The Programming test

Tales from the backyard…  In the sixties I worked as a machinist at an ammunition factory and because of all the pounding of the machines, I began to lose my hearing so thought it prudent to change careers.  So with the urging of my cousin, I started night school to be a computer programmer and I graduated with honors. Then my cousin said they had an opening where he worked and he would set up an interview.  The day of the appt., the traffic was a nightmare and then I couldn't find parking and running late, had to run to the office and just ran through the door.  I told them I was here to take the programmer tests and they seemed perplexed, but upon my insistence they called upstairs.  After much debate, they finally said to go up, which I did, and took the tests and aced them all.  The interview, I thought, went great but he ended it by saying they did not have any vacancies at the moment, but would surely keep my name on file.  I didn't want to say “but”, so let it go and would call my cousin that night.  On the way out as I reached for the door, on it was the Great Northern RR emblem of the Mountain Goat, my meeting was next door at the Northern Pacific headquarters.  Luckily, subsequently, I failed one of their three tests by 1 point and didn't get the job, as my cousin had a massive fatal heart attack (only 38) shortly after and I thought it might not be the kind of stressful job I was looking for anyway, so became a carpenter.