Anne McGrory and myself (Joe Templeman) were in attendance with Kath (Hodges), Mr Ruston (the MD) and other managers standing by behind the telesales girls as they began their calling rota. It was a revelation! No Molly had ever had the opportunity to show but a fraction of what it could do until that morning. I went through to watch Maggie. Yes, her lights were flickering. Instructions were being fetched and executed, for a real purpose now. Interrupts were being taken from all quarters and dismissed methodically. Drive belts were staying on and propelling the disc cartridges at the proper speed and the head access mechanisms were wild with frenzied yet directed activity. Power supplies were pumping energy at the correct voltages into the circuits. Down in the warehouse the printer was disgorging real invoices, the shelves were being picked of goods and the delivery vans were rolling. How long could it last? To me, every extra second was another million or so crash possibilities negotiated. There are advantages, in this situation, in not being aware of what could go wrong. So my frequent calls to Kath to "take a security" were cast aside until things quietened down at lunchtime. I could relax a bit after we’d secured the mornings work.

As other companies were to discover in their turn, the whole atmosphere of the business was transformed the instant their Molly went into action. It was there to help, not to intimidate. This atmosphere was subtle but tangible whenever I entered a building containing a LOS Molly. Mind you, a certain tool distributor did keep their entire stock of sledgehammers just outside the door to their Molly - just in case?

A significant component missing from LOS on that first day was any means to deal with a paper wreck at the invoice printer. This was because I didn’t have a clue how the situation could be handled, until it happened. That occurred soon enough, and the document reprinting utility was soon operational.

Joe Templeman