🚀 go-pugleaf

An instructor of mine at AT&T's corporate training center in
Lisle, IL told me this one.  Seems he had this one relatively
young guy in a systems administration class who was the classic
klutz -- everything he touched broke or curled up and died.
The instructor was convinced it was just a confidence problem,
and tried to help the guy during the class.  A couple of days
into the class he took them in to look at a running 3B20 (it
may have been a Vax 11/780 back then, though; can't remember).
The klutz was scared to death to touch anything for fear of
breaking the machine, and kept protesting.

The instructor opened one of the cabinet doors to show them the
cards in the machine, and curiosity got the best of the klutz.
He stepped forward and said, "What's this big card for?" while
pointing his finger out at it.

I'll let the instructor's words finish the story:

"The longest biggest static electricity spark I'd ever seen in
my life jumped off this guy's finger almost *two inches* to the
board, and the whole @$#^$@ computer went to its knees instantly.
It was all I could do to keep the poor embarrassed guy from
jumping out the window.  I had an anti-static carpet put down in
the room the next week."
-- 

Curtis Jackson @ Adobe Systems in Mountain View, CA  (415-962-4905)
Internet: jac...@adobe.com	uucp: ...!{apple|decwrl|sun}!adobe!jackson