Slashed letter O, unslashed letter zero

[Fred Cisin]

On Tue, 26 Apr 2022, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> I recall getting a job back from keypunch with a note attached: "I
> wasn't sure if you meant zero or oh (I always slashed my zeroes; the
> keypunch form specifically called that out), so I did some of both".
>
> Card deck into trash; go find a keypunch and do the stuff myself.
>
> Management had this diktat that programmers were permitted to punch only
> a few cards at a time; the time to punch a full deck cost the company
> too much and so should be sent to keypunch.   Obviously, management
> never had to work with the output of the keypunch pool...

"You can make a few corrections, but no punching whole jobs."

One of my cow-orkers, a programmer, insisted that it was much faster for 
him to type as he composed, even on a 026, than it was to write on coding 
sheets, and then hand it off.

Management responded, "POLICY."

He held up a single blank card, and asked, "Is it OK for me to type the 
corrections, of a few dozen cards to be inserted in this deck?"

Management responded, "ANYBODY WHO KEYPUNCHES WILL BE PAID 
KEYPUNCHER PAY!"
So, he handed me the card, and said, "Here, you could use a raise." (I was 
a "Data Technician", which was a euphemism for Go-fer entry level job)  It 
was a truly trivial FORTRAN task that was well within my capabilities at 
the time.   (Prior to that job, I had been doing temp work around town 
keypunching.)  While they were still giving him a hard time, I went to the 
next room, punched a dozen cards and brought them back.
"Would it be OK if we just did a printout of the deck and handed in THAT, 
instead of coding sheets?"


We did have one old-timer who slashed letter O.  We talked to the 
keypunchers, and solved it by a discussion, and having him put his name in 
red LARGE on every sheet.


--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com