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Our Digital Stories
Reminiscences
about what it was like to work at Digital - unique or typical moments,
funny stories, lessons from Ken. Send yours to
webmaster@decconnection.org.
At bottom of page are links to stories posted to the original Member Forum.
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Galen Davis
Phoenix AZ
DECconnection member |
I am new to this DEC Connection site but not
new to the "low badge number syndrome."
It was a status symbol due to the sequencing of corporate worldwide new
hires badges. Employees returning with a gap in service could apply for
"their" old number back. Your badge number became yours and was retired
when you left the company. My badge in 1962 was #307 and I wore it
proudly until 1992. We would track the number of employees with badges
lower than ours .. to Ken's #1. In the 90's there were an amazing number
of two and three digit badge numbers in the company. When visiting
facilities we would pay courtesy calls on lower badge numbers merely to
congratulate them on their longevity. DEC always remembered it's
veteran's anniversaries with awards and dinners. The recognition was
transparent to pay grade or position in the company. My badge was always
the introduction to a story of "DEC in the early days."
Notes from webmaster:
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Mike Schopeke, loyal customer
Daily Herald
Chicago IL
DECconnection member |
As a longtime customer I’m enjoying all
memories that pop into my head as I read what others have written.
In the newspaper industry since the 70s, I have been involved with
PDP-8, 11/70’s with 13 RP06’s, 11/750’s, 8550’s, and an ES-450. I can’t
even remember the others we have used.
A possible good DEC Employee story…
Back in 1979 we purchased two corporate cabinet 11/70’s serial numbers
56657 and 56658.
The DEC tech that came to do the install was John Alfrinko. His badge
number was 56657. He felt that Ken Olsen had presented him his own
machine. In all the years that we ran those servers he would never let
another tech work on those two boxes. |
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Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member |
If you ever worked in the Mill, you may be aware that in the summer
time, tar could leak from the roof to the top floor of one of the Mill
buildings. One day, a salesman from France showed up with one of his
best customers from France. In those days, everyone wore suits to work.
This French executive had a lily white sports jacket. As he was walking
in Bldg. 5-5 a bit of tar fell on his white jacket. The salesperson
tried to wipe it off only to leave a giant tar smudge on his jacket.
Apparently it was the only jacket he brought with him. For the next two
days, he could be seen walking around the Mill with this giant tar
smudge on his jacket! |
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Tom McIntyre
Harvard MA
DECconnection member |
When I came to DEC in 1978 I was working on 5-5 and would often wander
down through the board shop on the way to Terminal Engineering. There
was a lady with a single digit badge number who was attaching the
handles to the board using a riveting machine. At that time she had been
there 20 years I suppose. I remember someone remarking that her stock
options were worth several times her annual income. Grin
My best Ken story was when I was working in the Mill and we were trying
to find the light control for one of the crackerbox conference rooms on
5-5 before the renovation. My software development gang worked very
strange hours and it was around 9:00 pm. We were climbing all over the
place trying to trace the wiring for the flourescent fixture when Ken
walked up and asked what we were doing. When we told him, he pointed out
the breaker box about 15 feet away behind a panel. When I asked him how
he knew it was there, he said because he put it there when they put up
the jury rigged partitions. |
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Will Emerson
Maynard MA
DECconnection member |
Mill Hazards or "Look out below!"
I was working in the Mill on 4-4 at the time as a "data control clerk"
aka. tape library type. Anyway, to "set the scene", it was later winter,
the room I worked in had a "service window" out to the hallway, across
from and diagonally about 20 feet from the elevator that served Bldg 4
and Bldg 3 along with the ground floor of Bldg 6. Well, one day I'm
sitting in front of my trusty VT100 logging in tapes, and I hear this "Kerrrack"
followed in most rapid succession with "BOOM!!!!!!!!", and dust coming
in the window. "What th' [ ] was that?" I thought, then I had an
immediate thought that it would be prudent to investigate as from the
volume of the noise, I considered the possibility that something really
bad happened to the elevator, and Billy, the operator, especially with
all the dust coming from that direction.
