In spring 1981, at sixteen, I worked part-time at a computer store in Palo Alto. I can't remember what brands it sold, but the IBM PC was only released that August, and I just cleaned up and ran errands anyway. After several months, I was alone one day, and a man came in to consider a computer for his business. I started telling him about the computers on display, and when my boss returned, he listened in amazement as I shared the information I'd picked up from listening to him for so long. If the shop hadn't closed a few weeks later, perhaps they would have trained me as a salesman. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 26 June 2021)

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Working at a computer shop in Palo Alto in 1981