I'm feeling magnanimous, and continue on with the original topic of conversation.

"Just take a look at this,” I say with understated expectation.

I key in the name "Brown." After a pause, the machine shows me data on three employees with the surname Brown. I pick one. There is another pause; various indecipherable messages appear on the screen. Eventually the screen stays stable on a single message:

DPT_COD=359

"See that?" I say, beaming with satisfaction. "I can pick any name I like, and the machine will tell me what department they work for. We'll get used to these codes in no time; I think 359 is marketing. And take a look at this special feature."

I key in another query. The machine tells me that code 359 refers to accounting.

Blount stares dubiously. I clear my throat.

"See that?" I boast. "It doesn't even matter whether we know the codes or not. The machine's smarter than we are.

Now Blount simply looks puzzled.

"Does this mean we're going to get rid of the shoebox with the cards?" he says.

"Well, we can't hold on to Stone Age ways of doing business forever." I reply. I'm beginning to get a little impatient.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just used to it," says Blount.

He steps over to the shoebox file and adjusts its position on the table. Inadvertently he nudges a stapler off the table's edge.

Before the stapler can land, he has pulled a card out of the box. "Sally Brown, Accounting," he calls out to no one in particular. There is a trace of nostalgia in his voice.

I shrug compassionately. "Change can sometimes be difficult to adjust to. But we can't stand in the way of change, can we?"

Blount picks up the stapler and says nothing for a moment. Then his face lights up.

“So you were really able to get the company to pay for a computer?"

I nod with an appropriate mixture of modesty and self-satisfaction.

“Then do you suppose you could get them to pay to have that stuck wheel on my cart fixed? I could get the mail delivered a whole lot faster, if I could ever get that cart to go in a straight line..."

I sigh yet another time.

"How can I get you to stop thinking in terms of dinosaur technology?"