Well, I got to the elevator just as Billy was coming up, and he stopped
and raised the gates for me to get on. "What happened?" I asked. "I
dunno" he said, "but there's a lot of people wandering around down there
yakking". "Billy, can you drop me off down there?". Well, I arrived on
3-1/6-1 to see a first class commotion. It turned out that the "Kerrrack"
was a large chunk of ice that no longer desired keeping company with the
roof of bldg 4, and in obeyance of the law of gravity took the express
route to the ground. The roof of Bldg 6 attempted to intervene in this
(source of the BOOM!!!!) but only succeeded in reducing the ice's
velocity slightly, and the chunk of ice landed a couple of feet away
from a very surprised facilities Carpentry Supervisor who had been
working at his desk right below. Suffice it to say he was rather
unnerved by the incident. |
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Bob Moore
Burlington MA
DECconnection member |
I
remember when they had the first Board Of Director's meeting in Concord
VRO5, some time in the mid-80s. The buildings at VRO were built to DEC
spec and the first one had this really neat Boardroom on the second
floor. The building was designed with an entrance on each level at
ground level. Obviously the ground had to have been seriously rearranged
to make this happen.
Anyway as I recall, the meeting was to take place at a time of year when
tulips were not in bloom. However when we all came to work that day the
upper and lower walkways were surrounded with at least half-jillion RED
AND YELLOW TULIPS IN FULL BLOOM Wow Mother Nature had to be really
amazed at what had happened in her back yard overnight.
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The rest of the story is that after the last Limo had departed and the
Board has all gone back wherever they came from, an announcement was
made, "anyone who wished to take home a tulip, may do so after work."
And we all did because it was so easy. None of the tulips had been
actually planted in the soil but they came in a pot and the pot simply
was placed in its entirety in the ground. I'm sure this whole operation
had been out-sourced as it happened so quick. |
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Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member |
In the late '70s a young DEC engineer, Brian Hessler, was asked to visit
some customers in Europe and some DEC sites. Brian was never out of the
US in his life. His first stop was to visit a PDP-11 customer outside of
Amsterdam (a parts manufacturer). After a red eye flight to
Schipol airport in Amsterdam, Brian exited customs and was greeted by a
limousine driver who held up a sign saying "Mr. Hessler". There was a
drive for about 45 minutes outside of Amsterdam. But the limousine
driver did not speak English and Brian didn't speak Dutch, so there was
no conversation between them. After his arrival, the plant executive
offered some coffee and a pastry and started a small talk conversation:
"How was the trip?". "Have you ever been to Europe?" Blah, blah, blah
for about 10-15 minutes. Then the executive said: "How are things going
for Kraft Foods?". Brian answered" "Kraft Foods?" After a bit of
confusing bantering, it became obvious that Brian was in the wrong
place! This wasn't a parts manufacturer. It was a cookie factory. His
customer was totally on the opposite side of Amsterdam! They called
Brian a cab and he finally arrived at the parts manufacturer 3-4 hours
late. God knows what happened to the Kraft Foods Mr. Hessler left
abandoned at the Schipol Airport? |
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Kerry Bensman
Broomfield CO
DECconnection member |
I
had graduated from M.I.T. in June 1969 and had taken a job as a newbie
at a major manufacturing company. Several months later I was being
assigned to work in Pittsburgh PA which for some reason didn't seem
right for me. So I sent my resume out to a few headhunters and, lo and
behold, I was granted an interview in the mill in late winter. Not many
of us (I had a four digit badge number) may still remember those days.
So I arrive early and am kept cooling my heels for over an hour.
Finally, I met with the hiring manager (anyone remember Maury F.) who
invited me to the Mill's cafeteria. I settled on one of now famous
hamburgers, which tasted like compressed computer chad from the paper
tapes being produced in those days. Afterwards, I was offered one of two
jobs, one for small computers (PDP-8) and the other for a big computer
(PDP-6). So in my infinite wisdom, I figured big was better than small
and chose the latter.
So what was my reasoning in joining DEC in 1969? This is true. I figured
than any company that could mess up the interview process so bad and
have such lousy cafeteria food had to have something going for it.
