Jersey Sore

It's 1986, and this IT pilot returns after a few days off to the New Jersey hospital data center for his overnight shift -- only to discover that everything is down.

"This literally makes for a very quiet shift," he says. "Come to find out, one of the other operators -- George, the one with anger issues -- got irritated during the previous night's mainframe run of the doctor's orders and punched the console.

"Without its console, that mainframe's only value is to weigh the building down if a nor'easter blows through. The system is down for 48 hours while a new console is shipped in from Pennsylvania.

"A few nights later, I'm sharing a shift with George. Everything is back to normal and humming along -- until something sets George off again.

"So here's our own nor'easter, staring down the mainframe again. But instead of the console, George is staring at the front panel of the machine -- the one with all the sensitive dials, switches and lights blinking away.

"Stabbing his index finger through the tense air, George snarls at the machine, 'You're next!'"

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