Silly me. I asked for a report from the main framer. I really only needed three numbers. It was his job to provide me with a CD-ROM and then it was my job to integrate that CD-ROM with live data in the interface from the third party company that they then handed me the source code to play with.
What I didn't realize was that the numbers I asked for required him to write a program and run a program that took the mainframe down to its knees for about 12 hours. And then they printed out a half a dozen boxes of paper and it showed up on a hand truck the next day.
We rented time on that mainframe. We had an all-you-can-eat contract because we were expected to use almost nothing. But that night used our entire year's allocation. That came up on contract negotiations.
What I didn't realize was that the numbers I asked for required him to write a program and run a program that took the mainframe down to its knees for about 12 hours. And then they printed out a half a dozen boxes of paper and it showed up on a hand truck the next day.
We rented time on that mainframe. We had an all-you-can-eat contract because we were expected to use almost nothing. But that night used our entire year's allocation. That came up on contract negotiations.