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| King John J Bratsakis Sr |
It's hard to believe today, but a 50 year old man adopting a PC was pretty bleeding edge in 1988. Dad had to rescue his new company from a previous project. He purchased Lotus 1,2,3 to lay everything out. He kept everything on spreadsheets until his mid-70s.
As the PC world moved from DOS to Windows, things got more challenging. Dad was a pure engineer and the less structure, multi-tasking Windows created issues for him. He liked the DOS structure. I get a phone call, and yes this is a true story, it goes like this:
"Jim, I can't figure this damn thing out. I think it's installed wrong. It keeps asking me to hit the 'any key' and I can't find it."
Me: "Dad, it's not really a key, it just says hit 'ANY' key."
Dad: "I KNOW THAT! I can't find it. You're mother or brother must have been on here."
Me: "Dad, John's not living at home and mom hasn't figured out how to turn it on yet. Just hit any key."
Dad, now frustrated and raising his voice: "That's why I'm calling you Jim, just forget it, I'll get someone..."
"Dad, hit the space bar."
"Jim, that took care of it. I still can't find the 'any' key. Can you come over and help me load the software?"
"Sure dad." So, I saunter over to Mom and Dad's and start configuring the computer. Dad, looking over my shoulder, still trying to find the 'any' key' gives me a stack of software to load. No problem, it was time consuming. I spent about 8 hours loading software. Dad and Mom were very grateful. When I got home, I decided to have fun and send an invoice to dad for my time. I never heard a word about the invoice. Then, I receive a package in the mail. It was about an inch thick. Dad had sent me all of my student loan receipts that he had paid. There was a cover 'note' that said:
"I'll happily pay your invoice when you pay me for these receipts and show me where the 'any key' is. The space bar is not the 'any key'."
Well played dad!
