Marilynne's World

A Mag Card Reader

Long ago in the far reaches of time – at least it seems that way – there was a typewriter that was used to conduct all sorts of business.  The typewriter was fast becoming a dinosaur because it had no memory.  It typed whatever was requested and waited for the next request:  another key, a carriage return, maybe time to eject the paper.  It worked quite well, it just wasn’t good at remembering things.

So, along came the Mag Card reader, which was like a typewriter with a little memory on a card.  And after that, the rudiments of word processing computers.

While typewriter dinosaurs are becoming rare, begin the world of word processors that could only do repetitive tasks and were not very clever about the tricks of the trade.

Enter an editor with multiple clients, deadlines, award fee milestones, and lots of competition for the services of those who ran the word processors.

Enter the former typists, now known as word processors, who didn’t understand the machinery very well, but understood quite well that typists were dinosaur operators and that word processors were the wave of the future.

Enter a manager of word processors who got the job because someone higher up liked her and sat her in that chair.  The manager was very protective of her chair and managed her word processors to the best of her ability.

A problem arrives.  The word processors are very busy.  They are new to their tasks and don’t understand well how their equipment functions.  Because they are so busy, they haul out the Mag Card, already becoming obsolete, and use it to just type a revision on the paper instead of having to figure out where that revision goes and how to print out a new page – or is it pages since the word processor just moves things along to the next page.

The Mag Card is handy.  It can be used like a typewriter, but you can also make it type things multiple times.  Picture this, Picture  , Picture  , Picture  , as many as you want.  You can then roll the platen back to that line and add numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. for as many as you want.

Introduce a new product.  MacTac has been invented.  It’s a clear plastic sheet stuck onto a backing paper.  You can type on it.  (Clue:  Something like making clear labels on today’s printers.)

If they roll the MacTac onto the Mac Card, and let the Mag Card do the operation above (Picture, Picture, etc.) they can then use a ruler and an Exacto knife to cut the Figure Captions and paste them below any pictures used in the documentation.  This saves a lot of time because either the word processor isn’t advanced enough to place figure captions or the nice ladies using them don’t know how to get it done.

Furthermore, if the word processors seem to be resting their fingers for a moment they’re told to get busy.  Our manager runs a tight ship, but she doesn’t realize that her “girls” need time now and then to figure things out.  Their old Mag Card machine has been demoted to a sort of typewriter with a bit of memory.  Maybe no one there actually knows how to store the data on a card.  Maybe the art is lost.

Problem:  MacTac is expensive and so if there’s any left after they typed, that bit is used again until every little bit is used up.  Problem?  When they reuse the MacTac, it no longer has smooth processed edges.  It now has lots of little cutouts dangling from it.  When you roll the MacTac under the platen, little bits get stuck on the platen and the bed of the platen.  (Note:  The platen is the part that rolls the paper in on a typewriter.)  After a while, the Mag Card is unusable because it won’t allow you roll the paper or MacTac in.

Enter the manager.  She takes this problem as a personal affront.  Someone in her supervision has broken the Mag Card reader.  It’s expensive to fix and being nearly obsolete, she thinks they’ll just take it away.  So, she leaves it there, pretending that it works.

Enter the Editor who wants to know why her work isn’t finished.  She has a deadline.  It’s her job to flog them a little so they’ll get the work done.  Still, she has no animosity towards them.   She questions the manager who takes her back to the Mag Card machine.  She implies that since it doesn’t work, she can’t finish the Editor’s job.  After a few inquiries the Editor leaves, then comes back while the manager is at lunch.

The Editor sits at the Mag Card machine, which she understands at the level that it’s like a typewriter with a little memory.  She sees layers of MacTac on the platen and begins to peel it off.  Then she sees a little bit stuck to the bed of the platen and peels that off.  Then she asks if anyone has the stuff that cleans typewriter keys.  After a bit of flurry, a bottle is produced.

Hear a huge gasp as the Editor removes the platen and proceeds to wipe it down with the key cleaner.  Watch as she removes layers and layers of MacTac from the platen bed and cleans it too with the key cleaner.  The Editor cleans the keys too, then asks a silent room for a piece of paper.  They produce a piece of paper left over when the printer goes from one job to another.  The Editor tests the Mag Card and it works fine.

She tells the astonished crowd to do that the next time it doesn’t work.  They tell her that they aren’t allowed to take the equipment apart.  They seem to be afraid that someone will find out an unauthorized person even sat in the chair.

The Editor leaves telling the group “I want my work out next.”

It happened ages ago, but I found the usefulness of civil disobedience.  By breaking the rules – if there really were any rules of the sort – I got the job done.  It was a valuable lesson.  No rocks were thrown at my head.  No one threatened me or my job.  They were just pleased that the job was done and they could get back to work.

Marilynne