Little did I know.
P.S. The bar and the deli across the street from the mill entrance had
nothing to do with it.
P.S.S. My first "office" was next to Bob Lane's and across from Stan
Olsen's. The stories I could tell. And I still miss Ethel Lane to this
day. |
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Hank Vezina
Brookline NH
DECconnection member |
Back in the late '60's when I was
working at the Mill, Ken always seem to catch me throwing things.
First it was a circuit board I through out the window into the Mill
pond, then he wasn't too pleased when I broke a window pane of his
office with a softball a while later. But on my 5th anniversary
luncheon at PK-2 when Ken saw me coming up to the podium to receive
my Cross pen set, he tossed the box to me before I even got close to
him. After I caught it and was shaking his hand, he said "Glad to
see you can catch better than you can throw".
Or how about the time just after I bought my '68 Corvette, I had
parked it next to building 21 and got a call from security saying
the high winds had blown tar paper off the roof and it landed on my
car. When I rushed out to see how bad the damage was, I found Ken
cleaning off the paper from my car. Since there was no real damage
to my car, we went over and cleaned the stuff that had fallen on his
Pinto.
Hank Vezina: DEC Employee from 1967 to 1983, DEC Contractor from
1987 to 1997 |
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Edmond
Hennessy
NH, USA |
Worked for
mighty DEC in the 70's and early 80's.
There were many, times when Ken & Stan Olsen and members of the
Executive Team attended events.
Always interesting to engage with this group of unique individuals.
Started with DEC in the field and then migrated to a role in the
Product Line (then became a Business Unit and eventually an Industry
Group).
While in the field - our branch office was near Bridgeport - where
Ken Olsen's daughter attended school.
Ken would make a point to drop-in at our office - hardly
recognizable, as the Founder & CEO of one of the Industry's glamour
Computer Makers and braintrust behind DDP and Minicomputers. He was
open - sincere - the genuine article. And, he made the trip in his
Ford Pinto.
Before
joining DEC - a recruiter approached me and asked, if I wanted to
join a "do your own thing" company (DEC was doing $200 million
annually at the time), plus, he indicated that the Founder Ken
Olsen's mantra was "in the final analysis, people will do the right
thing."
This became an element of the DEC Creed, which was actually put to
practice.
About a year ago, our firm published an article titled,
"Entrepreneurs Met Along The Way - Are They A Reproducible Breed?"
Ken Olsen was the headliner in the article, however many of the
other Entrepreneurs profiled actually were ex-DEC employees.
Another testimonial to the impact DEC and Ken Olsen had on the
Industry. Clear that there are multitudes of people that were
directly impacted, by the DEC experience.
Here's a link to the article and a tribute to the man.
Ken Olsen's impact - will not be forgotten - it is enduring.
Edmond Hennessy |
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Jack Conaway
Digital
1979-1993
DECconnection member |
Ken was a many-faceted person who could
determine the essence of problems and opportunities in many aspects
of Digital's complicated business. The first time I met him was in
the early 1980's. The ESG Product Line was running a CAD/CAM Expo on
the west coast. It was our first show of that type and I was very
surprised to see him there.
Engineering Systems was the first group to develop joint marketing
relationships with third party application vendors as a fundamental
strategy to leverage the sales of the new VAX computer. Ken dived
into the displays with a tremendous amount of energy. He talked to
our demo people about their backgrounds and even tried out some of
the software. He asked the customers what they thought of the event
and how important the software was to their business and asked our
management about the partnership strategies and deals. I was even
more surprised at the length of time he spent in long conversations
at the event.
We returned to the office pleased with the customer results. A
while, later Ken's office announced DEC Town the pre-cursor for the
highly successful DEC Worlds that extended this model in a networked
fashion to all the applications and industries that Digital served.
What a vision he had! |
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Bruce Lynn Lexington, MA USA
DECconnection member |
In 1980, early in my tenure at DEC, my
father passed away. Shortly after I received a beautiful houseplant
with a card signed by Ken to express his sympathy. How many
companies of this size would have a policy like this? My guess would
be close to zero! That was how I thought of Ken for the 18 years I
continued to work at DEC and how I remember his to this day.
