12 Jan
2022
12 Jan
'22
2:57 a.m.
Rob Pike writes:
Similar. Everyone at Bell Labs was so *proper*.
(Except Ken, of course.
Ken is *sui generis*, and a Californian).
I'm sure it wasn't really me, but it felt like I was the first person to
utter a curse word in the Unix room.
That might be a technicality. I discovered the Unix room late one night
when blood sugar was running low so I hit the candy machines on the sixth
floor of building 2. While I was getting my snack, I heard a robotic
voice coming from down the hall saying "fuck fuck fuck fuck". I had to
investigate. Found a small door with a frosted glass window that had an
8.5x11 piece of paper taped to in on which was spelled out the word UNIX
in block letters in I believe black electrical tape. Opened the door to
discover that a Votrax had been acquired and that Ken and Dennis were
teaching it to swear. So they must have at least known those words.
On another technicality, I bicycled to the labs every day, naturally uphill
in both directions. Not possible to avoid sweating when pushing up Glenside
Road. And no showers available; those were for the security guards only.
Turned out that dress code was up to supervisors, and Joe Condon was fine
with me wearing shorts to work. I often got glared at when walking down the
hall and had to explain myself to the "proper" folks.