Pilot fish reads a true tale of IT life about clearing jammed keypunches with a makeshift hacksaw, and it brings to mind something that happened years ago.

At the time, fish is in a department at Berkeley that has three keypunches. Being mechanically inclined, he gets to know the IBM tech who serviced them, who eventually acknowledges his acumen by giving him a genuine IBM card saw.

Tech tells fish that he’s careful about who he gives these too. Some users had managed to cut off the punch hammers rather than gingerly removing the jammed cards.

Sharky recognizes your acumen too. Send me your true tales of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You can also subscribe to the Daily Shark Newsletter.