What's the secret password?

Back in the late 1960’s I worked for a small publisher who was in serious financial trouble. The boss, John, planned to save the company by computerizing everything, a very forward-thinking idea at the time.

John owed money everywhere, and creditors called incessantly. Any employee likely to answer the phone was instructed to tell any caller who asked for him that John was out of the office. He told people he was willing to talk to, like his wife and friends and business associates to whom he did not owe money, to identify themselves and they would be put through.

One such caller was a computer programmer named Darwin who was typical of those 101101 guys in those days – absolutely brilliant writing computer programs, absolutely stupid about coming in out of the rain. I answered the phone one day when he called, and it went like this:

"Good afternoon, Unicomp."

“Hi, may I speak to John please?”

“I’m sorry, John’s not in the office this afternoon. May I take a message”

“Oh, this is Darwin. He’ll talk to me.”

“Oh, hello, Darwin. Yes, he would talk to you, but he’s not in right now.”

“I know, he said you would say that, and all I had to do was tell you who I am, and he would talk to me.”

“That’s right, Darwin, but he’s not in this afternoon.”

“I understand you’re supposed to say that, but he said he would always take my call.”

“Yes, Darwin, he would, but John is not in right now.”

“I know, but –”

“DARWIN! JOHN IS NOT HERE!”

“Oh, really? Oh, okay.”

“I’ll tell him you called.”

“You mean, he’s not in?”

“That’s right, Darwin. He’s not in.”

“Oh, okay.”

(Darwin's genius wasn't enough. I stayed with the company until my paycheck bounced.)