Software startup is targeting banks as its customer base, so this pilot fish is sent to the initial customer to make sure everything is exactly the way the bank wants it to be.

"When not observing their processes or asking and answering questions, I sat at a big mahogany desk right in front of the bank's vault," says fish.

"One evening well after the bank had closed, I was coding away at the desk when a guard confronted me with pistol drawn, demanding to know who I was and why I was sitting in front of the vault -- which it turned out hadn't been locked, as it was supposed to be.

"A phone call later, I got to put my hands down.

"But that wasn't the last excitement in this job. A few years later, I was part of a team doing an installation at a bank in the middle of the country.

"I and a group from the bank were working late to meet the conversion deadline, and the leader of the bank team decided to order food from a restaurant in the shopping center across the road.

"Even though there was a light rain, I volunteered to pick up the order. The friendly guard let me out, and I immediately started running through the rain.

"That's when two crewcuts emerged from a black sedan, drew their guns and hollered to the guard, asking if they should shoot.

"I ducked for cover while waiting for the guard to answer -- and said grace silently later as we sat down to our takeout meal."

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