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From: ins_ampm@jhunix.UUCP (Michael P McKenna)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: Computer Horror Stories
Message-ID: <2032@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Feb-86 02:51:11 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.2032
Posted: Fri Feb 28 02:51:11 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Mar-86 17:44:55 EST
References: <14700001@hplabsb.UUCP> <476@mmm.UUCP> <9345@ritcv.UUCP> <1335@osu-eddie.UUCP> <6434@utzoo.UUCP>
Reply-To: ins_ampm@jhunix.ARPA (Michael P McKenna)
Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ. Computing Ctr.
Lines: 19

In article <6434@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP writes:
>The operators on this system were renowned for their low intelligence and
>general surliness.  So one diabolical programmer wrote a peculiar little
>program which got run occasionally late at night, when the I/O clerk had
>gone home and the operator was handling everything.  The program produced
>a console message saying "quick, put your foot in the box!", waited a few
>seconds, and then put the line printer into fast-formfeed mode.  The delay
>was calculated so that if the operator, on seeing the message, leaped up
>and dashed over to the printer AT ONCE, he could catch it before there was
>paper all over the floor...

A reverse situation (I've never actually SEEN this done, but it can be),
some laser printers can be put into 'manual' mode by a print request,
that is the printer sits there waiting for someone to feed it paper
one sheet at a time.  Any user could do this, in which case the
printer would stop, the operators would wonder what was going on,
and the print queue would just get longer and longer...

                                                   Dwight S. Wilson