[ MUSIC ]
Nigel Beck, former IBMer
>> We came into IBM through an acquisition. And
we never had any meetings, and we never had anything written
down. So one day, some guys came up from Somers, and they
were all in nice suits. And I had a t-shirt with a tie
glued on the front.
And they asked us what our market segmentation model was.
So we drew one big circle and said, well, we've got big
customers. Then we drew another big circle and said, well,
you've got rich customers. Then we drew another big circle
and said, and you've got dumb customers. And the
intersection is the sweet spot. So that was our
introduction to IBM market segmentation.
William Dunne, former IBMer
>> Sixteen years ago when I was the speech writer
for an IBM vice president, and we had just finished up a
major product announcement in Las Vegas.
>> In Las Vegas.
>> Yes. And he asked me to come back to New York
with him on the company jet. So that was fine, except that
I had left my car at another New York airport, and we were
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going to be flying into White Plains airport.
So I called ahead to a car company to have a car company
pick me up at White Plains airport, because we were going to
be arriving after midnight, for one thing. And I assumed my
client was going to do something similar. And I assumed
that the car would be picking me up in the parking lot or
outside the gates or something.
So we fly into White Plains airport, and we pull up to the
IBM hangar, straight into the IBM hangar. And my client is
sitting directly across from me and he looks out the window
and he has this very surprised look on his face and he says,
I didn't order that.
And I looked out the window and there's this big black limo
pulling up to the side of the plane, popping open the trunk.
And I looked and I said, oh, that's for me.
[LAUGHTER]
So it was pretty embarrassing, but I thought it was pretty
funny at the same time.
Daniel Tunkelang, former IBMer
>> I turned 21 at IBM. Actually, more correctly,
I spent my entire 21st birthday at IBM. I was a summer
student, and I knew that I had to get my Master’s thesis
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done by the end of the summer, and I wasn't leaving until it
was done.
So when I woke up the morning after my 21st birthday, I had
a sleeping bag in my little section of the lab, I woke up --
because they were doing an inventory check -- to somebody
banging on the door. And I had to actually rush and get
dressed to open the door. And so this was my birthday
present at IBM, being woken up in the morning after my 21st
birthday.
Aysel Toprakli, former IBMer
>> In fact, for me it was a very great experience
to work for IBM.
>> When I was working in IGN -- IBM Global Network
-- we were giving access to customers. And one customer
called one day, they revoked their password and we had to
reset it.
We reset the password, I called the customer and let them
know the password. I asked them to install the new
password. He called me again, he couldn't go in because the
password revoked again. And we did it like this three
times.
Then I asked him what he was entering in the password, he
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said, P-A-S-S-W...
[LAUGHTER]
Because it's...the prompt was asking him to enter the
password, so he was entering the word, password -- not the
password I gave him. So it was a funny moment.
Molly Evans, current IBMer
>> So, a couple of years ago I was meeting with a
customer in our Boston office, an ISV. And the CEO of the
company was a very, very charming, handsome gentleman, my
age. And he brought his team with him, and I had assembled
my team of colleagues. And he proceeded to give us an
overview of the company.
So at the end of his overview, I turned to him and I said,
well, how old are you? And he looked at me, and then I
realized, oh, I needed to correct myself. So I said, oh, I
meant the company, not you.
So everybody in the room immediately started to laugh
thinking that I was possibly trying to hit on this
gentleman, and that was clearly not the case. So, it made
for a very funny but yet uncomfortable moment.
Nonetheless, we did get the business with that company,
which will remain nameless. And that was one of my more
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funny memorable moments at IBM.
[ MUSIC ] [END OF SEGMENT]
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