Bruce Lynn (Lexington, MA), Global Healthcare Solutions Practice,
EMC Corporation |
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Jim Raffa
Stow, MA
USA
DECconnection member |
My name is Jim Raffa. I worked in the
Law and Contracts Department in Merrimack, NH from February 1978 -
January 1980. My first day at
Digital in 1978 was a Monday in February. It was a dark day with
light snow and with a forecast of a severe Northeaster expected over
the next 24 hours. I signed in, signed all my papers, was briefed on
my position, met my new boss, sat at my desk for less than 1 hour.
As the day finished, I said good bye to my new acquaintances. I knew
my drive back from the Merrimack, NH facility to Stow, MA was going
to be slow as there were 6 inches of snow on the ground when I left
the facility. I did not return to work for over a week. The snow
storm turned into the Blizzard of '78.
I knew that I was a new employee with
no sick or vacation time built up. Therefore, I expected that
February was going to be a tight month financially for me and my
wife with over a week of no pay. However, when I arrived at the
Merrimack, NH facility, the first thing my new boss said to me was
that Ken Olsen had approved payment for all employees, even me the
new employee, of salaries for the time missed because of the
blizzard. The time that I missed was not to be docked from my sick
or vacation time. This was one of the many wonderful experiences
that I had while working at Digital and my beginning admiration for
a man that remembered his employees as much as making great products
and being profitable. |
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Bob Glorioso
Stow, MA
USA
DECconnection member |
I was fortunate. I had the opportunity
to interact with Ken on many occasions both at DEC and after we both
left. However, one of my first encounters always comes through when
I think of him. As you may recall, the blizzard of '78 caused all
the roads in the Commonwealth to be closed for a week. After getting
dug out and hanging around for a few days, I decided to go into my
office, then in the bowels of Building 4, and get a jump on things.
So, I quickly drove to the Mill - it was only 4 miles- and started
working. No one was around and the mill was strangely quiet. About
one-half hour after I got there Ken walked into my office and sat
down and proceeded with some small talk about the devastation of the
storm and then a technical discussion of the things we in the
Research Group were working on. This went on for at least an hour
and, as it was starting to get dark, I headed home. Needless to say,
I didn't get done what I planned but was happy to trade it for a far
ranging and interesting conversation with a very nice man. |
Chris Peters
Arlington, MA USA |
I spent 12 years in the Mill in the
metals business on 5-1. During that time I was on the safety
committee for a few years. Ken used to come down to work on some of
his skunk work projects.
I would catch him in the machining or sheet metal area without
safety glasses. I would ask him to please leave the area until he
put safety glasses on. He would always apologize for his error –
march out and come back with his glasses and promise not to do it
again, until the next time he came down. |
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Stan Tomczak II, FL, USA |
Please note that if you are offended by
strong language, do not continue to read this.
While working in the Washington DC Field Service Group (1970's) I
was told the story by a Maynard Product Support Engineer, while he
was helping me on my first "impossible to fix" PDP-8
("straight-eight") problem at a newspaper sight. DEC had not started
using microprocessor chips in the field at that time and, in fact,
we did not use the term "operating system". The story goes that the
earliest printed documentation was stopped before the press work by
the graphic designer of the front cover. The chain-of-command went
to Ken for a modification! Some of you will remember how
we used the first letter of words to form our own "DEC-speak". Well,
the story continues that the controlling software would be called a
monitor, it would be addressed through a keyboard (KSR "teletype"),
and it would be upgradeable. The legend states to name was to be:
First Upward Compatible Keyboard Monitor. |
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Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member |
In the mid-70's in the bathroom in the Mill on Bldg 5-5, there was some
graffiti on the bathroom stall that said: "Someday I'm going to own this
place" - signed Ken Olsen. Of course, I doubt Ken wrote it. |
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Member Forum Links to Discussion Threads |
These stories and other postings
collected from 2006-2010:
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