnson. I am closer, and also, I allow for travel time to and from work. If one of my sites needed attention while I was away, one of the Raleigh men would take care of my site.

One week-end when I was on stand-by for Raleigh, as well as Wilson, I had a call to NCNB in Raleigh. The bank had a check sorter down. I was not trained on the sorter. I asked the operator what he thought the problem was. He said it was that little light bulb, that helped sense the checks, was burned out. It was behind the cover that had to be taken off. I asked the operator if he know how to remove the cover. He told me how. I asked if he knew where a spare bulb might be. He did. I replaced the bulb. The sorter worked. I asked, “Why did you call me?”
His reply, “I’m not allowed to open the machine.”
With the cover off, I noticed several old checks in the bottom of the machine. The operator just threw them away.

My first company car was a 1979 Pontiac LeMans. It gave good service. I could use it for personal use for seven cents per mile. With time, it developed a problem. It wouldn’t idle. The throttle had worn the carburetor so it leaked air by the shaft. The necessary part was on order when I had to go to Boston for more training. Mary Ellen went with me. On the week-end we went to the water front to visit the aquarium and eat lunch. I left the free-way one exit too soon and found myself in heavy traffic. I needed to turn left twice from four lane streets with no traffic lights. The car wouldn’t idle. I was in the wrong lane. I inched over until the cars had to let me change lanes. I laughed and laughed. Mary Ellen was on edge. We made it.

When the LeMans had about ninety thousand miles on it, I was allowed to have a new car. I chose an ‘82 diesel Chevett. When I went to the dealer to pick it up, one of the salesmen said I would miss air conditioning. I replied that it is supposed to have air. Wrong. Chevrolet claimed that the small diesel engine doesn’t have enough power to handle air. I asked about “add on” air. It could be installed for about six hundred dollars. I called my boss, Walt Beal, and told him I didn’t want the car unless it had air. He said Honeywell would not pay to add air. Walt told the dealer we didn’t want the car. The dealer told Walt that I had driven it off the lot; They couldn’t take it back. I hadn’t driven it at all. Walt told me to take the car to the office in Kernersville for them to sell. Before I left with the car, Walt called back and said that Honeywell would pay for the air conditioner.

I took the car. It was January. The night time temperature was ten degrees. I wondered if I would have trouble starting the diesel. The diesel tractors on the farm required ether to start in cold weather. The Chevett book said not to use ether. It started on the first try. It sure didn’t have much power when cold. It took full throttle to get it to even move. Once warm, it did fine.

I got 36 mpg. Honeywell reported the cost to be eleven cents per mile. Other company cars were costing up to twenty seven cents per mile. That didn’t matter. Company policy changed and I was told that I didn’t drive enough miles to have a company car. The Chevett had eighty-eight thousand miles on it. I could buy it for seventy-five percent of it’s wholesale value. I Did.

The Chevett was too small for a family car, so I tried to trade it for an ‘85 Pontiac diesel 6000 station wagon. The dealer said there is no demand for diesel cars. They would allow me five hundred for the Chevett. I ordered the Pontiac without trading. The dealer required one thousand dollars down because they didn’ want to be stuck with a diesel. It should deliver in two weeks. Wrong! It took six months. In the mean time I sold the Chevett for twenty-six hundered dollars to a sixteen year old. It was ideal for him. He couldn’t get in trouble for racing and it was good on fuel.

Computers were (and still are) changing. This meant more training. Sometimes it was a week or two in Atlanta, Boston and Phoenix. Sometimes Mary Ellen would go with me.

One trip to Boston, when Mary Ellen went, a few of the other trainees and I bought some live lobsters to cook at the motel. We put them in our ice chest in the room until we were ready to cook them. After class, we found suit cases and books piled upon the ice chest. Mary Ellen said they were trying to get out. I borrowed a cooker from a family we made friends with on our first Honeywell trip to Boston. We enjoyed the lobster.

Mary Ellen, Jeff and Nancy came to Phoenix to be with me in ‘75. The training lasted four and a half months. Actually, I drove out before the children were out of school. Honeywell allowed me to have a flight home each month or I could use the flights to fly family to or from Phoenix. I flew home for my birthday the first of May. Mary Ellen and the children used the other flights. Honeywell paid me a set amount for living expenses so I stayed in a boarding house until the family came. That cost less than the allowance, so I could rent a large apartment for the time the family was there.

We went to an ice cream parlor for Jeff’s 15^th birthday. He got a free Sundee and lots of bells, whistles and drums sound off for his birthday. Jeff was embarrassed.

We took the long 4^th of July week-end to travel to the Grand Canyon. We saw interesting sights along the way: 4 inches of snow on San Francisco Peak, the Montezuma Well, Jerome (a ghost town), The Painted Desert and Sunset Crater.

Mary Ellen and children flew home in time for school to start. When I was ready to come home, Mary Ellen flew back out to ride home with me. Driving 500 miles a day proved to be a little much for Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen’s mother stayed with the children while she, Mary Ellen, was gone.

Later, on a two week trip, Mary Ellen flew to Phoenix with me. Honeywell allowed 3 trainees to rent a car together. I didn’t want to do the usual things the other trainees would want to, so I rented a car on my own for a long week-end. Mary Ellen and I drove across the desert to San Diego. The car was a brand new Plymouth Arrow. Going across the desert in the middle of the day, it got hotter and hotter in the car. I figured the air conditioner was just not powerful enough. We stopped for a milk shake, probably in Yuma. When we returned to the car, water was pouring from the engine compartment. My first thought was that a water hose had broken. Not so. The air conditioner was thawing out. It worked again after that. We enjoyed the San Diego Zoo and other sights.

My boss, Walt Beal, did a good job keeping us doing a good job. Three times, our district won a long week-end trip for best district. The first trip was to Bermuda.

Walt Beal & Wife, Shirley                            There it is!         

The streets are narrow and cars drive on the left side of the road. When leaving the air port, I rode in the left front seat next to the taxi driver. It was quite a shock when he zoomed past oncoming cars, seemingly, on the wrong side of the road. We enjoyed sight-seeing and the food was great.

Another award trip was to “Wild Dunes” resort area near Charleston, SC.

Sunset at “Wild Dunes               View from upper deck

We also had a long week-end at Kiawah, also near Charleston, SC. I enjoyed sailing a “Hoggi Cat” and taking a jeep safari to wild places on the island.

These trips were for first place for the district. We also placed second or third in other years. We were allowed to order gifts from a catalogue. One year I ordered a CB radio. Another gift was a wall clock,

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