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News and Comment April 2024

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18 April (Part 2) - Non-PC AT & Tea

Exchange canteen RhonaFollowing the admission that I told the Head of Personnel (HR) at the long defunct British Telecom International (BTI) to F off when he tried to stop me using a computer, a reader contacted me about what would happen now.

I would be dismissed by the Audit Department. He went on to tell me how his own attempt to transfer sensitive documents from an overseas company to its branch in the UK has taken nearly six months so far because of the delays involved getting various permissions etc.

In 1982 I simply lashed up my desktop computer to a modem and transferred billing information to and from AT&T. (American Telephone & Telegraph Company.) I found an enthusiastic amateur within the workforce to help me with the technicalities but I asked no one, just called my counterpart in New York and did it.

This must be why everything is so expensive these days. Too much red tape and jobs for the boys.

The photographs are from the works canteen where I went for lunch and tea most days. A typical 1960s built telephone exchange with no creature comforts. The lady is Rhona from Guyana. I remember very little about her except that she was at the time not well disposed towards men.

Note: In 1995 on my first trip to Paris on Eurostar three American tourists across the aisle were discussing the tunnel construction and I interjected with a few additions to their knowledge. The ensuing conversation revealed that the lady of the group was my opposite number at AT&T when I was with BTI a few years earlier.

 

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