cobol

Back in 1998/1999 I was working for a logistics company called Schnellecke. They were responsible for supplying Volkswagen with their required car parts as per the Bill of Materials and materials planning for each Volkswagen car (including at that time the new Audi A4 which was also manufactured in the same plant). I can remember an influx of IT personnel (you know, the alien type) that sat behind a terminal and started to furiously type away, doing goodness knows what.

One day, I asked them what the hell they were doing. Man, the doom and gloom that spewed forth was something of epic proportions. I mean, not even a doomsayer could top that! Bank accounts would be cleared out, planes would fall from the sky, nuclear missiles would launch, medical Intensive Care machines would stop functioning, stock markets would crash and life as we know it would revert to the stone ages. Sheesh, that guy had me at “bank accounts would be cleared out”. After that, the rest seemed frivolous. (more…)