Not so long ago, Mainframe-to-XP migration
I worked for a while at HBOS subsidiary. Even as late as 2004 there were significant chunks of call centre operations running on dumb terminals. Some of the older staff members had never touched a GUI. As part of the XP migration I absolutely insisted that Solitaire be retained as a training tool. It was, after all, a call centre and absolutely everyone could see you playing it while manning the phones.
I would argue it probably improved productivity. There are few more soul destroying jobs than answering calls from incompetent mortgage brokers asking "where's my mortgage offer" to reply with "you haven't sent in document X" fully in the knowledge that the broker was walking off with their 1% commission, while you were on the phones barely on minimum wage.
Twats :-P
Biting the hand that feeds IT
