5 ms·

I heard a legend once that someone at IBM in the "blue suit and tie" days found himself to be irreplaceable. So at his next contract negotiations, he politely d

by mabbo 5y ago

I heard a legend once that someone at IBM in the "blue suit and tie" days found himself to be irreplaceable. So at his next contract negotiations, he politely demanded the dress code be removed from his contract. And then he never shaved again, or wore anything more formal than a Hawaiian shirt. Much to the anger of his entire management chain. I read this. I loved it. I remember it. But I cannot for the life of me find any references to it online and worry that I dreamed it all. I would love if someone here has a reference to this and can share it with me. Or tell me I am truly crazy.

smiddereens 5y ago
Looking like shit to own the man.
- _eht 5y ago
  Your barometer for shit needs recalibrating, bud.
  - goodpoint 5y ago
    Even a 180 turn.
- core-utility 5y ago
  I guarantee you, people can look like shit in a suit and tie. Many do.
  - rzzzt 5y ago
    Do the same people look better in casual clothing?
    - core-utility 5y ago
      Unlikely, but at least a T-shirt doesn't typically require tailoring or near-exact sizing to look good.
  - tomrod 5y ago
    \o living proof. I've done it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
If there is any truth to the legend, I would guess the person is Al Shugart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shugart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shugart He lead the teams that created the world's first disk drive and the floppy drive. He later founded Seagate. I did not find a reference to this incident, but he did have a love for Hawaiian shirts, and he did things like try to get his dog elected to Congress, so it would not seem too far fetched for him to do something like what you are describing.
- TYPE_FASTER 5y ago
  From his Wikipedia page you linked to: > In 1996, he launched an unsuccessful campaign to elect Ernest, his Bernese Mountain Dog, to Congress. I like this guy.
  - pvaldes 5y ago
    People do similar tricks all the time in some countries. The goal is to obtain a copy of the census. Political parties can ask for a free copy so they can mail info to the pool of possible voters. Is one of their rights as candidates. This information is valuable [1], can be sold or used in other projects to find possible clients, so is not a totally crazy move Can be also interesting just as exercise to teach yourself in the inner parts of the voting system. [1](specially in the pre-Facebook age. Not so much today).
  - bombcar 5y ago
    I prefer successful campaigns to elect dogs. In fact let’s make it required that only animals can be elected. Sure they have handlers who tell them how to vote, but at least the pictures would be nicer.
severine 5y ago
Oblique reference in Tom "No Relation" Shugart's blog: https://insiteview.blogspot.com/2006/12/frank-and-al-and-denise-and-candle.html https://insiteview.blogspot.com/2006/12/frank-and-al-and-den... My next headline element is "Al," as in Al Shugart, who passed on the other day. His passing was definitely an event that gave me the urge to post. While the world remembers Al as a tech industry pioneer, his significance for me was that he transformed my name from the obscure to the instantly recognizable, a fact which has required me with predictable regularity to respond to many of those to whom I am introduced, "no, no relation." Sometimes, especially at industry functions, I felt like wearing a sign. I posted a humorous incident about this state of affairs back in my early blogging days. It was right after Paynter was just getting started with his well-known series of blogger interviews. I had the honor of being his first male subject. The immediate aftermath was a rash of "are you related?" emails. So I put up a post to set the record straight. Anyway, Al Shugart was my kind of guy--brilliant, creative, irreverent, fun-loving, and dismissive of the establishment. This guy was wearing Hawaiian shirts to work decades before it became a hip way to show that you or your organization were leading-edge. Al, who started out as an IBMer, was able to get away with thumbing his nose at the rigid IBM dress code of the fifties and sixties. That may not mean much to Gen-X or Yers, but if you were around in those days, as I was, and remember how quasi-militaristic things tended to be in the big business sector, including high-tech, you have to be impressed with Shugart's chutzpah. I'm proud to bear his name. Rest well, Al.

by mabbo 5y ago

smiddereens 5y ago

Looking like shit to own the man.

_eht 5y ago
Your barometer for shit needs recalibrating, bud.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  Even a 180 turn.
core-utility 5y ago
I guarantee you, people can look like shit in a suit and tie. Many do.
- rzzzt 5y ago
  Do the same people look better in casual clothing?
  - core-utility 5y ago
    Unlikely, but at least a T-shirt doesn't typically require tailoring or near-exact sizing to look good.
- tomrod 5y ago
  \o living proof. I've done it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago

If there is any truth to the legend, I would guess the person is Al Shugart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shugart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shugart He lead the teams that created the world's first disk drive and the floppy drive. He later founded Seagate. I did not find a reference to this incident, but he did have a love for Hawaiian shirts, and he did things like try to get his dog elected to Congress, so it would not seem too far fetched for him to do something like what you are describing.

TYPE_FASTER 5y ago
From his Wikipedia page you linked to: > In 1996, he launched an unsuccessful campaign to elect Ernest, his Bernese Mountain Dog, to Congress. I like this guy.
- pvaldes 5y ago
  People do similar tricks all the time in some countries. The goal is to obtain a copy of the census. Political parties can ask for a free copy so they can mail info to the pool of possible voters. Is one of their rights as candidates. This information is valuable [1], can be sold or used in other projects to find possible clients, so is not a totally crazy move Can be also interesting just as exercise to teach yourself in the inner parts of the voting system. [1](specially in the pre-Facebook age. Not so much today).
- bombcar 5y ago
  I prefer successful campaigns to elect dogs. In fact let’s make it required that only animals can be elected. Sure they have handlers who tell them how to vote, but at least the pictures would be nicer.

severine 5y ago

Oblique reference in Tom "No Relation" Shugart's blog: https://insiteview.blogspot.com/2006/12/frank-and-al-and-denise-and-candle.html https://insiteview.blogspot.com/2006/12/frank-and-al-and-den... My next headline element is "Al," as in Al Shugart, who passed on the other day. His passing was definitely an event that gave me the urge to post. While the world remembers Al as a tech industry pioneer, his significance for me was that he transformed my name from the obscure to the instantly recognizable, a fact which has required me with predictable regularity to respond to many of those to whom I am introduced, "no, no relation." Sometimes, especially at industry functions, I felt like wearing a sign. I posted a humorous incident about this state of affairs back in my early blogging days. It was right after Paynter was just getting started with his well-known series of blogger interviews. I had the honor of being his first male subject. The immediate aftermath was a rash of "are you related?" emails. So I put up a post to set the record straight. Anyway, Al Shugart was my kind of guy--brilliant, creative, irreverent, fun-loving, and dismissive of the establishment. This guy was wearing Hawaiian shirts to work decades before it became a hip way to show that you or your organization were leading-edge. Al, who started out as an IBMer, was able to get away with thumbing his nose at the rigid IBM dress code of the fifties and sixties. That may not mean much to Gen-X or Yers, but if you were around in those days, as I was, and remember how quasi-militaristic things tended to be in the big business sector, including high-tech, you have to be impressed with Shugart's chutzpah. I'm proud to bear his name. Rest well, Al.