kengr

I worked in the Division of Planning in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Department of Highways. Among other important tasks, the highway maps were made there. That meant multiple, expensive Intergraph graphics machines.

Everyone was glad when we moved out of a ratty old building (originally constructed in the Thirties (!) as a garage (!)) into a brand new one. As specified in the contract, in case of power failure we had a building-wide battery backup designed to keep the power stable until the natural gas fueled generator came up to speed.

The first time the power went off the battery backup came on with a bang. Actually, several of them. There were burn spots on the carpet where single-use surge protectors overloaded.

The problem was that the building contract was awarded to the lowest bidder. Afterwards, there were no funds to correct the deficiencies. We couldn't even get the elevators working right until the Highway Commissioner came over for a meeting and got stuck.